First Marathon

Joel Kehle found this story in his archieves and requested a posting. Jody Kehle has run four marathons since and is currently training for her sixth.

Monday, February 17, 1997 (the day after)

It's over! After six months of training. Ran the Motorola Marathon! Finished the Marathon! Four hours and 55 minutes. Placed fifth in my age group. Beaten by ladies from Round Rock, TX, Watonga, OK, Lexington, KY, and a lady from a place I've never heard of. There was one other person in my age group from Austin that placed. Normally, she beats me. Not this time, by golly! Everything from my waist down is so sore and walks very strangely. Peter said I looked like I was continually doing the "Funky Chicken," when in motion today.

Joel just called (on his way to a meeting), from somewhere on a highway in California, to see if I was still alive. He got so excited when I told him the news and said he would call later this evening.

I hadn't been up too long this morning when the phone rang and this young male voice said, "this is so-and-so and I'm with KXWxyg radio and we noticed you'd placed fifth in your age group in the marathon and we would like to interview you in five to 10 minutes. Would you be willing?" I said, "Now who is this? What radio station?" I thought it was a joke. When I understood he wasn't kidding, I told him to look at Judy Hitt's name listed in the 50-54 yr. old age category and pointed out that not only had she placed seventh, but that she was my training partner. He told me that he'd been trying to call her but apparently had an incorrect telephone number, which I quickly corrected for him. Anyway, about three minutes later, the phone rang, and both Judy and I had a fun five minute interview--three-way phone call. (In Judy's age group, there were three other winners from Austin). Then about 9:15 this morning, a radio station called the office asking for another interview. What a hoot! (Judy, 'the dog,' did both of these interviews from her bed).

One of the smartest things we did was to drive the race course Saturday morning, the day before the race. It was very helpful because I knew exactly what to expect during the race-- where the next hill was--where each mile point was--where the finish was. There were no surprises. Also, have you ever listened to stories about, or read stories about, marathon running and heard or read the expression, 'hitting the wall?' That means at just about 20 miles, the body shuts down (particularly your legs and says, "I don't want to do this anymore." From there on, it's simply mental toughness. Since I had not had the 20 mile experience, I didn't want to take any chances and for insurance, asked Ted Reynolds, who works in the office, to please be at the 20 mile mark and run me in (Unfortunately, Peter was in Houston).

They are true. All of those stories are no lie! I ran without stopping until the twentieth mile. I was by myself, losing Judy at around the 11th mile. I was so tired. Thirsty. Dispirited. My feet were a blistered mess! I kept looking for the mile water stop and saw a policeman waving us on. "Just around the next corner," he said. I rounded the corner. No water stop in sight. At the next corner was a volunteer. "Just around the corner," she said. I rounded that corner. No water stop, but I could see another curve in the road ahead. I thought, if it's not there, Ted's not there, that's it. I quit! Running around the third corner, there it was--at the top of a hill. And, I stopped for the first time and walked the short distance to water. Surprise! Lo and Behold! There was Ted Reynolds, fresh as a daisy, yelling, "Let's go, let's go!!" I told Ted to get right in front of me for the next 6.2 miles. We started out and a burning pain appeared deep in the front muscles of both legs. It felt like they'd been hit, hard, with a sledge hammer. It was very weird. My legs just wouldn't go. Ted and I started a pattern. Run until the next water station was in sight and then stop and walk. I talked to my legs for these last miles. "Come on legs, let's move it. Pick 'em up." Every time we stopped, I'd have to give them encouragement to get them moving forward again.

Mother gave me a very wonderful phone call the evening before the race. This was her message: "Just remember, when you run, Eric's by your side, and I'm not too far behind." Eric, mother, and Ted, got me through those last 6.2 miles. They were not the fastest of the marathon, but I wouldn't have finished without all three of them. By the way, Ted got such a 'high' from the experience, he'll probably enter Austin's Capitol 10,000.

The day was perfect for a 7:00 a.m. race. Cold to start. No wind. I had done everything possible to prepare correctly. Except--drank three cups of coffee, starting at 4:30 a.m. You're not supposed to have any. But, maybe that's advice for 20 year olds. Also, two cigarettes. Bad!!

At about eight miles into the raace, I looked down and spied a couple of cigarette butts in the street. "Boy! what I wouldn't give to stop and pick one of those up and smoke it," I shouted at Judy. I heard a couple of guys laugh and looked up to see two policemen--sympathetic, smoking comrads, I was certain. When I told this story to Peter, he said, "You didn't say THAT out loud did you?" Of course I did. There is nothing you can't or don't say out loud on a race run. Nothing is sacred. Anything to keep self and everyone else psyched up.

I discovered GU. This is a one oz packet of gelatin-like substance you can take along the run for energy. It's a pure and instantaneous shot of carbohydrates. I pinned the packets to my side, ripped them off, opened one at each hour along the run and when I was at a water stop, slurped some down. By the way, I grabbed a cup of water to drink at each mile water station. We were definitely lectured a lot about the potential problem of dehydration.

Judy and I stayed together until about the 11th mile. Then she stopped because her knee was hurting. While I've had foot/blister/bunion problems throughout this training, Judy's difficulty has been her knees. I saw her later on a route double-back; I think she was probably a mile behind me at that point. Then about the 15th or 16th mile, I saw Jeff, her son, and told him she was having problems and to run her the rest of the way in. From that point on, he did for his mon what Ted did for me. Jeff walked and ran and encouraged her over the finishh line. Judy came in about 20 minutes behind me. But, she made it!! We both reached our goal.

What crazy thing will we come up with next? Do stay tuned. I never thought I would even think the following, let along actually say it, but I really beleive that if I ran another marathon, I now know how to do it better.