What a day! Cheryl wanted to compare it to Rocky 2 where Sly says. "This is the Greatest Day in the History Of My LIFE!"
New PR and Challenge Complete!
So why so dramatic? Not only did Cheryl complete the Monumental Challenge... She also got a NEW PR For a FULL MARATHON! Her time: 3 hours, 24 minutes, 24 seconds! That not only qualifies her for Boston ... AGAIN... But she is now qualified for the coveted Second Wave. ( Last time she was the third wave.... She's moving up!)
Early and mostly Empty.
So with the Climax revealed, Let's get back to the details:
Cold! Yes, the cold morning was there as promised. I actually thought that it did not feel too bad. And the wind was rather calm before sunrise. We headed to the Start line and found our parking spot. We were forced to park in a Garage with prices topping out at $25! We were prepared to bite the bullet and pay it, but in the end, we did not have to... (Lucky break by us! The Attendant waved us through a broken card reader just to move cars out!) But as we were waiting in the car, I was reminded why I stress about getting to the race line EARLY! To find the best/only parking spots!
Cheryl's Name on the Poster.
Cheryl went through her checklist and we followed the directions to the staging area inside the Convention Center. It was warm with plenty of bathrooms for everyone. There were security people there asking everyone if they were with the Marathon. (As if the Running gear and Bib did not give it away.) So they could keep all the Marathoners from wandering around the building. They could have simply made the announcement that the Bathrooms and Other Runners where in HALL A! Marathoners are only concerned with two things on race day: "Where is the Start Line?" And "Were can we go Pee!"
Let's Find the other runners.
Eventually Cheryl began to get antsy and we went out of the warm building into the cold to find the start line. IT did not take long before we were both frozen, but we secured a spot in her wave ( wave 2... again.) and waited for the ceremonies to get under way. Lots of announcements, cheers, and the National Anthem and we were ready!
That's boring. Let's do something else.
Let's find the finish .
The crowd began to grow. At first Cheryl was alone, but eventually the crowd became a Flash MOB! Lots of people were running the half and full marathon. In fact, the half, Full, and 5K were completely sold out! First time in the History of the Race! And the Monumental is the 15th largest race in America..
Waiting by Wave 2
Massive Crowd Forming up.
I figured I would never see her at the start, so I ran over to mile 2.5. Even then, I never saw her. I was only able to find her after going through the photos in Post. She DID see me, but noticed I was not looking at her when she waved. I had thought I had missed her.
At mile 2.5
I was lucky to catch her.
I was not wrong figuring this would be like Twin Cities. The crowds were huge! And got in my way for pictures. Also the race route did not have many places to get ahead of the runners. So I was limited to basically the start ( missed) Mile 2.5 (Almost missed) and the finish line. But luckily, Cheryl gave me the App so I could track her.
She slowly gets faster....
At first, they had her finishing the Marathon at 12:30! But after the first check point ( 10K) The App took a full hour off that time! Having her finish by 11:30 A.M. I watched as she got faster with each check point. First at a 7:48 mile pace... Then a 7:45 mile pace. Finally, when she punched in a 7:42 mile pace at mile 18.5, I thought she might have a shot ( or was actually trying) to break her previous record!
Coming into the finish/
Looking strong!
At the finish, Cheryl came in strong! She must have known she was very close to getting a new best time. She headed towards the finish!
Not only did she break the old PR. She beat it by 8 minutes! She has been wanting to run a Marathon UNDER 3 hours 30 Minutes for years! She thought it would be impossible since she was under trained, cold, and over dressed. But I guess those things did not matter in the end.
Now Listen up Cheryl....
Let me pause for a moment to remind FUTURE Cheryl why Ethan thinks she did so well. Mostly, Running with a little wisdom instead of Ego and NOT GETTING INJURED! Walking when the weather is bad or a niggle pain flairs up might not win any "Hardcore Runner" points... But it DOES keep you safe from injury. And in an Injury Free year, She was able to break three old PR records in three different distances ( New PR in the 10K, Half, And NOW FULL Marathon!) AND run MORE races than ever before! She also noted that her "Head was in the Game!" this time. True! Having a positive outlook can do nothing but help. But if you are hurt, you will not be your best on race day. Lessons Learned!
the Final Tally, No Age
Group award with that
Awesome Performance.
