WE DID IT!!!!

Hello Everyone!

I'm officially back in DC, back to work, and back to reality! What an amazing journey the past four months of my life have been and I couldn't have imagined a better ending than I had last weekend in San Diego. I can't do the weekend justice just talking about the marathon, so here's a little recap of my weekend that felt like summer camp.

Thursday Night/Friday:
After a mere 4 hours of sleep on Thursday night due to some interruptions, Kerry and Moses picked up me and our teammate Lauren who crashed the night on my couch to go to Dulles Airport at 5am. At 8:15, we were up in the air, off to the West Coast. I was entertained by the horrible acting skills of Katie Holmes in the movie 'Mad Money,' then cried like a baby to the movie 'The Bucket list.' Once the movies were over, I knew the weekend was going to be perfect because they played an episode of 'The Office.' Six hours and not a minute before I was ready to jump out of my skin we were landing in San Diego. As I looked out the window at the area, I said outloud, 'I may never go home,' apparently a little louder than I thought as Kerry burst out laughing several rows infront of me.

After we picked up our baggage, we loaded up onto the TNT bus to the hotel. I'm not gonna lie, I totally felt like an Olympic athlete. We stayed at a Marriot in Mission Beach that was complete with beds and hammocks poolside.

Kerry and Me on the way to the Hotel...
Hotel Pool:
After we checked into the hotel, we headed over as a group to the Marathon Expo that was down at the Convention Center. For those of you who are not runners or have never been to an expo, it's where you pick up your race number and time chip and then are released onto a floor of endless discount running gear---aka it's like releasing a fat kid in a candy store. Perhaps it was the exhaustion, but I managed to control myself and not buy one thing!

Moses, Lauren, Me, Kerry and Hector outside the Expo:

After the expo, Hector, Moses, Lauren, Kerry and I walked around the Gaslamp District of San Diego. As we walked around, I stated that I didn't believe actually lived in San Diego because it was just too damn perfect. If I lived there, I would call into work sick everyday, it just wouldn't work out. We wandered for what seemed like hours, and I was getting cranky because we were approaching a 17 hour day of being awake ontop of a 4 hour night of sleep. Nonetheless, we rallied and Hector, Moses, Kerry, Lauren and I met up with some of Hector's friends who lived in San Diego and they took us for a dinner in Coronado. We sat by the a window that overlooked the bay onto the San Diego skyline. I treated myself to Swordfish and wine---the marathon was still a good 24 hours+ away. On the way home from dinner, John Melloncamp's song "Jack and Diane" was on the radio, and I had one of those life is perfect moments as I was riding through beautiful San Diego and all of us singing under our breaths, "Oh yea, life goes on, long after the thrill of living is gone...".

Group of us at dinner with San Diego in the background....

Hector, Lauren, Me, Kerry and Moses outside our Restaurant trying to capture the view we had...

Hector, Lauren, Me, Kerry and Moses again, closer view...

After 22 hours of being awake, it was time for bed....

Saturday:
Of course I wake up ready to rock n roll at 4 am Cali time, 7am East Coast, on Saturday. I laid in bed and forced a little more sleep until it was time when a bunch of us went out and did a quick 1.5 mile run to remind our bodies why we were actually in California. After our run, we went to Michaels to get the all important iron-on letters for our racing singlets, and then it was off to the pasta party.

Moses Lauren and Me waiting for the Trolley on the way to the Pasta Party...

