In the immortal words of Socrates, "I drank what?!?": Deborah's Marathon Journal

Marathon Day: Saturday, October 18, 2003

(Only 2 1/2 months later, but here it is!!!)

Pre-Marathon

OK, where to start?

On Wednesday, October 16, my friend (and personal cheerleader) Lisa arrived from Montana. I picked her up at DC-National and we Metro-ed back to Bethesda. Once she was all settled in and had greeted the cats, we headed towards Mama Lucia’s for PASTA (carbo-loading is GOOD!) and then waddled back to my apartment. Since I still had to work on Thursday, we made an early night of it. The next day, Lisa became “Turbo Tourist” while I was at work and “did” DC at whirlwind pace – I think she hit the Spy Museum, the National Gallery of Art, Air & Space, and something else (Library of Congress? I’m sure she’ll correct me and I’ll post it here heehee) ... it made me tired just hearing about it! ;-) I had been able to obtain free passes to a movie that night (“Love, Actually”), so we couldn’t make it to the AIDS Marathon Pasta Party (which is why we hit Mama Lucia’s last night). I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, and it was fun to take Lisa to one of my favorite theatres (Landmark Theatre on Bethesda Row) *and* to see a good movie.

I had to work Friday morning, but I’d taken a half day so I could pick up the rental car and get ourselves up to Baltimore in time to hit the sports expo and get dinner before time for beddie-bye. Lisa again outdid the tourist in all of us, by hitting three major attractions in as many hours before meeting me at my place around 3pm. We packed up into the rental car and drove off to B-more. Our exit was a Russell Street, which caused us a few giggles (a lot of my friends will understand) and voila! There was the hotel: The Inn at the Stadium.

It certainly wasn’t a deluxe accommodation, but it was right by Ravens Stadium and Camden Yards, which is where the marathon begins and ends. There were several other obvious “marathon” types in the lobby, so I knew we were in the right place! The *ahem* non-smoking room smelled a lot like someone had been smoking in it, and it looked like Lisa and I were going to have to share a bed, even though I specifically asked for two double beds, but... we decided we could handle it. We drove up to the stadium to pick up my registration packet and to stroll through the expo. I bought a couple of long-sleeve running shirts, but really wasn’t that impressed with the merchandise. I really wanted some of the paper throw-away long pants to wear at the beginning of the race, but they didn’t have anything like it. However, I must say that I *REALLY* like the Under Armour shirt they gave us as a sign-up bonus. Very nice!

ANYWAY – we decided to head back to the hotel, drop everything off, and then go down to Little Italy for some pasta (remember: carbo-loading is GOOD!). Of course, that meant that we first had to find our way back to the hotel! Doh! Now, a) I don’t drive a lot anymore, b) I didn’t drive a lot in Baltimore even when I *did* have a car, and c) Lisa probably knows as much about Baltimore as I do ... and she’s from Montana! Needless to say, once we figured out how to get out of the parking lot, we were pretty much SOL. From the hotel to the stadium was easy. Get on Russell Street, go north, turn right at the big stadium like thingie. From the stadium... well, we got completely turned around and drove through some of the not-best neighborhoods in town. Lisa really wanted to stop at the Humane Society and get a kitten (because she only has three), but we decided against it (she’d have to get a carrier to get it on the plane, it would have to put up with Calypso and Jamocha for the rest of her stay, ... and she already has three!). Eventually, we got back to the hotel, dumped everything in the room, and decided to get a cab to/from Little Italy to avoid another driving tour of Baltimore.

Getting a cab was a major trauma at first because our location, on a major thoroughfare in a not-so-good neighborhood. However, there was a phone on the wall by the desk with numbers for several cab companies. I put the first couple of numbers on my cell phone and we went out to see if we could flag down a cab while I was calling one in. I got through and was told that we’d have a cab in 15-20 minutes, so Lisa and I stayed out front in the drizzle, barely under the hotel overhang to avoid getting soaked. Finally, a cab pulled up to the hotel and let someone out. We ran over and with some confusion over whether he was the one we had called for or not, got in and asked him to take us to Little Italy. He asked us which restaurant we wanted, and we asked him for his suggestion, which was: Sabatino’s, I think.

