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.