The 34 of us from our region went to the Pasta Party about two trolley stops from our hotel. This is when the weekend became emotional/reminded us why we were doing what we were doing. We walked into the Hall of the party to deafening cheering noises. As we kept walking, coaches and survivors from all over the country lined the hallways and cheered at the top of their lungs for all the runners. I had tears in my eyes immediately. What really got me, and many of us, was seeing a woman crying her eyes out, holding a sign that said, "This survivor thanks you." I can not do justice with my words that would properly explain the emotions of what those few moments of walking through the tunnel of cheering made me feel. All I know is that i felt unworthy. I found a clip on youtube of the pasta party in San Diego from the year before, and it is actually at the same spot as where ours was. The first few seconds shows the cheering, here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laVhdeL-Uco&feature=related

After getting our food, we sat down at our team's tables. We were a group of 34 joining a good 2 thousand in the room. As we ate, slideshows of our Honored Teammates and those who we were running for in Memory Of passed along the screens. After the slideshows, videos of past TNT events played, interviewing the participants, playing clips of them crossing the finish lines. There wasn't a dry eye in the house. The first speaker at the event was the VP of the TNT events for the Leaukemia and Lymphoma Society. She explained how far and how many improvents the LLS has been able to make in the past 20 years of TNT existance. It is amazing the improvements in the lives of both patients and families the money has helped to make, not to mention the astounding advances made from the research. We were also told that in the San Diego event alone, for the past 10 years, including this year, this race has raised $132 million from TNT!!! This year, I am proud to say that 66 chapters represented by 3200 runners raised a total of $12.5 million, $170,000 contributed from the 34 runners from the National Capital Region!!!!!!!

After the VP, a Runners' World favorite John Bingham, aka 'The Penguin,' spoke to us. John is famous for being a back of the packer marathon, and has quite a bit of humor in his views of the marathon world---which he has a lot of, he is a 45 time marathon runner! The Penguin gave us first timers some tips and things to expect--like not sleeping, don't make any decisions while on the course as after a certain point your judgement making abilities are not that great, he discussed 'The Wall,' and another portion of the run he named the 'Bite Me' stage, in which you will want to scream at even the person you love most in the world. I was familiar with that stage from our long runs, it was just really great to hear such an appropriate name for it!

When John Bingham was finished, the next speaker was Mr. Butcher, the husband of Susan Butcher, the first woman to ever with the Iditard 4 times and who had just lost her fight to Leaukemia. It was amazing and humbling to imagine the courage it took this man to stand before us and talk very much in detail about the point of diagnosis, the fight and the lost battle he had with his wife and two little girls. At the end of his speech, Mr. Butcher said that when TNT asked him to come and speak, he struggled with whether or not to. Once he decided to, they asked him to come and just say a few words of inspiration to us. He then said something along the lines of how his wife always lived by a saying from a philospher--I don't know the exact words--that when you are born, you sign a contract and that contract is you will eventually die. While you are here, you are to live life in an effort to do good for even just one more person. He said his wife did that times a thousand. He then went back into the thought of what to say to us about inspirtation, and he said, I walked into this room and I realized, I don't need to say anything inspirational to you all. You are like my wife in that you have inspiration in your hearts. All you have to do is look up at your table, look at the person sitting next to you, but most importantly, go home tonight and look in the mirror and know that you are a hero. Just when I thought the feeling of walking through the loud cheers from the coaches and survivors as we walked in could never happen again, it came back. It was an honor to hear such words from this man.

Some of the Team at the Pasta Party...

After all the food was eaten and the tears were dried, we headed back to our hotel pool where we had a pep talk and last minute race details from our coaches and got goodie bags on the beds that were poolside.

The whole team at our meeting:

All of us piled on the bed for the meeting....

My AMAZING Coaches...Coach Tina and Coach Rebecca!!!! Team Hector!!!!! Michelle, Carlotta, Me, Hector, Thais, Lauren, Kerry and Moses!!!
Sunday Morning:
I was pleasantly surprised that I slept like a rock on Saturday night!!!! I was dead to the world until 3:45am when my alarm clock went off and I jumped up out of bed like it was Christmas morning. All of my stuff was laid out compulsively the night before, so it took no time to get ready to join my team down in the lobby at 4:15am to take pictures. While all 3200 TNT runners were wearing purple race singlets, we were the only ones to wear the neon green hats, so it made it easy for friends, family and our coaches to spot us coming!! We walked out of our door to find that our coaches had decorated them!! You can even catch a picture of us in the Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/02/AR2008060202045.html

Here are a few pics of the morning prior to heading to the race---keep in mind, this is 4:15am!:

YAY TNT!!!!!

Kerry and Me in the Lobby:
The whole team before leaving!
We were on our shuttle to the Start line by 4:45. Would you believe that there was actually traffic!!!! Once at the Start, you have to check your bags and hit the porta-potties. If you have never been to a large race, the lines for the porta-potties are a sight to be seen! They literally go on for miles--so long that once you go, you literally get right back into the line because you will have to go again by the time you get to the front. After 3, yes 3, trips to the porta-potties, I lined up in Corral 10 with Lauren and Hector. The music blasted and we were surrounded by 22,000 runners patiently waiting for 6:30am to come. Before I knew it, the gun went off and I was taking my first steps crossing the start line for my first marathon! What an adrenaline rush! I said to my teammate, yeah, this will be the last time I feel this rush for a few hours!
The first half of the marathon flew by in a blur! The energy was insane between the bands and all the crowds! Miles 7-10 I noticed were tough, and as I was thinking, why is this so hard already, I heard someone from the crowd shout, 'the crest of the hill is just ahead!" Yea, apparently I was running 3 miles uphill and had no clue! At mile 10, the downhill, I pulled out my cellphone from my waterbelt and called my Dad. He answered and immediately said, "What the hell are you doing?!" Oh just running a marathon Dad, no big deal. The two guys behind me got quite the kick of the sight of me on my cellphone. I said my family couldnt make it, and figured I called while I still felt good!
The support for TNT was amazing throughout the whole course. I was so proud to able to run the race and have people know that I raised money for others to participate. At one point, I was going through a rough spot and I saw a man on the corner holding a sign that said, "11 year survivor. Thank you Team In Training," talk about motivation!
I spoke to my sister at mile 14, still feeling strong. It wasn't until mile 17, when my shins started to cramp that I had a problem. I've had this on all my long runs, I cramp up where my surgery scars from high school are on my shins. I carried bio-freeze with me and was forced to use it at mile 19 when I couldnt walk another step let alone run because they cramped up so badly. I was on my way again feeling good until mile 21 when my other shin cramped up and I had no biofreeze left, and none of the Medtents had it or Bengay. Luckily, just like the angels that they are, Coach Tina and Coach Rebecca were there and so I stopped while they rubbed my legs down with Biofreeze they carried with them. If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't have been able to finish.
The last 6.2 miles of new territory, I feel like the Finish Line just pulled me closer and closer. It's the toughest thing I've ever done, but barring your body from completely giving up, there is no way you are going to just stop. What a loser would you feel like! You even decide that walking is not good because you just want it to be over with! Luckily, the beauty of San Diego is a great distraction. I made the decision that even in the tough times, to take in every moment of the race and to not forget the images. I worked so hard for it. At mile 25, I called my dad again, asking him to talk me through the mile because my shins were cramped up so badly I didn't think I could do it. When he said, "It's only a mile Sarah," I had a bite me moment and immediately hung up. Don't ever tell a runner in a marathon they only have 4 miles, 3, 2, hell one, left, unless you want to get cursed out. I almost cursed out a crying child around mile 23 who was on the side of the road. Apparently, I didn't think he deserved to be crying because he wasn't in my shoes. Needless to say, I kept my control and used my anger to push me through.
Finally, just when I though they must have measured wrong and it was more than a mile, I saw the 26 mile sign. Not only that, but as I saw it, the band was playing "Don't Stop Believing," and I did a little fistpump. I was going to do this. Those last .2 miles, I literally kept saying, I can't believe I'm going to actually do this. The finish line was a twist and turn away, so at first, I didn't actually think I was. But then, one twist, one turn later, there it is, the most glorious sight in the world. The finish line. Everyone around me disappaeared, and for some reason, I jsut started screaming. Now, before I finish the story, about 100 feet away from the finish line you cross over a wire that feeds to the announcer your chip/name so that he can read your name when you finish. I was screaming so loudly that the announcer goes, "Who's that making all that noise out there? Sarah Ness, is that you? You sure are loud I can hear you all the way up here!" And I looked up at him with a huge grin on my face, the cliche two fists in the air, and crossed that finish line at 4 hours, 35 minutes. You can see official race photos at this site (there are a few, you just have to scroll through, I'm bib number 10809 and I think there are like 5 or 6):

http://www.asiorders.com/view_user_event.asp?EVENTID=31327&BIB=10809&S=230&PWD=

Here is a video link to a newsclip about the marathon and my two coaches are at the very end!:

http://www.fox6.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?videoID=464079

Everyone talks about the emotions of the finish, but no one tells you how you will FEEL. You FEEL like death. You want to vomit, poop your pants, pass out, one at a time or all three at once. You want to sit, but you know that's bad, so you walk. I felt like I was drunk times 100. I called my parents and all I could say was, "Holy shit, that was hard" over and over again. I don't think I was coherent until a good 20 minutes later.

I met up with my teammates in the TNT celebration area where I got ice wrapped around my shins and began refueling my body. I could not stomach my celebration beer until an hour after I was done. Walking at this point is very humorous. Everyone walks like they have something in their pants. Curbs are the enemy and everything is hilarious because you are delirious from what you just did. Here are a few pictures of right after:

Jeesoo, Lauren and Me--I don't even remember this photo I think I was still blacked out... Starting to feel like myself again, almost time for the celebration beer(s)....Me and Lauren..
Me and Kerry......definitely feeling the cloud 12 feeling finally.....beer time!!!TEAM HECTOR ALL SURVIVE!!!!!(Kerry and Moses, how in the HELL did you get low like that?!)
We headed back, then a few of us hit up the beach for a bit, then showered and went to the TNT Victory Party downtown. Like the natural rock stars that we are, Team Hector, or those who were left, hit up the bars downtown and partied it up in San Diego. It was easier to dance than it was to walk. It was quite the sight to see us try to "Get Low..". Another 24 hour day pulled that weekend!

A few of us at the Victory Party....

It wasn't quite the race time that I wanted, but shins will be shins. I enjoyed every moment, from the happy to the this is hard and I want to stop. I smiled more than I wanted to die as I keep telling everyone. When it got tough, I thought of all the money raised. At one point, I was going up another hill and I recited the mantra, "I am not alone." I was physically alone from my team, but I wasn't alone, I could make it. I thought of everyone who told my parents they were thinking about me that weekend, about all the people I knew were tracking me on the computer, of all the people who donated. You all got me through those miles, even if you weren't on the course with me. I ran this marathon for so many reasons, too many to quit when it was tough. This was a gift to those who can't do it, for the people I raised money for, a gift for those who donated to me, and a thank you to everyone (especially my family) who has been through hell and back with me over the years. I can do it. And I did it. And I will keep doing it.

Anyways, I just want to end with a huge thank you to each and every one of you. You have made a contribution to such an amazing cause. I wish you all could fully understand how much your donations really effect people. I have had the privilege to meet so many beneficiaries of your dollars and if you could just see their gratefulness, I think you would be so proud of your support of my efforts. This truly has been the most amazing thing I have ever been a part of. I have made the most amazing friends, been blessed with amazing coaches and got to cross something off of my 'Life To Do List." I hope that one of you decides to do TNT one day so that you can understand my words better. I will most definitely be a part of this organization again. I have my first 26.2 under my belt, new lifelong friends, raised money for a cure and memories to last me a lifetime.

It's still not too late to contribute, here is my link: http://www.active.com/donate/tntnca04/tntncaSNess

THANK YOU!!!

GO TEAM!!!!!

Now it's off to train for Marine Corps in October!

Best,
Me!
*There will be days when you think you can't run a marathon. There will be a lifetime knowing that you did"