Monday, October 12, 2009

This is What We Came For

Marathon day was yesterday....it was hard, long, painful....and I can't wait to do it again!! All things considered I'm pretty proud of myself for getting it done. I was unprepared for the the full. With the amount of training I had done, it would have been more appropriate to have run the half. But when I went to register the half was full, so I said screw it and went for the full, but I did register for the early start time (6:30am instead of 8:30) which gives you 7 hours time limit instead of 5 hours, which is the regular time limit. Which I'm glad I did, but that doesn't mean I was properly prepared, considering the furthest I've ever run is 20k, 42 was a bit of a stretch! After work on saturday night, I went home for an hours rest, slept in, and missed the early start time. Not to be deterred, I just decided to go for the 8:30 start and hope I made it in 5 hours. As per usual, the first kilometer sucked. But once I found my pace, the first 26 went by pretty quickly. My hip started to go after that...i told myself some funny stories, zoned out on my music and kept going...by the time I got into the 30's I was hurting...my knees and bad hip were hating me...i had to take a few walk breaks but ran most of the way....if you're not someone who's as crazy as I am, you won't know what happens to your body when you run that far....things hurt...EVERYTHING hurts...especially if you aren't prepared....even my skin hurt.......my feet cramped....my back spasmed...hip dislocated...but you run through it...my Sugoi fizz tank is the best performing piece of clothing I've ever owned.....no chafing or moving...it was amazing. Other race highlights include:
- making new friends along the way...when you have the same pace as some people you spend a lot of time with them...you've got 5 hours to chat..
- the cheerful cheering volunteers along the way....they really are motivating
- whomever put the motivational posters on the trees along the side of the road during the last km, you are my god!! "you started this.....now finish it", "you own this" and other such posters really made the last km not so bad

The only lowlight was the volunteers on the side of the road who were sleeping, or looking grumpy, or yawning....seriously? Are you really sleeping in front of marathoners? Really? If you're gonna sleep, you should have stayed home. All my friends had the courtesy to sleep far away from me....

At the end of the day, 5 hours and 16 mins later....I crossed the finish line....aches and pains and all.....my mom and dad were there cheering, which was amazing....i'm so proud of myself. Best training run ever. Just another stepping stone on the road to Ironman Canada....

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