Sunday, April 6, 2008

Yakima Marathon

Pre-race photo...Ricky cooperating as usual
When I was in labor with Oscar and Poppy, Rick was loving and supportive, but always wears a face of confusion as to how exactly to make me more comfortable. He may attempt to squeeze my hand, or rub my back and yet, he really can't do anything to help me. Ultimately it is my pain to endure.
I hadn't really thought of this before, until yesterday. Yesterday marked a first for us as a married couple. It was the first marathon that we have not ran together. Thus far, it has been a joint effort and so we both have trained and pained in each others company.
Post race, we both sit around with stiff legs and let our bellies fill with much deserved food. Then we can chat and retrace each others foot steps of the race, and can visibly see each others perspective.
Yesterday, I was in the spectator seat. I couldn't help Ricky run, I couldn't help him recover at the finish, all I could do was give him a hug and let him walk it off. And then drive him home.
Having both given child birth (twice), and ran a marathon 3 times, I would say that they certainly have their similarities...months of training/pregnancy, culminating with a painful, joyous experience. And at the end of both, you come out a stronger person than you were before.
So, now that Rick is a marathon up on me, I will just calculate my 2 childbirths into the equation and that way I am one-up on him...;0)

Yesterday Ricky and I ventured to Ellensburg, for Ricky's marathon...so while he was doing this:
Blue monkey prep-pose...
Ricky set a new PR but missed the Boston qualifying time by 15 seconds! I know, you can gasp now. He was so close. He did a great job and was very fast. (Although, it may come down to the fact that his Garmin wasn't reading correctly, or the coarse was off a bit) I loved being able to see him in the finish. Typically he is always waiting around for my sorry, slow self to cross.(Doesn't he look angelic? Post-race glow?)
So, as he was doing his race...I was doing a bit of this: Notice the balloons? Those are my contribution to the race. Frozen finger, balloon tying. This is how I earned my post-race food...yeah...sounds rough huh?

Here are the guys trying to get the finish line up before the wheel chair racer came through.This is me with some of the funny finish line set-up crew. They really have it all down to a science. There are specific people who do the same job every year. It was really fun being able to help out at the finish. Although my post-balloon tying job consisted of keeping spectators out of the finish area, it was pretty fun to be in there with all of the awesome action.
I would say the other very cool part about being at the finish, was seeing the first woman come across, she was so fast. She came in at just over the 3hour mark. It makes me want to run sooooo bad!
I just have to keep telling myself that there is a time and if I let my hip heal now, then I can do better later.
After we got home, I did a measly 12mile bike ride and called it a day.
Fun stuff...

5 comments:

Nedge said...

12 mile bike ride is measly? In Pullman? Where hills are brutal? Man, you have some high standards!

The marathon looked like fun. For someone else. He he. I'm glad you guys had a pretty good time. Don't worry, your hip will heal sooner than you know!

Jen said...

oh wow! i can't believe boston was thisclose! next marathon for sure. :)
it looks like you had a good time! the pictures are so cute. :) the hip will heal and you will be finishing in record speed. time off now= improvement later. (watch me give this advice and yet i forced myself to run saturday while on antibiotics- that was nice. apparently the lungs weren't ready and i paid all day saturday and sunday. way to go, jen).

anna jo said...

soooo???? would you guys recommend this race to others??? I want to hear all about it.

Jamison Fischer said...

Yes - this was a nice marathon. Unless you need big crowds, hefty support, and people constantly around you. The course was beautiful, but there were no crowds. The support was only water and poweraid every 2.5-3 miles, but that could be fine. The two major hills are at miles 14 and 22, the second one is killer. I recommend the marathon because it feels more like a runners marathon than a show-type marathon (read: "Rock-n-Roll"). Plus there are tons of Marathon Maniacs that run this one, and they make a good show.

Lisa B. said...

You ARE MY HERO!! ps. your hair is super cute short:)