So, today I ran my first
marathon ever on Sunday (10/19) and it sure was an experience...
It may have been one of the dumbest things I've ever done, but it was so worth it!
TRAINING PLAN
To start, here's a look at how
I trained for this marathon:
Mon, 6/30: 1 mile (in Vietnam!)
Mon, 8/25: 2 miles
Sat, 9/6: 9 miles (this is when
I decided to buckle down and run once a week)
Sat, 9/13: 11 miles
Sun, 9/21: 9 miles
Sun, 9/28: 15.5 miles
Sat, 10/4: 22 miles
Those were literally the only
dates since June that I slipped on my running shoes and went for a jog. Yep, 7
times. Evidence 1 of this being one of the dumbest things I've ever done.
I didn't go for a run the
weekend before the marathon because I took a trip to Boston. There, I did a lot
of walking in my heeled boots. That was until Tuesday the 21st. On Wednesday, my
Achilles started hurting quite a bit when simply walking, but I just thought
it'd heal on it's own since I didn't do anything to induce the pain. On Friday,
the pain was still there and even worse. I went to see our athletic trainer and
she told me that I had pulled something and it was swollen and to not do anything
that would put pressure on it... like run, let alone run a marathon because I
might rupture it. Of course, I'm kind of a rebel so I decided to play it by
ear. Plus, I wanted to sport the orange (my fave color) marathon shirt that we
got at packet pickup. I couldn't wear it if I didn't run it! Evidence 2. I got
my Achilles rock taped on Saturday and that somewhat helped the pain.
GOALS
Because of my lack of training,
my goal for this race was 5 hours. I just wanted to finish it whether I walked
or ran. This was set before the Achilles problem. On race day, my goal was just
to do what I could... I've run 2 half marathons before this. The last one was a
fun one in the end of May that I passed out encouraging notes from our fanny packs and tweeted selfies at every mile. I wanted to do the selfie thing for this race as well,
but I didn't even think I was going to finish so I decided not to. Plus, I obviously really suck at selfies- sad truth.
RACE DAY
On Sunday morning, I told myself I was
feeling good. I knew I could drop out if the pain became unbearable. I popped 2
ibuprofen tabs and was off to the start line. It was painful but I told myself
to suck it up until mile 8 cause I had buds with more ibuprofen waiting for me there. Luckily, by
mile 6 the meds kicked in. I felt good other than the pain in my arches due to
running in weird ways trying to keep myself off my right Achilles. I never got the mile 8 ibuprofen :( I fueled
with 1/2 a banana at mile 13.1 (2:02). My goal was to get there by 2:30 so I
was going faster than I had planned. By mile 14 the pain killers wore off. It
was worse than before and I was desperate... and stubborn, so I kept going. I
asked a lady cheering on the street if she had any ibuprofen. Surprisingly, she
ran to her purse and busted it out. I basically took drugs from a stranger on
the street. Evidence 3. I popped a tab at mile 16 and fueled with red
vinesssssss YUM. I was feeling good until mile 23, when I hit the wall. Downed
1/2 pack of GU there. Gross, but my legs were giving out. I decided to walk/run
the remainder of the race. Bummer. At about 0.2 miles left when I could SEE the
finish line, my left leg, the leg that took most of the run, started cramping
and tightening up like crazy. I had to step to the side. I ended up finishing
at 4:18 which was below my goal of 5:00. The last 3 miles slowed my overall
time down like crazy, but it just had to be done.
In the end, I finished and it
now sucks even more to walk. The end.
Basically... I trained for my first marathon in 7 runs,
pulled my Achilles 2 days before race day but still ran it, took drugs for a
stranger on the street, and finished under my goal time and now am legally
allowed sport my orange 26.2 quarter zip!! Alright, when's our next one?? haha... not. Well, maybe.
Gurl you da bomb. You so cool, hip, and happenin'. You accept drugs from strangers??? Ai yah!!!
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