Along the way to Sabatino’s, the driver asked us where we were coming from, etc., and I said I was from Bethesda, but that my friend was from Montana. “Montana!?! Really? I did not know people actually lived there!” (Heeheeheeheee, snicker snicker guffaw!) Poor Lisa! All the way into downtown Baltimore/Fells Point, she had to suffer through explaining about “exotic Montana.” Having spent a large part of my life having to do the same thing about Hong Kong, it was particularly gratifying to witness it for someone else. Of course, I *did* feel sorry for her too... a bit. :-D

ANYWAY – We got to the restaurant and saw a huge long line of people waiting, but we got in pretty quickly because there were only two of us, I guess. The restaurant is in a house type structure, so we went upstairs, into a nice room with tables, and spent a lot of time perusing the menu, eating awesome bread, and drinking pails of water. (OK, maybe not pails, but lots of it, OK? I was “hydrating” myself! Sheesh!) I got the pasta with broccoli, and to be honest, I can’t remember what Lisa got. We stuffed ourselves silly, but made sure to leave a little room for the pastry place that the cabbie had recommended as well, Vaccaro’s .
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Again, I’m not sure what Lisa got -- some cookies and something else, I think – but I got a huge cannoli and some dog biscuits for Angela’s puppies. Oh man, that place was just plain awesome!

We waddled around the wet streets of Little Italy for a bit, looking for the card that the cabbie had given us – to no avail. Eventually, I used my cell phone (remember that I had the number of at least two cab companies) and called that first place again. It was very loud around me, so it was hard to hear the woman, but once again, I was able to make a reservation for a cab. As SOON as I hung up with the cab company, my phone rang again, so I assumed it was them again, asking for more info or something. But no, it was my friend Ann from work. She lives in Baltimore and had very kindly offered to pick up my friend Karen from the train station if necessary. We had thought that it would not be necessary because Angela had said she could bring Karen up to Baltimore in the morning... BUT! Angela’s husband’s car died, so she wasn’t going to be able to come up after all! Doh! So, Karen had courageously taken bus, metro, and Amtrak to get to Baltimore’s Union Station, where Ann and her boyfriend Ted had just picked her up. I explained that we were in Little Italy but were waiting for a cab back to the hotel, so they said they would meet us there.

Yay! More spectators! *pause* Uh oh! One bed in the room, three people. Not bloody likely!

Lisa and I grabbed a cab that let some people out (once again dissing the cab company with whom we had a reservation) and rushed back to the hotel. I went down to explain the situation and came back with a key for another room, one with two beds. It would have been even better if they had cots, so we could all have slept separately, but noooooo, that would be too logical to have in a hotel, wouldn’t it? I asked Lisa if it would be OK for her to share a bed with Karen so I could make sure I got some sleep (since I was the one running a marathon the next day, and all), and she thought it was a good idea.

While we were waiting for Karen to arrive, I dumped out the contents of the “goodie” bag they had given me and shuffled through the numerous magazines, coupons, and ads. I was happy to see the flavored Chapstick because I seemed to have lost mine, and I *knew* I’d need it the next day. I got my number out and pinned it to the “singlet” that I had received from the AIDS Marathon training program, and then remembered that I had to write my name on it. I pulled out my bunch of Sharpies, decided on dark blue, and wrote out “Giggles” in an outline on the front of the shirt. I was going to fill it in, but it seemed to work pretty well like that. Then I pulled out my “cool-max” hat and wrote “HKDRS” on the brim. THAT one I filled in, sort of, with different colours... and if you ask me, it looked pretty cool! ;-) I got out the clothes I was going to wear (shorts, socks, shoes, two bras, long sleeve running shirt, singlet), then tried to clean up my stuff so it wasn’t all over the place.

Lisa and I slipped into our jammies, believing that Karen should arrive soon and we would then hit the hay.

Silly us! THAT is what we get for thinking!

Karen did arrive soon, but she was accompanied by both Ann and Ted! I was glad to see them and happy that they wanted to give me encouragement, but, well, I couldn’t really move from the bed because I only had on a t-shirt and my undies! Lisa was a little more decently dressed, so she had answered the door, but Ted was a gentleman and did not come fully into the room, but still, I think everyone was just a teensy bit embarrassed. (oops!) Ann had brought a bread pudding for me, which was very nice, but at that point, I just wanted to go to sleep. We all talked for a little bit, and they gave me their good luck wishes and said they would see me on the trail. We explained to Karen what had happened with the rooms (lack of cot, etc.) and she didn’t seem to be too upset about it. We talked for a little while and then we set the alarm(s) and crashed.

I actually slept pretty well, even though I was too excited and my watch kept beeping every hour. However, although I woke up when my watch alarm went off at 5am, I turned it off and turned back to sleep, thinking I could wait until the snooze alarm went off. Problem: no snooze alarm! Luckily (in some ways, not in others), Lisa was having a less peaceful night (thanks to being between two snorers) and realized that I should be up. She leaned over and whispered – “Deborah, aren’t you supposed to be up?” Somewhere inside my tiny little brain, something clicked, and I said, “Oh yeah!” I got up and headed for the shower. By the time I was there, I was wide awake – apparently, my body had realized what we had to look forward to and was getting ready for it. I came back out and ate some of Ann’s bread pudding (which really was quite yummy!) and drank some water (remember, hydration is very important!). Lisa followed me into the shower, followed, very reluctantly, by Karen. I think her body was just saying, “What? It’s dark out there! Go back to sleep!” heeheehee

We got our acts together and checked out of the hotel, along with everyone else that was staying there, and headed back to the Stadium. Since we had been there just yesterday, we knew how to find parking, which made life a lot easier.

