runlindsayrun

Day Five

Today began with a 7 am wake-up call, a quick breakfast, and then a lot of waiting around. We geared up for the marathon, and then met all the other Team Canada 10k-ers in the hotel lobby - a literal sea of bright (s)lime green. Trust me, NO ONE looks good in this colour. But it's so awesome to be able to spot your teammates from a mile away. The full marathon folks left even earlier than us - some as early as 5.15 am - to get to their event. So I really have nothing to complain about!

We left the hotel at 8, then walked 10 blocks to the Olympic Stadium, which was the start and finish to our race. And then we waited... In the rain. The official race start was at 9.30, and by then I was SO ready to go. Something about being in the middle of that huge group of people, all hyped up and ready to go - it makes waiting almost unbearable.

Geoff and I started strong and - I'm VERY pleased to say - passed a whole slew of green pinnies. And it must have been a good pace, because we kept it steadily right to the end. The first 5k was uphill, sometimes a gradual incline and sometimes not very gradual at all. That's the bad news. The good news is that what we learned in science class was indeed true: what goes up must come down. And we enjoyed turning around and returning the final 5k downhill. Around the halfway point, Geoff and I were joined by a lady from BC named Theresa. Theresa and I had actually connected by email over the last couple of months, talking about training and walking tips. It was so awesome to actually get to walk the race with her.

The weather was absolutely perfect: cloudy, 17 degrees, a slight breeze, and on-and-off drizzle. Unfortunately, this also happened to make sections of the road slippery, and I spent about 2k close to the end trying very hard not to slip. I'm feeling some of those muscles tonight (skating muscles, it feels like), from tensing up and over-compensating.

When we were around the 9k mark, we started to hear all kinds of commotion behind us. Sure enough, it was the first-place full marathon runner, being escorted by police, news crews, and even a helicopter. It was very, very cool to be so close and cheer him on as he ran right past us toward his record-setting finish. We were psyched. Right up until we neared the gates to the Olympic Stadium, the grand finish line in sight. When we got there, the marathon officials informed us that we were finished, because they'd needed to clear the finish line for the full marathoners and we'd missed our 90-minute cutoff point to finish. It was momentarily very disappointing, but I sucked it up and realized pretty quickly that we'd accomplished what we came to do - we just missed the cool fancy stuff at the end. We still received our completion medals. And although we were not eligible to receive an *official* race time, Theresa had attached a pedometer / timer to her water bottle holder, and so we have our unofficial official time. A kind of heartbreaking 1 hour, 30 minutes, and 46 seconds. Heartbreaking, that is, until I realized that that's a pretty killer 10k time for a walker! A million thanks to Geoff and Theresa for keeping me moving, especially when I hit my wall of absolute exhaustion around 7k. I didn't need to stop once, and they kept me talking and laughing through the whole thing.

After the finish - following all kinds of typical JIM hoopla - we stayed for a bit, then headed back to the hotel to shower and change and find some lunch. Later, we returned to the stadium, where I got to accomplish one of my major goals for this trip: cheering in my Team Canada teammates, including Jen who was the very last person to complete the full marathon at just over 7 hours. For once, it wasn't the other way around. And it felt so good.

Believe it or not, I still had some energy left (I said SOME...), so Geoff and I headed from the stadium to the ruins of the Temple of Zeus, then set out on a mission to find Lindsay some Starbucks. This has been a goal of mine since we arrived here (this girl NEEDS her coffee and I was rapidly entering a state of withdrawal), and today we finally managed to hunt one down. I have never enjoyed a caramel macchiato more in my life.

At 7 pm, we met the whole team for our Victory Celebration Dinner, which was lots of fun. We all received grecian olive wreaths to wear during dinner, which made us all look RIDICULOUS (but it was a little bit fun). Every single JIM participant crossed their finish line today, so we had a lot to celebrate.

And now, finally, I can SLEEP. And Lindsay needs her sleep. It's been a long, emotional day - but such a good one. My body is tired and my legs feel about 79 years old (a vast improvement over my past two JIM adventures, but STILL). But my heart is so happy.

I wish I could explain what JIM means, but unless you've been here, I don't think you can know. Today was incredible, and I had been expecting nothing less. The people who take on the challenge of successfully completing a JIM project are very special, and when you get them all in the same place with a common goal - it's a kind of magic, I think. It really makes you realize that there's a lot of good left in the world, and that if you are truly determined, anything is possible. So many of them were not runners until they signed up to do this earlier this year, and the smiles on their faces when they hobbled into our celebration dinner this evening pretty much say it all.

Geoff's already asking where we're going next. And who are we kidding... I may take a break, but I'm not finished yet. There's still no cure, and I still haven't RUN one of these things :)

We're meeting up with about 15 other JIMers to leave on our cruise tomorrow morning at 8. On to Phase Two of this amazing, fabulous adventure...

Labels: Greece, Joints in Motion, My Life, The Boy, Travel

posted by Lindsay @ 1:46 PM