Celebrating at IKEA
There were possibly many other factors to this. But let's just say she had a "Great Day!" and that her new PR for the Marathon might be really hard to break. With the 4% shoes, limited training, 10 extra lbs. (See.... Fat people can run just fine! ) and a little bit of "Runner's Wisdom" She was able to achieve GREAT THINGS this year. They can't all be awesome, but at least you can make the ones you do work out in a positive light.
And Beer...
Swedish Meatballs! Yumm!
So now, It is rest, recovery and BEER Time! For me! I'm exhausted! I have been running around and driving and dealing with crowds ALL DAY! And then I have to blog! ( It takes several hours sometimes!) Sorting through hundreds of pics to get the right ones and all the other stuff. Cheryl is lucky as she eats Ice cream on the floor and reads a Magazine. Her "hard effort" is over and she has medals to tell everyone just how awesome she is. All I have is the Blog... and Beer. A local Brew called "Rail Splitter!" It's good. I have had two already and should stop before it effects my typing.
It ain't braggin' if you can do it.
So, In total: Cheryl ran the BEST MARATHON of her LIFE! And Qualified for another shot at Boston... if we ever want to attempt that miserable experience again... At least there are Bragging rights.
Oh! And she Completed the Ultra Indi_Thon. Ensuring Bragging rights for at least the next year. Or so the Shirt says.
Thanks for stopping in and Sharing this Awesome day.
Greetings from Indianapolis... again. This time for the FULL Marathon! 26.2 miles! In the COLD of November... Cheryl chose this time to fit in her Marathon run. Her second one of the year.
16 degrees! Brrrr Chilly!
It was cold this morning in Iowa. 16 degrees! And it is supposed to be cold at the start with a pleasant wind chill for most of the day. Cheryl says i is going to stay in he 30's for most of the race. Looks like she will be running in tights instead of Shorts.
Well, the packet pickup was a joy. Downtown and lots of people. The convention hall was HUGE and there were many vendors... But Cheryl had memorized her bib number and wanted to go straight to the packet pick up counter.
We then headed to the official merchandise so we could pick up a sticker for the car and a Jacket. Cheryl likes it when she can get a jacket for a Marathon, but sometimes they either lack having them or they are a design she disapproves of. She settled on a rather large version of a Gore tex. I personally think Gore tex is awesome and being slightly larger is great to fit layers of warmer clothing underneath. But Cheryl likes Style over Function.... What are ya going to do? Small Note: LOTS of Boston Jackets there today. All different colors! Cheryl felt like she belonged to an elite club.
We did not want to linger too long after 6 hours of drive time, but I was pleasantly surprised that Deena Kastor was here! There was a rumor that she would lead the Elite Pace group for the half marathon, but got hurt, so then she was supposed to just MC the event. Cheryl said she would be gone before we got there, but there she was! Cheryl did not want to wait in line to get a selfie with her, so I snapped a pic with them both in the frame. Deena took that moment to sign an autograph...
Deena in the Background.
Really! It's Deena Kastor!
But Hey! Celeb Sighting! You have to take what you can get. As for now... Time to relax, Sugar up, and prepare for an insanely early rise and shine tomorrow. Looks like I will not have the opportunity to see Cheryl at very many places. IT could be a repeat of the Twin Cities and Chicago... and Boston. Namely, I see her at the Start and finish only. It is probably a good thing since I usually end up taking too many pics of her anyway.
Oh! And another Challenge will be completed at the end of this race. Cheryl has already run the Half Marathon that was linked to this one. ( The Ft Ben Half Marathon.) When she completes the Full Marathon, she will get a additional Challenge award. If she does not forget it, that is.
So fingers crossed! With a head wind, cold temps, heavy clothing and all the other things that could slow her down, she is looking to finish with a decent time. Any PR or Boston Qual Time might be a little out of reach. Then again, she says that every race. I'll be happy with a few pics, a finishers medal, and the entire thing safely behind us. My work does not end with the finish line... it just begins.
For the past three days we have had our Stocking orders double! We are now up to 21 stockings for the day. Yeah! However, we have had a very short lead up to this level of sales. Namely, things are running short, we have events we have to attend, and people have lots of questions. In short... Typical Allenbrite Studio Stocking year.
