Finally, my post race recap. It gets a little messy in my head, so bear with me (you are welcome for that accidental pun!)…

The Sleeping Bear race was four hours away, so I booked a motel in a nearby town for myself and Allison, my guide runner (all the lodging in the area was filling up fast!). We had to drive to Traverse City (also nearby) to pick up our race packets so while we were there I introduced Allison to one of our favorite T.C. restaurants, Slabtown Burgers. After dinner, we made a valiant effort to find ice cream for dessert, but were unsuccessful. All the ice cream shops were closed for the season!

We drove to the beach where the finish line would be the following morning, and got some pictures of the sun setting over the water. Incredible to see. There was a local retired man with two goldendoodles there watching the sunset, and we chatted with him for a minute. I asked him about the hills on this course, after he told us he rides his bike on the trails all the time. He said there were a couple of decent hills, but assured us they were short (Spoiler alert: he lied.).

The morning of the race was cold. I think maybe around 40 degrees Fahrenheit? A little more than a few degrees above freezing. But the forecast showed it would be warming up to the 60s, so I dressed for that. You warm up quick when you are running, so it’s always wise to dress for the later weather, not the earlier. We parked at the lot near the finish line, and walked over to hop on a charter bus that would take us to the starting line. The charter bus was a welcome reprieve from the cold. Soft cushy seats, heat. I was making a conscious choice to enjoy this ride. I was excited to be surrounded by all the other runners, and excited to finally be running this race I had been training for.

Once we were delivered to our starting location, we got in line for the bathrooms for one last go. I was thankful to have a real bathroom available because I have a semi-logical fear of porta potties. And since we had gotten a pretty early start, the lines weren’t terribly long, and I was also thankful for that.

From the bathrooms we walked over to the starting line and waited some more. The sand dunes were to our left, and the starting line to our right. The sun had just started to peak out when we got off the charter bus, so by the time we were waiting at the starting line, it was in full sunrise glory. I got a great shot of the sun rising over the portapotties (the ones we didn’t have to use).

While we waited we were able to cheer on the full marathon runners as they made their start, 30 minutes before us. And before long it was our turn. We counted down, and then we were off! The start of most races is always pretty crowded, and this one was no exception. I just tried to stay focused on not going out too fast, and let all the faster runners get around me (let’s be honest, they were all faster runners).

It was in that first quarter mile that I realized my Garmin watch was on my “walk” setting from the day before! So I didn’t have my pace showing in the big bold numbers, and I didn’t have my run/walk interval notifications. No worries, I was feeling pretty strong and told Allison I would just keep running at this pace (whatever that was) and see how it went. Throughout the race she was able to tell me how fast we were going, so that helped a lot. I wasn’t worried about missing walk breaks because I knew there would be hills coming that I would likely need to walk up (and down), so that was a fine compromise for me.

I can’t remember how far in I started feeling gassed, but it was a lot farther in than I had expected. I was feeling great. Super surprised at how well my legs were holding up. However, in the last half of the race there were lots of moments where I was running out of gas and needed the Gatorade that the race organizers provided at the aid stations. I knew that would be provided, so I intentionally did not bring any hydration with me. And as it turns out, that Gatorade saved me. Without those periodic pick-me-ups, I would have been slow walking the last half of the race, for sure. I would walk through the aid station, gulp my Gatorade, and minutes later that second wind would come and I felt like I could run again. It was quite fascinating to me, that such a simple thing could rejuvenate me so quickly and I was able to go from barely able to move my legs, to being able to run again.

I can’t give a play by play, because I don’t remember details of any race that way. I’m sure some people can, but I’m not one of them. I remember snippets. Like the time I tripped on a small crack and went flying forward. Allison thankfully had quick reflexes and caught me before I fell. Falls like that are so scary. They happen so fast yet they seem to happen in slow motion. During this race it happened around the 10 mile mark and I only remember that because that’s when I was starting to feel the major fatigue in my legs. Hence the trip and near-fall.

The last mile was an exercise in insanity. I was trying my best to stay in a running motion, but it was getting so difficult. I did have to walk some to rest my legs because I wanted to finish strong. So during the last mile I told Allison to stay close to me, because falling was definitely a greater possibility. I was starting to get mildly frustrated because there were so many turns in order to get to the finish line. I kept asking her, can you see it? And she never answered in the affirmative but assured me we were getting closer.

The closer you get to the finish, the more spectators you see on the sidelines. At one point, a woman shouted to us, “You’re almost there!”. And I shouted back, “I don’t believe you! She’s (Allison) been telling me the same thing!” But alas, we did finally turn the last corner that revealed the finish. I couldn’t see it as much as I could hear it. The cheers and shouting were endearing. So many people there to support all the runners. And on our right, hordes of faster runners walking back to their cars with their arms full of snacks. That’s when I knew we were close – all the snacks. I forgot all the pain and weakness I was feeling and ran forward. Allison and I both raised our arms in the air and smiled big as we crossed that finish line.

I tried to walk out of the way of the runners coming behind me but my legs wouldn’t withstand walking, so I collapsed onto Allison instead. A photographer rushed over to help walk me over to the fence and someone offered us bottled waters. I kind of hate this drama at the end of longer races, because it really looks worse than it feels, but it’s unavoidable. When I’m pushing my legs that hard, I have to expect they are going to rebel. I think my prayer is always just that they wait until I cross the finish line for that rebellion. One of these days it could result in a DNF (did not finish) and that would be soul crushing.

After my legs resumed normal function (mostly), we sauntered (hobbled) over to the snack area and retrieved our hard-earned spoils. Banana, granola bar, beer, and orange slices!! I remember getting orange slices at one of the aid stations during the Grand Rapids Marathon and how it felt like a gift from heaven, it was so refreshing. On this day? Equally miraculous. The gentleman handed me two and I could have kissed him I was so happy. Orange slices never taste as good as they do after running all those miles.

To end the race experience we walked over to the beach area and took our socks and shoes off. The water was blocked off by a slight stone wall, so we didn’t put our feet in the water, but putting our feet in the sand was cooling enough. It felt amazing to sit and rest there. Allison didn’t know this about me, but I used to have a strong aversion to sand. I couldn’t stand touching it. Up until a trip with my family to the Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in 2020. We walked onto the beach so we could all dip our toes into Lake Superior and I found myself saying, “oh, this feels nice”. Which was such an odd thing for me to say, I surprised myself! Something about that trip I guess flipped a switch and now it doesn’t bother me. Sand, sugar, flour, it’s all okay for me to touch. It doesn’t make me cringe anymore, and I’m loving that change. But I digress…

We sat for awhile and then decided we were hungry, and ready for that post-race meal to replenish all that we had burned off. We had decided ahead of time to get pizza, because it happened to be something we both love. After some quick Google searching, Allison found us a highly rated pizza place, Papano’s, that had a location nearby. They had personal size pizzas, so we each ordered our own and got what we liked. It was a fantastic end to a full and memorable race experience.