tackling the beast

marathon complete. yeet.

last week was nuts. gabe was so sick. he had strep & pneumonia in his right lung. broke my heart. he had a horrible cough, heavy breathing and just looked pitiful. mom & jay did an amazing job doing the breathing machine with him. notice i didn't say i did a good job... i wigged out. i did not step up to the plate. i just watched sad & stunned at the whole thing.

i did, however, threaten the lives of the pharmacists that tried to tell me they had to order gabe's medicine. i kindly (ish) told them they better drive around columbus and GET homeboys medication. they got it.

i prayed (selfishly) that after months of marathon training that i wouldn't get sick. madison and i had worked so hard. i just wanted to DO this dang marathon.

i was calm most of the week. but thursday my nerves kicked in. whew, i was a nervous wreck. all i could think about was 26.2 daunting miles ahead of me. it was not fun.

friday i was a little more calm. madison & i went to get our packets together. that was fun. we laughed at ourselves and the mess we'd gotten ourselves into. we signed our waivers (always a scary thing...) and grabbed our bibs/tshirts, etc.

we went over to the pace group table. the sweet girl explained what all that meant. we basically laughed in her face. she said the pace group helped runners not "take off to fast" ...hahaha trust me, we've never taken off fast.  so we skipped that.

we went downstairs to shop the expo. i saw my "running coach." sweet adam. what would i do without him?? he answers a million ridiculous questions for me and encourages me when i'm freaking out. love love love some adam pugh.

after getting our stuff we headed home to attempt to relax and get excited for our saturday.

i don't think i ever got excited. i was TENSE. poor jay was ready to knock me out.

thank God for cale dodds too. he encouraged me a lot for this race. he was WAYYYY to happy & excited about it. but he had a lot of faith in me. i appreciate him :)  (he's my one "crush" that jay lets me have. who doesn't have a crush on cale dodds? seriously...)

i digress...

thankfully i slept well friday night. i couldn't believe it. my alarm went off at 5:20. gross. i got dressed, ate my toast & honey and kissed my boys (while begging for prayers.)

madison and i just kinda laughed when we saw each other. we jumped in the jeep and headed towards the infantry museum. we tried to find a "happy place" listening to christmas music on sunny100. we LOVE christmas. it didn't really work.

we finally found a place to park and still sat stunned at the foolishness ahead of us. sweet, happy cale was texting how excited he was and i was planning my escape.

we finally made ourselves get out of the car around 6:25 and headed into the museum. we went to the bathroom and then stood silently terrified in a sea of obnoxious running outfits, people bouncing around and praying. (no joke.) we joined in some prayer of random folks next to us.

i hit the potty once more and we headed to the start line. we had to push through tons of runners to get to the slow group. ha! we planned on a 10 minute pace. (which we beat...ps!)  anyway, that was fun. we saw several friends so that made us smile.

then it started. i kinda wanted to cry & poop my pants.

what a FUN, sweet surprise to see our precious friend danelle wearing a "team madison & kaci" tshirt and cheering us on (along with jackie fleenor!!)  what fun friends to get up that early, in the cold, to cheer us on! so, so sweet.

we took off. laughing. planning how we could just run to my jeep, go eat pancakes and then come back at the finish. ha.

we normally talk the entire time we run. we barely spoke in the beginning. i think we were in shock. my hands were FROZEN, my mouth was too. seriously, i couldn't speak. my words were slurred! it was so cold. i don't think my hands thawed out for at least an hour & a half. it sucked.

the first half for me (of any run) is the hardest mentally. i don't like to see my miles marked out and so that made it even worse! we saw every.single.number from 1-26. eww.

the soldiers & their families that came out to cheer us on TOTALLY made my day. one guy in front of us would give every soldier a high five. it was super cute. i loved running through ft. benning. my heart was so proud of the soldiers and how much they (& their families) give to our nation. i was overwhelmed.

another favorite part of this run for me was running it in honor of a fallen hero. one of the guys at uncommon athlete gave me the name of a marine who died this past may. his name was steve sutton. he was only 24 and left a wife and daughter. broke my heart. so when my toes were cramping and i was miserable i prayed for his family.

speaking of being miserable... i tried my best to keep my mind in a happy place. i kept thinking "i ran 22 miles by myself one sunday morning...i know i can do this." but as every mile slowly went by i thought "i hate this." hahaha.

