If you aren't a Seinfeld fan, you probably won't understand this meme. In this episode of Seinfeld, a marathoner retells the story of how he slept through the Olympics. It wasn't the snooze button but separate knobs for the alarm and radio volume.
At 5:30am. I expected my babysitter to arrive. As the minutes passed without her knocking on the door, I began to panic. I tried repeatedly to reach her by phone, text & email to no avail.
At 6am, I gave up and called a friend for help. She graciously offered to drive me to 30th Street Station and take care of my daughter during the race. Words cannot adequately express my gratitude for my friend's help.
At 7am, while I was on my way to the start of the race, my babysitter finally called. It wasn't a knob, but her iPhone alarm didn't go off. She was so apologetic and I immediately forgave her.
Leah and I deemed ourselves "TWINS RUN in our family" to share our experiences running together to support Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation for Childhood Cancer in memory of Leah's brother-in-law Michael who died from relapsed leukemia on March 17, 2003.
Michael and Laoghaire (2002)
Photos carried in running belt for inspiration
Waiting for the Broad Street Line in Team Sparkle
On Broad Street Line waiting for babysitter to call
I was in the Green "with envy we aren't in purple" Corral. I was lucky to see some familiar faces while I waited in the Green Corral. I talked with several co-workers before the start, which helped calm my nerves.
I was surprised when I heard someone say, "Malinda." I looked up to see it was "Coach Kristie" who recognized me from my shirt! Connecting with Kristie helped get me in the zone for a personal record (PR)!
I was ready to run in my yellow Team Sparkle skirt and my
Brooks Addiction running shoes.
I finished my first
Broad Street Run in 1999 when there was a "record" field of 7,300. Running with 40,000 was quite a different experience. There were so many enthusiastic spectators - I even "low five-d" Governor Ed Rendell after City Hall!
Jay Scott, Alex's dad, was running in his lemon costume for
Team Lemon, Jay was running super fast. I tried to keep up with him so I could say "Hi" but I couldn't catch up! You can see Jay (AKA "The Running Lemon") running ahead of me in the photo below.
A glimpse of the Running Lemon far ahead of me
It was so crowded during the race and I couldn't get in the zone. I decided to listen to music, even though I like to run in silence. I needed some inspiration, so I turned my MP3 player to random play. I prefer a random shuffle to a playlist and each song that came on was so appropriate!
My Curse, Fountain & Fairfax, Gentleman by
The Afghan Whigs were the first songs I heard. I've loved these songs since I listened to them repeatedly when I trained for my 1st marathon - the 1995 Marine Corps Marathon. Of course, I listened to these songs on a cassette Walkman back in the 90's. WOW, I'm old. Am I the only one who tried to untangle mangled cassette tapes while running?
Emmet Swimming - Wake
This song reminds me of a girl I met when we were both seriously ill. I shared this song with her and she liked it a lot. Several months later, I learned that she died suddenly. Whenever I hear this song when I run, I start to cry because I think of her. This happened with such intensity during the race, I couldn't breathe. This experience reminded me of
Dick Beardsley's experience at
1982 Boston Marathon. I was fortunate to hear him speak at
Philadelphia Runner on May 3.
As I ran I thought...
- Her life was too short...
- I've come close to death but survived...
- I'm grateful to be alive...
- I'm grateful to be able to run...
So I kept running... And I finished!
Camera selfie after I crossed the Finish Line
1:29:02 (Personal Record)
Overall: 11,499 / 33,988
Gender: 4,207 / 19,018
Division: 417 / 1,958
Pace: 08:54
Split 3 Mile: 00:27:24
Split 5 Mile: 00:45:15
Split 7 Mile: 01:03:07
Arriving home from the race
Surprise waiting for me from my daughter
