North vs South Marathon

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Since I picked up running and slowly checked off a 5k then 10k and finally a half I decided that next on my list was a full marathon. This full marathon thing has been on my Bucket List for the last three years and somehow each year passes and I haven’t been able to check off the marathon box. But this year is different, New Year’s Eve I signed up for the Gettysburg North vs South Marathon.

Affordable, not far away, and a place Derik had never been seemed like the perfect trifecta. Plus I was told that it was a net downhill which just sounds even better to my inexperienced ears. So I started training week one of 2017 and trained consistently (with the exception of my week in Guatemala) and felt prepared, nervous but prepared.

The Saturday before the race we sent our foster pup to the rescue for the weekend, loaded up the car and headed out. The 3 ½ hour journey seemed to take forever. Derik working in the passenger seat as I navigated the strange back roads that Waze insisted I take.

My husband is from Montana, I mention this simply because it will make the next statement more understandable. Along the way to Gettysburg we HAD to stop at Cabellas. We walked around the massive store staring at more taxidermy deer than anyone could imagine. Lions and tigers and bears oh my! We grabbed lunch at Logan’s Roadhouse where people just throw the shells of peanuts on the floor causing me to have serious agita.



We finished up the last let of our drive and arrive at the newly dubbed Murder Motel. Yes it sort of looked a bit like Bates Motel and despite the extremely friendly owners of the joint it wouldn’t be a place I would recommend for anyone. In all honesty we were suppose to stay at another place that got overbooked and we got shuffled over to this joint. They helped us out by accommodating us for the same price we were paying for the first joint and they were really nice folks so I don’t want to put them on blast, but wowzers. I’ve stayed in questionable places before and this is not the worse by any means but it is the worse in America. Derik who has always travelled with a little more coin then me found it mortifying and didn’t want the sheets to touch him. Eh, it’s a place to sleep for one night just 8 miles from the race start, it served its purpose.



Packet pick up was closing in a hour so we headed over there to grab our shirts and bibs and admire the nice hardware we would come home with if we crossed the finish line. Taking a picture of the map we decided to scope out the course like hardcore runners. Only we weren’t hardcore we just wanted to see how much pain we would be in tomorrow and those rolling hills we drove didn’t look to friendly.



After trying to encourage each other that steady hills that we would encounter tomorrow could definitely be worse we decided to see some of Gettysburg. It had been raining all day but just as we were finishing the course the rain ceased and the setting sun looked beautiful. We went on over to the National Cemetery where Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address.



Following that we headed over to La Bella Italia. What better place to stuff your face full of carbs than an Italian joint? Scanning the menu while chowing down on bread we ordered up. Pasta, pasta and more pasta and you know what, they were not skimping on those portion sizes! We devoured our pasta and cheese and deliciousness with the vigor of someone planning to run 200 miles the next day.



Stuffed to the gills we bid adieu to our Italian feast and headed back to Murder Motel for a freezing cold sleep because the temperature dropped and the provided space heater was extremely dodgy looking. Not risking fire, we chose to freeze.

Up bright and early we got ourselves prepped and ready to speed off into the sunrise and then into noon and probably after that. We packed up our things and headed over to the starting line. It looked to be a beautiful day which was a relief after the rain we had been dealing with.

I can’t deny the fact that I was nervous. I’m nervous before any race including 5k races but this was a whole new challenge. This wasn’t something I did every week, or something I had done a few times before so I knew I could do it again. This was a beast unto its own, a 26.2 quest through hills and fields that smelled like cows and who knows what else.



The buzzer goes off, the slow shuffle of folks begins as the speed demons jut forth and the slow pokes trot until everyone is spaced out enough to get momentum going. I was chilling at the starting line but it didn’t take long before I had warmed up and the trail became a wasteland of long sleeve shirts people were disposing of.

It ended up being a beautiful, clear day. The sun was shining barely a cloud in the sky. The course was really nice, even nicer than we had driven it although I swear it was hella more uphill. I mean seriously it felt like it was uphill both ways! Every time you thought thank god I finished that one there can’t possibly be another hill like that in the course you would see it in the distance mocking you, challenging you to run up it. I did not train for hills, I hate hills, I avoid running in my neighborhood because hills suck so much but here they were unmoving and expecting me to conquer them. I did my best, but between mile 18 and 20 I started walking, but I only walked uphill, realizing that walking and “jogging” up theses hills literally were about the same pace.



My podcast kept me entertained (honestly I’m probably the only one still smiling and laughing at mile 20 because I find the podcast Cognitive Dissonance that hilarious) along with funny signs and power up buttons. My legs were killing me but they weren’t trying to boycott running so I felt like we were in a positive place, my legs and me that is. The smell of cow manure made it hard to swallow goo but still I persisted. Every mile the Garmin watch I was borrowing buzzed and I did the math that should have been easy but became harder and harder each mile to figure out how much farther to go.



Finally the crossing guards stood by the sign that said mile 25 and gave me a high five as I was passing by. Just one more measly mile to go (because who bothers to even think of that .2 after 26 miles) and luckily it was just about all downhill.

I trudged along at full speed ahead, which after 25 miles was a whopping 13:30 minutes per mile but to me felt like break neck speeds. I turned the bend and there was the finish line, with few folks still remaining and on the verge of breaking everything down. I crossed the finish line to the cheers of three and grabbed my metal from the little girl and collapsed in a blaze of glory. Okay no collapsing. I gently took my metal from the little girl, put it on, guzzelled some Gatorade, ate some chips and waited for Derik to cross the finish line.

With my completion of 26.2 miles I was entitled to two beers, however when your as slow as me it turns out that the beer truck doesn’t want to wait around. Luckily the folks handing out your race time also stored away a box of beer, literally, and gave me the best stating Ultra Lite I have ever drank!



Twenty minutes later, Derik crossed the finish line in his own blazing glory. Unfrotunately by that time even the time tent was gone which meant the beer tent was gone. We washed up at a local Travel Lodge and hit the road because even though we just spent nearly six hours running we now had a 3 ½ hour journey home because someone had to work on Monday (that someone wouldn’t be me).

We stuffed our face at Neato Burrito in Harrisburg, PA and indulged in whatever the cabinet had to offer once we made it home. We did indeed make it home in record time despite the fact that both of us just wanted to pass out.



I had said I only wanted to run one marathon. It has been on my bucket list for ages and now I have done it, I never have to do it again right? Well first off I had to walk some so can I really, truly check it off? Secondly I mean seriously that course was so hilly! I totally think I could run a marathon faster than my turtle speed. And third, well its been two days since the race and you know what my legs ache a bit, my sunburn burns like hell and I need a new pair of shoes but frankly I think it may be totally worth running another marathon (FLAT MARATHON) and I think I wanna do one soon. Guess I better start training!

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