Tacoma City Marathon 2010

The early start. Picture by Dawn Bellevue

Short story - a fun race. Ran well and felt good all the way through. The weather was cool and quite windy, but no rain till we were done. Margaret, Jessica and I ran together all day, and Rob was with us for the first 11 miles or so. He was Volunteer Coordinator, so he began with us at the early start and checked in with all the volunteers along the way, then waited with Steve (he was a course marshal) till the last runners came through, then they swept the course. All in all, I believe Rob probably talked to every volunteer on the course today.

This was my fourth TCM in a row, and my 45th marathon, bringing my marathon-ultra combined total to 58. I am still amazed by this. I remember watching Eric's marathons and dreaming of the day I might do one marathon. Just one, I thought. I was struggling with heart issues then and having difficulty with anything beyond five miles. I remember running Portland in 2006, my first marathon and how hard it was. And how sore I was after. I wanted to be a Maniac, so I thought two more to qualify and that would be it. By the time I ran those two, I was hooked. Here I am, three years and seven months later, finishing 45 marathons and not only that, but a few ultras too. I still can't believe it. Now Lesa is trying to convince me to do a 100 miler. She wants me to find a 48 hour race and she's convinced I can do it. I don't know...maybe if everything fell into place just right...

Next up is the 12 Hour Watershed where I plan to do at least a 50K, followed by the 50K at R2R. However, both are contingent on cool weather. If it's too warm, I'm out.

For today though, I am content. I'm smiling and I'm feeling good!

Here are a few pictures:

I carried that Pepsi 21 miles! It was so worth it. Picture by George Koski


Margaret, Jessica, me, about mile 23 Picture by George Koski