Tecumseh Trail Marathon (Race Recap)

Tecumseh Trail marathon
If you have never heard of this race click the link above to get some idea of what I had my back against.

Friday evening  I set out for Bloomington, Indiana. I had a nice dinner with some great friends. Of course we ate Italian the night before the big race. Then we headed back to our hotel to prep for the next morning and to get  a good nights sleep.

On the longest bus ride ever

My friends Betty and Bryan had prepped me mentally for the race. They explained the race course and what I should expect. I really still had no idea what to expect. At 9AM Saturday morning we boarded the buses that would take us to the starting line. The bus we were on got lost so that made me even more anxious about the race. Then another bus broke down. So the race eventually started 45 minutes late.







I decided not to wear my watch and to just go and run. I had no goals for this race only to finish. I felt it wasn't realistic to have a true goal on a trail race. I talked to my friend Bryan who decided we would run the entire race together since he had convinced me to sign up. The start of the race was a little congested because all of the participants started together. The good thing though is the first few miles flew by.

At mile 6 they explained the next aid station wouldn't be again until about mile 10. Mentally I just kept plugging away. I even started talking to the runners around Bryan and I to keep going. Once we finally approached mile 10 I was really for a break. We grabbed some quick snacks and water and kept plugging away since the next aid station was only 2 miles away. After this stop we took off with two guys who were running together. I asked them how long we had been running so I knew somewhat where we were close the halfway point. That's when I was reminded of the VERY LARGE and that doesn't even begin to explain how torturous this hill was. I seriously thought I may start crying. It was the craziest thing I have ever had to walk up during a race.... for that matter EVER!  We ran a bit with these guys to make conversation. We just kept plugging away the miles. It seemed to take a long time to make it to the next aid station which was around mile 15. From then on there was an aid station just about every 2 miles. The 2 miles stretches seemed to get longer and longer. Around mile 20 we ran into my friend Karrie. She is an amazing runner and really pulled us to the next aid station. She kept going but I had to stop for a drink of water. The aid stations at this race were amazing. I could not have asked for anything better. The people were so supportive and practically had anything you could ever think of to help you keep going. Salt, sweets, IB profin, water, gatorade... they were seriously amazing!

 After we hit the aid station at mile 24.4 I knew only 1.8 to go. I repeated this to myself many times. There was another really big hill right near the end. I was really cursing this hill all the way up. Then we made the turn to a rolling hill road that eventually lead to a very short path to the FINISH! Bryan and I finished right next to each other and cross at 5 hours and 41 minutes. STILL SMILING!

 I told Bryan that was awful but I felt so amazing knowing I finished it. Betty was there waiting with open arms because she is an amazing runner.

 Karrie finished just about 50 seconds in front of us so she was just finishing also. I was so happy to celebrate with all of them.

Overall... I said this was a very humbling and difficult experience  I truly believe that you can push yourself beyond your limits. This was way beyond any limit I thought I could ever reach but I did it. I ran a 26.2 trail marathon and finished.