Marine Corps Marathon - the middle miles

I had my phone stowed away in a spi-belt. I found it laid flat best when in front on my tummy. It was easy for me to access to take a video or look at a text. I could not feel it vibrate but every few miles I would check it and see an encouraging text from my brother. He stayed on top of my race (as did my parents and other sweet friends) and let me know my time as I passed each 5k time mat. A few minutes after the cramping started, I sent him that text saying " pray for me.i'm cramping bad." After the race, my sister in law told me how he got that message when they were teaching the 2's and 3's Sunday School class. My brother told her I was cramping. My sister in law immediately told the class, "Children, we are going to stop and pray for Aunt Kate real quick." She said they all looked at her confused but one little boy repeated every word she prayed. How awesome is that?! I was totally.overflowing when I heard that!

I forged forward for the next few miles, taking walk breaks to ease the side stitches. Somewhere near mile14, my heart or chest felt really tight again and I felt like I could not take a deep breath/breath right. I walked for a bit and it passed, but it was another strange experience. Miles 13 to 15 took forever. Looking at my times, I can see this is where it fell apart. At mile 15, I recognized a friend from 10th grade-I had not seen him in 22 years! Thanks to Facebook, we discovered back in the summer that we were both running the MCM and were able see how the long runs were going. His wife just had a baby two months ago. I gave him major props for being able to train with an irresistible newborn in the house. My hats off to him. I wished him well and carried on. I wanted to stay and run with him for a bit, but I was very anxious to see my family as I knew I would see them at any given time. I needed to see their faces to refuel my drive. My side stitches were still strong, and I had to throw in more walk breaks than I wanted. The light winds were so refreshing and I savored how it felt as they drowned out the pain. I had fun with all the photographers at this point. They were practically in the way near all the monuments. I had my headphones in from miles 6 to 20.   I remember thinking to myself "why do I even have these on?". I could not even focus on the music as I was taking in the moment.
 




As I rounded a corner, I could see the Capital, and was moved to pray for our countries leaders, for discernment in the choices they make and how they govern our country; I prayed for the upcoming election; for family; for friends; for my hurting friends; for the children who are going to be blessed by hearing their incarcerated daddy's voice read them a story; for the beautiful strangers; for the runners all around me; and before I knew it, I saw my family at mile 16. I wanted to stop but I was in a rhythm to march on through the pain. It happened so fast but their smiling faces boosted me like a rocket inside.Onward I went; legs feeling strong, but the right side of my tummy cramping like crazy. My time got slower and slower, but I didn't care. All I could focus on was the finish and how excited I would be when I got there.