so many things went through my head during the run. it kinda went like this:
what mile are we on?
i wonder what i am going to eat later...
wow, my toes are cramping.
do i need to poop?
wonder where the next water station is...
what mile are we on?
i can't wait to watch football.
i miss jay & gabe.
i want coffee.
i hate this.
what mile are we on?
i am so proud of us. we are rockin' this.
i want to die.
Lord, please be with the Sutton family.
my toes hurt.
i bet my feet are swollen.
i am so proud of us.
oh my word, we still have 13 miles.
when do we turn around?
is that guy already on his way back?
do i need to poop?
what mile are we on?
i can't wait to watch football.
i miss jay and gabe.
hmmm, what should i eat today?
i think my feet are swollen.
what mile are we on?
i love this. i love running.
when can i sign up for my next marathon??
i hate running.
is that volunteer eating peanuts? i want some peanuts.
wonder where the next port-a-potty is?
i love running.
i hate this i'm never doing it again.

i could go on...but you get my point.

the volunteers were awesome. they cheered us on non-stop! it was precious. i don't take their happy selves for granted. i needed the encouragement.

they gave out water, gatorade and gu. i can't handle the gu gels. they are NASTY. i just chewed my gum...which was tucked into my compression socks since my dang jeep key took up my entire pocket! i had 3 pieces of gum tucked in my socks. i know i looked like a fool.

...heck, i was wearing hot pink compression socks...who is looking past that?!

madison and i did finally start talking about mile 10. we had our funny moments. i couldn't get the stupid toilet paper roll open in the port-a-potty. i was in there forever. and it was rank. i ended up tearing the whole roll up trying to get it open. ridiculous.

we smiled at the photographers but we were faking it.

i threw my long-sleeved tshirt on a park bench around mile 15. i picked it up on my way back so i had to carry it for 4 miles-ish. it was good for wiping sweat.

the last 2 miles were the WORST. i have no clue why. but i was hating life. madison said she was too and so did jon & cale dodds. so i don't feel too weird. i just wanted to be DONE and those two miles felt like 10.

volunteers were still cheering me on telling me i was sooooo close. my only response was "thank God." haha.

the strange thing is i really loved it. even through the hard, difficult, suicidal times...i was proud of what my body could do. i am thankful that i am healthy and can run long distances.

when i turned the last corner i heard my crazy mom yell "go kaci!! yay, buddy!"  there was my precious family with a big "congrats kaci" sign and cheering voices. it was so fun!!! they helped me push through that last part with a real smile :)

as i got to the last stretch i saw jay & gabe. ohhhh, that made my heart smile!! jay wasn't sure if they'd make it since it was right during gabes nap time. but they were there!!!!

when i finally crossed the finish line i couldn't even think straight. i saw a friend (sharayah, yeet!) and asked where i could get water. she pointed and told me to grab a beer. i don't drink but the thought of a beer at that point made me want to vomit. haha.

i chugged 2 bottles of water. took a picture with my FABULOUS, BEST RUNNING BUDDY madison and went to see my family.

we took pictures and hugged. it was sweet. vasa's greeting was "what buddy, why are you tired...you just run?"

jay wanted me to go back and get some free food (for him!) so i grabbed some candy, a breakfast burrito and another water. i did take a bite of the burrito. it was good but i was NOT thinking of food at that point.

we took a few more pictures, talked to the dodds, jeannie & charles, sam creswell and headed to the car.

i was very thankful to be done and very ready to be off my swollen, sore feet.

i got in my jeep and hit the road...

i tried to go down and get on 185. i totally missed the dang exit and ended up having to get off on some random ft benning exit. i had to show my ID and ask the guy for directions. he laughed at me. told me what to do and i thought i was paying attention. apparently not, b/c i missed the dang exit AGAIN and ended up having to drive all the way down victory drive to get home. there was a ridiculous amount of traffic and a flippin train. seriously?!  oh and i had to drive sitting completely sideways because my right leg & hip hurt so bad.

why do i love running?! haha.

i do know why. it's a challenge. it's a great way to clear my mind. it's precious time with God and with my girl madison. it's peaceful. i can do it anywhere. it's not a team sport! so nobody is depending on me not to suck. ha. i can be slow or speed up. it's all up to me.

i wasn't athletic AT ALL growing up so i am thankful to have something that i feel good about. i never played sports (except one year of softball and i didn't really "play" i just wore the uniform.) i wasn't a good dancer, never was a cheerleader or anything like that.  so i guess running is my "thing."

i love it. i thank God for giving me the ability to do it.

i do plan on doing another marathon. if it brings God glory. i pray it does.

i'm sure i am forgetting a million hilarious details... more to come, maybe!