We arrived in Dayton on Friday and had a great dinner with my family but the rain came... This made me so nervous... 70% chance of rain did not sound like a fun marathon... The day started very wet... They said you should arrive 1.5-2 hours before the race started... They weren't kidding. If you ever do this race get there early. Parking is far from start and it took a long time to It rained literally until they sounded the gun to start the maratho... At least we were prepared with garbage bags.
The race started on the Wright-Patterson Air Force base. The course was hilly from the beginning. A big hill literally in the first mile. I felt so good. We were right with the 4 hour pace group and I felt great. My best running friend Bryan was right there with me. The first 8 miles flew by. We ended up ahead of the 4:00 hour pace group at a water stop. Just after mile 8 I spotted super stars Chrys and Steve who also came to the race from Northwest Indiana. They totally rocked the marathon! Just after mile 8 we headed toward downtown Fairbourn. The residence and their support were awesome. I loved that they had the marching band out there also! After our tour through Fairbourn we headed back to the base. This is where we spotted our friend Brian who was also running and shortly after that we also saw our friend Nikki... its always good to see a familiar face.
I wish I remember the mile marker but the water stop was themed as aliens and they had people dressed as aliens handing out water and they were awesome. At this point I still felt really good. Around mile 15 I thought ok seriously we are getting there... But then the tough part came. We made it to mile 18 and Bryan told me he was really glad he made it that far and if he could just make it to 20 then he knew we would be in the clear. Mile 18 quickly approached and I was really starting to slow down. Mile 18 took 9:44... I was starting to feel the miles mount... The next couple miles were even slower and at 20 I forced myself to take a break and hit a port a potty... something I had done before. Mile 21 was the slowest I had ever run during a marathon and I was starting to let my mental emotions get to me. I was really starting to break down. The hills were mounting and I was just plain tired... I was talking every half mile for a few minutes. Then I was able to pick it up slightly but I was hurting. In between mile 22 and 23 we were forced to climb and go down a highway overpass... this felt like a mental crushing... I hated every second of it. I had to walk my body just wouldn't carry me up the hill.
At mile 22.5 I was startingn to feel defeated and I sent a text to my mom "22.5... hurting." I didn't want her worry where I was. Then I started talking to Bryan. He really started giving me all the positive thoughts I really needed. Not everyday has to be a PR I kept telling myself just go.. go Deanna go. At mile 24 I sent another message to my mom that said simply... "24."
Once we hit 25 I started really watching my watch. Bryan said I need a break to walk. We were walking and I said no lets run to that water it is probably the last water stop. We took our water and this water stop was just like all the others AMAZING!! I cannot say enough about the water stop volunteers at this marathon. Every mile or more and awesome! They were so nice and so encouraging. Since the race was on a miltary base for much of it there were not the floods of spectators like at a race in Chicago but the water stop volunteers made up for it. They rocked! So once I passed that final water stop and made the turn I could see we were approaching the finish...
I looked at my watch... .80 to go. I told Bryan we have 11 mintues to make it and I will PR... Well that was all Bryan needed to here. I just kept pushing myself to the 26 mile marker because I knew once I got there I could fly... Well Bryan pulled me so hard that last .80 that we tapped out at 8:32 during what my watch said was .32 instead of .20... The finish shoot was awesome. They line the final .20 with planes and you run in between them and they have a crowed of people just cheering so hard for you. As we approached the finish I could see my family yelling for us. Bryan turned and grabbed my hand we we finished... 4 hours 12 mintues and 17 seconds later... I finished. I PR'd and my best running friend was by my side. They have a military member in uniform hang the medal around your neck and that was awesome. We then were able to get some fruit and yummy LaRosa's pizza (a local favoirte of mine).
Although this marathon was tougher than I expected but I finished and I cannot say enough about how nicely done this race was and what a great expricence it was. I finished 915 out of 3127 finishers, 203 out of 1047 women and 28 out 176 females the same age as me. I am super proud of these resutls!