To be fair, the one year we had "smooth sailing" was a rather pathetic year for sales! (Don't want that again...) Best to have anxiety over too many sales rather than Anxiety over too few. Either way, Anxiety is part of the process and comes with the territory. ( And a little craft beer helps to medicate the stress.)
But it is fun making lots of stockings at a time. Cheryl says that we make more in one day at Allenbrite Studio than an entire WEEK at Pearson or ACT. ( Not that we make so much money from home... but that we make so LITTLE working for someone else.)
But this week was bound to be a little stressful anyway. The Marathon and the Holiday Season are approaching fast. Not to mention the weather is gettig colder. We shall do our best, as always. What else is there?
Hope everyone is having a good day as well. "Good" being a subjective shade of graythat is slightly better than anything bad. IT really is all about how you think about things. I would like to look at the brighter side... unless the darker version has more comedy attached. I find Comedy more blog worthy sometimes.
A frosty morning, with temps right at freezing. The weather told us it was supposed to warm up, but Cheryl prepared for the chill. It was a week ago today, that Cheryl's Sister and Brother-in-law came to visit. We all froze our BUTTS off while walking in Muscatine along the river. Cheryl prepared for That!
But of course, it was right at the line for runners. Start with a coat, you will be dropping it three miles into your run. And complaining about how you should have worn shorts instead of pants/runner's tights. Even I got too hot on the bike! I figured if the Sun came out and the wind stayed still, there was a chance I might over-heat. Even with ditching a few layers, I still had to lose the hat and gloves and unzip the coat.
But Cheryl completed 10 miles today and did not have to stop except to lose a few articles of clothing. Time to Celebrate at Tee's!
We were lucky, because today is Tee's final day of the season. I guess Icecream does not sell too well during the winter months. ( But they still have Burgers!) All of their remaining items were on sale so they could move things out. And The word was OUT! Tee's was PACKED today. $1 Any size Icecream cones, Burgers, Cheese Burgers, Small Fries, and Shakes! All of our favorite foods!
So we stocked up. ( Well, an extra burger to take home.) Looks like Tee's will be closed until February 2020. But after next weekend, there is a possibility we will not need to go there for long runs and possibly will not have any time anyway! Stockings usually pick up in November. And already we are worried about felt, buttons and other supplies. ( Typical pre-season anxiety.)
Hope everyone is staying warm and dry today. The weather is supposed to warm up slightly this week. And already, most of the snow has melted where ever the sun has touched it. Cheryl is hoping to be able to wear shorts for the Marathon... But if the predictions are correct, there is a possibility of that "uncertain zone" happening. We will ultimately know on Race day. Fingers Crossed!
Cheryl went through her checklist and we followed the directions to the staging area inside the Convention Center. It was warm with plenty of bathrooms for everyone. There were security people there asking everyone if they were with the Marathon. (As if the Running gear and Bib did not give it away.) So they could keep all the Marathoners from wandering around the building. They could have simply made the announcement that the Bathrooms and Other Runners where in HALL A! Marathoners are only concerned with two things on race day: "Where is the Start Line?" And "Were can we go Pee!"
Not only did she break the old PR. She beat it by 8 minutes! She has been wanting to run a Marathon UNDER 3 hours 30 Minutes for years! She thought it would be impossible since she was under trained, cold, and over dressed. But I guess those things did not matter in the end. 
Let me pause for a moment to remind FUTURE Cheryl why Ethan thinks she did so well. Mostly, Running with a little wisdom instead of Ego and NOT GETTING INJURED! Walking when the weather is bad or a niggle pain flairs up might not win any "Hardcore Runner" points... But it DOES keep you safe from injury. And in an Injury Free year, She was able to break three old PR records in three different distances ( New PR in the 10K, Half, And NOW FULL Marathon!) AND run MORE races than ever before! She also noted that her "Head was in the Game!" this time. True! Having a positive outlook can do nothing but help. But if you are hurt, you will not be your best on race day. Lessons Learned! 
So, In total: Cheryl ran the BEST MARATHON of her LIFE! And Qualified for another shot at Boston... if we ever want to attempt that miserable experience again... At least there are Bragging rights. 
