I’ll be there, sure that if only I had done one more 20 mile run, gone up more hills, lifted a few more weights, gotten up at 4:30AM instead of 5AM to train, had a tiny bit more of a positive and/or fighting attitude, I would qualify for Boston today and/or get over the finish line a little faster this year.  Shot and then wait to go over the start line.  Taiko drummers.  Guys peeing on the wall about a mile out for no apparent reason.  Up a little hill, back down Naito Parkway, then long out and back before hitting NW PDX.  Highway 30 stretches a lot further than you think before you go over the St. John’s Bridge.  Belly dancers.  Smiling UP students handing out some form of hydration.  Steel Bridge, peeing wall, and then Naito Parkway.  Heading home, knowing it’s going to happen.  The fat Viking lady is singing before turning the corner in front of the Justice Building.  I try to empty out the very last bits of energy I possess so it appears that I have flashed over that finish line.  I bend my head a bit to get my medal and catch the smile of my husband, Mike, who always finds a way to shoehorn himself where he can be the first to congratulate me.  Ice cream, oranges, and water, water, water.  I’m a human salt lick.  I won’t qualify for Boston, of course, but I will be entirely happy with myself, and grateful to have done the marathon one more time.  (Theresa, the mother in this mother/daughter partnership.)

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 17th, 2011 at 7:49 pm and is filed under News.