Lost Story #1: the accidental half marathon

After discussing some things with my friend Ginger, I realized that there are a couple of stories from the past year that I haven't posted on my blog. I probably didn't write about them at the time because I thought they might be not-so-interesting to others, but thinking back, they were significant to me.

So here's the first one: it's about the time I accidentally ran a half marathon and formed a bond with some complete strangers.

Back in 2006, before I knew I was pregnant with Chase, my co-workers at Johns Hopkins enlisted me to run in the Baltimore Marathon Relay with them. A marathon relay is simply a marathon divided into 4 parts, with 4 team members each running a leg. When I found out I was pregnant, they were so worried I was going to back out on them (the marathon took place at the halfway point of my pregnancy)... but I insisted that I would still be running. So, at 20 weeks pregnant, I ran about 6 miles in the first leg of the relay. No problem.

Fast forward to 2009. I obviously no longer work at Hopkins since we moved to Tampa after Chase was born, but I still keep in touch with my former co-workers. They replaced me on their marathon relay team, but they called me when they lost another team member due to a scheduling conflict. I was pregnant with Siena, but she was due in July... a good 3 months before the Baltimore Marathon. We were planning on flying up to visit Eric's family that week in October anyways, so I agreed to resume my position on their relay team. I admit now that I was a little to anxious to start training for this race after I had Siena. I started running too soon after she was born, and I was running too far and too fast. I wish I knew then what I know now about the importance of strengthening your core muscles after having a baby... especially the second one. I ended up really doing some damage to my back and knees as a result... but anyways, I'm getting diverted with this story... that's a whole other subject!!

So, we flew to Baltimore, had a wonderful week visiting with Eric's family, and Eric and I had a great time going out for runs together, without the double stroller! I think that's probably one of my favorite things to do in the whole world: go running, just the two of us. We usually run at about the same pace and we're both so competitive that we drive the other to run faster. I was a little concerned at the distance of my leg in the race: about 6 miles, which is not something I do regularly. But I could run 4-5 miles no problem, so I figured I'd be fine doing 6 in race.

Race day: beautiful warm weather, with a chance of rain. I had the 3rd leg of the marathon so I had lots of time to run around and warm up. It started drizzling right as I started, but I didn't mind one bit. I was enjoying the views of the harbor, the music (Salt-n-Pepa's Push It!) blaring from the windows of the row homes, and the cheering crowds. There's nothing like being in a huge race like that... it's so exciting! My portion of the marathon went really well. I ran my 6.3 miles in 50:12. But when I finished, I was at the farthest point from the starting line... I had started way down by the harbor, and I ended almost directly north, several miles away. No problem, right? Of course, they had a bus to take us back to the starting/finish line to be reunited with our teammates. So I hopped aboard the old school bus full of sweaty, smelly (mostly male) runners. Not exactly the proper way to "cool down" after a run... I should have been stretching my muscles instead of sitting cramped in a bus, just minutes after I ran. Anyways, that was the least of my problems: all I could think about was how long it had been since I last nursed Siena. She was with Eric and Chase, waiting for me at the finish line... and she completely refuses to even try drinking out of a bottle. So I was hoping for a quick bus ride back! But... it just wasn't in the cards. As the bus pulled out of the parking lot, it rounded a corner, and came to a stop behind a line of cars. Minutes passed. People started standing up to look. Finally, someone figured it out and reported back to everyone else: the bus had pulled right up to the race course and the street was closed off due to the marathon! Then we all stood up to see the thousands of runners several blocks right in front of us. A couple people started joking about how it would be faster to just get out and run back, but nobody made any moves towards the door. I mean, we were really tired and really far away after all. And we were in a not-so-good part of town (Clifton Park if you're familiar with Baltimore). And since everyone had just been racing, no one had a cell phone, or money, or a map. But as time went on, I think everyone started to realize that if we had to wait until every single runner passed by, we could be on that bus for a long, long time. All I could think about was Siena, crying her eyes out because she was so hungry, and Chase and Eric standing there soaking wet from the rain. And my teammates, standing at our meeting spot and wondering if I would ever show up. So when one person finally decided to be brave and ask the bus driver to open the door, I jumped up too... along with just about everyone else! We were all just waiting for someone to make that first move.

Once on the street, we all started gathering in clumps to run back together. We seriously had no idea where we were going. We just figured out a general direction and started moving that way. And no one stopped to ask for directions... we were a bunch of tall lanky white people in our little running shorts and tops and we felt severely out of place. Several times we guessed at which street to turn on and we probably added so much distance to what otherwise might have been just 4 or 5 miles. I honestly have no idea how far we ran that day. One by one, people started walking or slowing down, and it's no wonder because I know everyone was cramping and exhausted. I felt bad leaving them behind, but I wanted to stay with the group and just keep moving forward. Ironically, we ran into the Johns Hopkins Medical campus where I used to work! That was a sigh of relief since I finally knew my way around. I guided the group through those streets and even gave a little bit of a tour... we were all glad to talk about anything. I actually felt a sense of pride about the buildings that I had helped, in a way, to build and renovate.

From that point on, I knew roughly how to get back to the harbor, but about 2 miles from the finish line, we really started losing people. Eventually it was just one other girl and I. She was from DC and we ran the same pace, stride for stride, and talked about everything we could think of. My knees were aching, I felt delirious, but somehow I knew that this was a unique sort of moment. I was running through the streets of Baltimore, probably about 6 miles farther than I was supposed to (or thought that I could), with a complete stranger who suddenly felt like my best friend. As we approached the finish line, we ducked under some barrier tape and joined the huge crowd of runners. It was a great relief to know that we were almost done and to have so many people cheering for us! We had to duck back out right before crossing the actual finish line, but we found our way to the runners' tents with food and water. It felt really strange to say goodbye to my running buddy... what I wanted to say was, "hey, want to run together again tomorrow?" Instead, we gave each other a high five and split up to find our family and friends.

After the race, with my teammates Mike, Pam, and Craig: