My favorite story, though, is from the Omaha Half Marathon. I was last most of the way, after the first few miles. I saw my last person at the third to last water stop and didn’t see a soul again until mile 7….when a truck came up behind me, picking up all the cones and signs, and the guys in it told me I had to move to the sidewalk because they were tearing everything down. Luckily I had a hydration pack, unluckily I did not know the course. They gave me a map, but it was so tiny and blurry that I had to guess on the route. I ended up going pretty far out of my way actually. I managed to find the very last water stop, still partially set up. A sweet little boy had saved a few cups of water for me and wouldn’t let his parents leave until the last person came by. I didn’t need his water, I had my camelback, but I took it and drank it and was so thankful that they waited for me. That was so sweet and kept me going for the rest of the race.
In the last two miles I got terribly lost and had to phone a friend, lol! My trainer and two other friends came up to meet me and we did the last mile together. I ended up finished 25 minutes after the second to last person. Many of the full marathoners finished before me. MOST in fact. But I got my finisher’s medal, and I proudly display it in my cube at work along with my race bib. I would have one of those cheesy 13.1 stickers on my car, but I didn’t do 13.1. I did something closer to 14 when all was said and done. But I finished!

The 5k was an out and back and they started the women in the last group. I had passed one girl on the out portion so I kept telling myself “there is at least one person behind me”. When I made the turn at the halfway mark I never saw that girl behind me. I assumed she dropped off. I kept plugging away but was annoyed with myself that I’d not trained the run better.

As I came towards the transition to bike area I was exhausted and I turned around and there was the end of race police car was right on my heels. UGH! I turned and gave the police officer a “DUDE help me out here” shrug. He laughed and backed off a bit.

Once I got on my bike I saw that girl I’d passed on her bike heading back into the finish. She’d apparently turned when she saw her hubby run past with the male runners. She ended up proudly collecting a third place age group award while I watched on aghast.

I ended up passing a fair amount of people on the bike and finished just fine. I was far more pleased with completed the whole race fairly finish than anyone else could have been on that done. We do this for ourselves and that finish line is a magical place.

Within the first 2 miles, I realized I’d be close to the back of the pack. But eventually, I was last. By the time I got to mile 6, they were closing up the water stops. It was a hot August day, but I was carrying water, so I didn’t panic. But I did panic when they opened up the roads. And the
Medics passed by me when I told them I was fine, just slow. I was on my own, waiting for traffic to cross the roads. The course wasn’t even well marked, and had it not been for a friendly Baltimore City cop, I would have gotten lost when I turned down the wrong street. I got to the finish line only to see them packing up the timing strip. I would have been alone, too, but my
Parents ran me in the last 1/2 mile. You won’t even see my name on the finishers
List, since the timing bar was packed up when I got there.

For so long I’ve felt like I was the odd person out, the only big girl at races. I hate when people say “you can make it” from the sidelines. I KNOW I can make it, I’ve run a lot of races. I may be slow, but I am in great shape.

Thank you for your blog. It feels good to know someone else understands. Keep it up.

When you can find my name on the finishers list, it’s not unusual to find it within 10-15 people of the bottom of the list. However, once, due to some kind of typo on the registration materials, I finished first in the wheelchair category & my name was published in the newspaper! [I'm not in a wheel chair.]

Sometimes last is lonely – like the 8K where, as I approached the turn around point, the volunteers assigned to that post were starting to walk back to the start/finish line – “the turn around is down there” they said.

A great training partner & event-day partner keep my coming back to participating in events. That & without an event to prepare for, my exercise regime loses focus & intensity.

I’ve found that unless you’re in the top 1% of runners, no one really cares how fast (or slow) you completed an event. People will continue to be impressed that you not only completed the event, but also that you put the time and effort into preparing for the event.

I felt self-conscious at times. And a little sad. Then my husband (super speedy guy who ran with me for support)reminded me that MY race was about ME and that even attempting and training for the half was monumental. I held my head high as I crossed the finish, knowing I was as much a half marathoner as anyone else.

I hope your reader can reflect on her awesomeness and be proud that her body went such a great distance- one only a tiny fraction of the population ever attempts.

I’ll test the tourista in the water just to see what happens in case anyone else ever wonders about that option, since you assure me it won’t ruin it (I love the tourista, so I was scared to try it just in case), I’ll let you know how it goes.
I actually just got the tourista recently, so it fits well and pretty close to me, not too big at all. (I wish I could afford smaller shorts, but since whatever I buy now will be too big soon anyway it’s just not worth it. The homemade drawstring is working well though!) My concern was dry time and wondering if seaweed would get stuck in the pockets or something. I wouldn’t have thought to tuck it in, but that makes sense.

I think I’ll order this lands end top, though! I’m crossing fingers it’s long enough to suit me and not too clingy. It LOOKS like it should be perfect though! I don’t know why I always forget about Lands End, that’s where I got the top I swam in last year (though I wore a c9 tank from Target for the bike/run, and it was so short and clingy I was really self-conscious the entire time).

I’ve got my first tri of the year on June 3rd, so I should be able to get the lands end top in plenty of time to try it out a few times before then. I’ll definitely let you know how it goes! Bodyglide on the clasp is a good tip, I would have forgotten that. And the arms too. I never think of the chafing around armholes, I’m usually more concerned with shorts chafing and feet blistering and I forget about my top half. But I’ll definitely body glide ALL OVER this year. That stuff is a wonderful invention.

Don’t suppose you know of anyplace that sells larger-sized race belts? I may end up just making one, but I wondered if they existed for purchase. I bought a regular race belt and it WILL stretch and fit around me fine, but it’s very uncomfortable. I plan to use it as a pattern to make my own that fits better. Not sure what to do about the snaps that actually hold the race bib, but probably will add some sort of button/snap system to it for that.

http://www.landsend.com/pp/womens-sport-scoop-tankini-top~234989_57.html?bcc=y&action=order_more&sku_0=::GD7&CM_MERCH=IDX_women-_-swimsuits-_-special-swim-sizes-_-plus-size-_-plus-size&origin=index

Or look for “Women’s Plus Size Sport Scoop Tankini”.

Sal