We walked from there over the bridge from where we could see the AIDS Marathon tent in the parking lot. By this time, it was about 6:30am, so I checked in, got a tattoo (temporary!) on my arm, and put a trash bag on over my jacket – MUCH warmer! Jim and Aleza (much to my surprise!) showed up and we introduced everyone, took pictures, hit the Porta-Potties one last time (OMG, they were CLEAN!), then headed over through Camden Yards to the starting point, where we were being allowed to start a half-hour early.

Aleza, Gigs, and Jim

They took a couple of group pictures, gave us some advice, we removed extraneous jackets, etc., and...

Starting Line

...we were off!

That's me in the garbage bag... lol

The Marathon Itself

We ran on the left side of the road (Poca Street – uphill, dangit!) which had been blocked off with cones. We saw Shirley and Pearl (my 23-miler running mates), and met Mike and the girl he was running with, whose name I can’t remember. They were running a 1-2 interval vs. our 1-3 interval, so we figured that while we might start off with them, they’d be ahead of us most of the way, depending on how we all were doing. We started off pretty fast, but I tried to keep us a little slower so we didn’t tire ourselves out. I kept remembering Coach Tod saying, “You’ll have so much adrenaline at the beginning, you’ll just rabbit out of there! Try to slow down!” -- so I did. I kept saying “nice and slow, nice and slow” just like I had during our training, and we slowed down our pace. We got to a corner where the route turned a little left (more north-west than west) and we saw a water station. We all ran up and grabbed some water, then turned back to McCulloch Street... well, “all” except for two girls, who went up Preston. I guess they didn’t see the big sign saying “25 miles” indicating that they were going the wrong way!
I hadn’t seen them leave us because they were a bit ahead, but our group was still pretty bunched up and one of the other ladies told us. We were worried about whether or not WE had gone the right way until we saw the lovely “1” mile-marker. And there was much rejoicing! OK, maybe one mile doesn’t seem like a lot when you’ve got 25.2 more to go, but it felt like a major milestone at that point! (And not just because it told us we were going the right direction! Heehee)

The route was still just a bit uphill, which was annoying, but it was fun. They already had cops at all the intersections to make sure the road was clear and that nobody ran us down, and they were very nice and gave us encouragement. We were between miles 1 and 2 when we heard sirens behind us and realized that the wheelchair marathoners were on their way and coming up fast (with their motorcycle cop escort)! They caught up with us and, of course, passed us as we cheered them on. As we jogged past an alley, Jim noticed a guy come to the end of it, look around a bit, and then turn right back. I was looking at the cops as they were driving past us and noticed one of them keeping an eye on the guy in the alley. Jim and I chuckled a bit, noting that just because the cops were on marathon duty, didn’t mean they weren’t still cops!😉

The motorcycle cops had driven up on the right-hand side of the cones, clearing the road ahead of the front-runners. Shortly after Mile 2, we saw a truck with the timer, followed by the leaders: four Kenyans and a Russian. The good thing was that I realized we were making excellent time. At that point, Jim, Aleza, and I were running about 14:30 miles, without stressing ourselves, and UPHILL! I was thrilled, even though I realized that we wouldn't be keeping up that pace for the whole race. Jim and I had decided our first goal was to hit the half-way point in 3 ½ hours, which meant that we needed to keep up a 16:00 pace, including pit stops. With the pace we were on, we felt that was completely do-able. Aleza was running with us pretty well, considering that she had an injury and shouldn’t have been running at all! But, her friend Jill was going to meet her at the half-way point and they would then walk the rest of the way, if necessary. So, all of us were looking forward to the half-way point.

Just before Mile 3, in Druid Hill Park, the rest of the pack found us. I’m talking massive quantities of people! We remembered our duty by staying as far to the right as we could, but at the hairpin turn at the top, we nearly got run over by guys trying to skim the turn! Shortly after that, we were running on Lake Drive and I started giggling. Why? I suddenly was reminded of the Monty Python sketch, “Marathon for the Incontinent.” All along the side of the road, just up the hill, were men running up to or down after *ahem* doing their business. It just cracked me up! I explained it to Jim and Alesa and they started giggling too.
More to come...

May 2005: I *do* have my notes from the 2003 Marathon and I still have vivid memories, so I promise to finish my reminiscences... sometime soon!

October 2018: Well, I never finished my notes from the marathon. I've just spent most of the day recreating these blog pages. I hope to find those notes and finish my story! Even if it IS fifteen years later...

But, I do have pictures!