Marathon!
I woke up waaaay to early. It was still dark out...and I was shivering 'cause it was cold. You mean to tell me that I was going to have to RUN in these conditions in an hour? Yes...this is an actual shot about 1 hour before the race!
We pull up to the registration tent and Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger" is blasting in the back ground. This was a good start to our morning! We meet up with Mish and Edmund because they are running in the same marathon; although we did not plan on running together. We start to speculate about our times... Edmund figures that him and Mish would finish under 2 hours.
I mentioned how Cori and I had been running ~22km to train for the race. I asked them what the further distance was that they had ran. Turns out, they didn't know! To quote: "We just run until it feels like 21 km"
Oh boy. I hope they've trained enough!
Jon Houle, intrepid photographer, mentions how he would like to train and run a 1/2'er. Easy there, big guy...let us finish this one first.
Soon enough the start of the race comes. It is a surreal experience. You are surrounded by thousands of other runners waiting for the start. As time counts down, you feel the nervous energy in the air. John Stanton -- CEO of the Running Room -- counts down the final few seconds.
5, 4, 3, 2, 1...and we're off!
The whole crowd is cheering like crazy and it's tough not to get caught up in the moment and run faster than you had paced / trained for.
There isn't much I can tell you about the run itself. All in all, running IS kinda boring to watch / read about. About 2 km's in I get a massive cramp but decide to run through the pain 'cause Cori has REALLY stepped up the pace and I don't wanna slow her down. Indeed, we manage to keep up with the two hour pace bunny for most of the race. But here are some action shots.
I PERSONALLY LOVE the Casino photo. Somehow...somehow, it just seems right.
As we reach the double-back point of the race and head for home, we manage to cross paths with Mish and Edmund . Uh...I'm not going to go into great length describing the pain and anguish on Mish's face. But let's just say that it wasn't pretty...it looked like she was about to die!
As we approach the finish line, I whip out my camera to take an action shot of Cori. What you don't see is that LITERALLY 5 seconds after this picture, Cori yaks EVERYWHERE! I guess the pace and the Gatorade finally got to her.
I hand her my water bottle...you know...to wash her hands; to rinse her mouth; etc. But no...instead, she yells "Let's just finish!!!!!!". What a trooper she is!
Ultimately, of course, this is the goal of the whole race...this finish! We did 21 km in 2 hours and 3 minutes...and I was so proud of Corinna because it obliterated our estimated time by nearly 1/2 hour! Here are some finishing pictures...including one amazing sign of encouragement!
Would I do it again? Maybe. But not Cori...she's done with this running shit. No, instead...she wants to do a freakin' TRIATHALON!
posted by Team Shawn Michaels @ 4:59 p.m.
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