Running into the holiday

On the first Sunday in December, Sacramento plays host to thousands of runners who come to run the California International Marathon. Living in East Sac allows us to be a spectator in such an amazing feat of endurance, mental stamina and physical fitness. In years past, my husband, Greg has run the marathon. In fact he has run it several times. When I ask him about how difficult it is to sustain a steady pace of pounding on the pavement for 26.2 miles he says that the finish is worth all the pain you may be feeling. When we see all those runners pass by our house, it makes me want to run the whole thing. For that moment, it gives me this overwhelming feeling of a goal that would be so amazing to achieve.

I hate running. Let me just put that out there. I love exercise but I hate running. Which is why I decided to put together a relay team and run the CIM as a relay. Bizarre, right? I decided a few months ago that I wanted to achieve a running goal. Running the whole marathon would be too much, too soon. So I settled on gathering some girlfriends and convincing them to run it with me! All of us were not runners. In fact, all of us are usually cyclists. This would be a true test of our wills!

Team Banana Stompers

 December 5th was yesterday. The day of reckoning. The day where I would either  triumph or choke. I had been having some running injury issues the last 2 weeks of training. Shin splints are fairly common for those runners who increase their mileage at a fast rate. My portion of the marathon would be 7 miles. So, I was definitely trying to get my mileage up there in order to not crash and burn on the day of the race. Fast forward to race day- I was still having leg problems. My shin splints had subsided but my left calf muscle felt like someone had socked it. This was not what I wanted for race day!

Stretching it out

Mentally, I had prepared myself to do my best and no matter what happened that I would finish my leg of the relay even if I had to walk the whole way. Little did I know that the other gals were feeling the same way- except maybe for my friend Jen! She had finished a half marathon recently enough so 5.6 miles was nothing! All of our race day jitters seemed to go away because we rocked it out! My leg was 7 miles and I ran the whole way! I never stopped because I knew that if I did, I would want to just quit. I ran my fastest miles at this race and that was a feat I could be proud of!

The things I have to say are this:
- Thank you to the little boy and little girl who were giving out high fives on my last mile to go- You gave me that push I needed
- Running is mostly mental and of course with a little bit of physical fitness thrown in- if you think you can do it, you can!
- Music is key to running long distances- I had my Lady Gaga and Ting-Tings pumping in my ears and boy was it motivating
- Big shout out to my girl friends, Jennifer Marie, Whitney and Amanda who took on this goal of mine with smiles and amazing run-power! Without you I would have given up
- Even bigger shout out to my hubby Greg who was our chauffeur to the exchange points. You are an amazing man and I am so grateful for your support. And it was great to see you when I hit the wall ( there was a physical wall you ran through on the leg of the relay!) I needed that extra boost!

We did it!!

Since this month is full of traditions, this was one I wanted to write about since it is a Sacramento tradition. We have already talked about doing it next year, but maybe switching the relay mileage around! Our team name was Banana Stompers and we sure as heck did that! Our finish time was 4:19
(4 hours and 19 minutes) and in the women's open relay category we placed 77th out of 226 teams. Way to rock it!

Finishers medal trimming the tree!