Day 7 of running prison

I have been a very good girl. I have not run for 7 days now nor have I lost my mind.  Honestly, I have felt pretty crappy and the weather has been pretty iffy this week so I don't think having a week off was too bad.  Yesterday was the Wicked Marathon in Wamego.  I had committed to volunteering and was sent to water station mile 6.  It was the prefect day for running and much of the course was either on my long run route or my in town route.  I decided to ride my bike out to the water station so I could be mobile and head to another water station if needed.  There weren't many runners so water stations were pretty easy.  All of the runners were through my station by an hour and half so I headed to the next needed station, a turn where runners needed to stay on the right side of the cones and stay on the right side of the road for an upcoming right turn.   I got the first few runners through and then was sent to another area where the runners needed to be directed to go straight instead of turn.  I was so glad I had my bike so I could ride back and forth from the water station at mile 22 to the tricky parts.  I didn't have to sit in one spot and I got to see all of my friends come through.  I had some very chatty runners who wanted to talk and some that were in the zone and didn't want anything to do with me.  I talked to those who needed it and directed those silently who didn't.  Since this was a small race, the runners got pretty strung out and I think those who weren't running together got lonely.  After the last runner came through, I headed to the finish to congratulate my friends.  The finish was so cool, they got a medal, a shirt, a poster that a child had designed in wamego that was Oz themed and they got their picture taken with the wizard of oz characters.  I missed most of my friends finishing but I stayed till the last runner came through.  The cut off was 6 hours and he made it in 5:56 something.  Wow.  He gutted it out.

I saw that so much though and it truly inspired me.  I saw people who looked like normal people go 26.2 and it really got me fired up.  I truly must run a marathon.  Three people who really made me so proud.  One was a friend of mine who is a super strong runner.  She hit the wall at mile 18 and really had a tough time with cramps.  Her husband started running with her, not in running clothes at all and ran over four miles with her.  I didn't get to see her finish but she finished with him and her two sons.  So awesome.  The second was a husband and wife team that have run marathons in 49 states.  There had to be in their 70s at least.  The ran the whole thing together and finished together.  The third was the last guy.  You could tell he was in pain and was really struggling and had to stop several times but he never gave up.  He made it with 4 minutes to spare.  We all cheered him on till the end!  He was so grateful and the first words out of his mouth were, Kansas isn't flat at all LOL!  I love that so many people think it is flat but we are in the flint hills after all:)

I am looking forward to trying out the old lungs tomorrow.  Will probably just do four slow miles but any running is good running:)