What's the Biggest condition Goal You Ever Set For Yourself? Half Marathon For an Amateur
What's the Biggest health Goal You Ever Set For Yourself? How about running a Half Marathon for a someone who has never run more than a 5k.
What's the Biggest condition Goal You Ever Set For Yourself? Half Marathon For an Amateur
One thing I just learned recently is that I am capable of much more than I idea I was. I don't particularly love running and until recently the farthest I ever ran in my life was a 5k. It's all relative. At one time, halfway nearby the block without stopping was a big accomplishment, then running a mile, ultimately I worked up to a 5k. I ran a 5k each year for charity. It was for cancer research. When I run for a cause like cancer, I find I can focus and channel any pain or hurt to gain power by mental about how my pain pales in comparison to anything someone with cancer ever went through. When I'm just running to run, I have a much harder time.
So how did I go from a 5k to 13.1 miles. Well, my best friend is a runner and I am driven. So, when she asked me if I would run it with her, I made a commitment and with one conversation, it was done. The line was drawn in the sand. It was out there. There was no turning back. Did I think I could do it? Are you kidding me? No way. Was I going to do it come hell or high water? Absolutely!! And so the journey began. I printed out the training schedules and said there is no way I'm going to run 4 or 5 days a week. Fortunately, for me, I go to a very aggressive gym that does team personal training in a strength, cross-training, durability style so I wasn't as bad off as one might think.
Then came February and a bit of a monkey wrench. I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. I was put out of work on disability. Symptoms included ultimate tiredness, short term memory loss, blurring and depression. Not exactly the best situation for training for a half marathon. Motivation was not at the top of my list. Lying on my couch was. By mid-April, I returned to work on a part-time basis, but I was surely wiped by the end of the day. The race date was quickly windup in on June 27.
The pressure was on and time was ticking down. I idea I'd be okay because I control well under pressure. I ran a few long distance runs with my best friend to try and prepare, but addition my mileage quickly caused me an injury by the end of May. With less than a month to go, I was no longer able to train on the road. I had injured my It Band which is the ligament which goes down the side of your thigh down to your knee. It can rub against the bones of your knee and cause excruciating pain. I couldn't run on the pavement anymore because it exacerbated it. I was forced inside to the treadmill. My biggest challenge in running is unblemished boredom. Luckily I had a good treadmill.
During my final week, I had 3 visits to the chiropractor to make sure I was in the best inherent alignment. On June 26, I was off to Boston. No turning back now. I had nervous excitement. My anxiety about whether I would terminate the race had now been fueled by my contentious nature. It was no longer about just finishing it was about finishing strong and with a good, no maybe great time. I'd never even trained with a 10 slight mile, but I idea my adrenaline might carry me straight through and I could hit my stretch goal of 2 hours and 10 minutes. At 4am, I woke up ready to go. I fueled up with my new best friend, Gu Octane (carbs plus a slight caffeine for good measure). Race time was 6:15am. We arrived at the race just in time to use the restroom, pin on our bibs and range aimlessly for a few minutes in nervous anticipation.
We got in the 9 slight mile section in the hopes of breaking out of the congestion quickly. I knew the adrenaline was going to inaugurate me like a rocket, but my third song on my Ipod was all set to calm me down a bit. Good thing too because surprisingly, my first mile was in just over 8 minutes! After the second mile, my best friend and her boyfriend gradually pulled away as I anticipated. For about the first 5-6 miles I had a pretty good buffer. I was well under a 10 slight mile despite many provocative hills. Did I mention the procedure was uphill? Here's where things went wrong. Hills don't go well with an It Band injury. What goes up must come down, right? Not necessarily in this case. It was killer. My knees started hurting pretty badly. I tried making some adjustments in my compression bands that I was wearing. It helped a little, but I had over 7 miles to go. People who had run halves before said they had never run a procedure like this. Now let's get into what surely made it interesting. At the second water stop, they ran out of cups. Fantasize 3500 People running to the table dying of thirst and volunteers frantically throwing gallon jugs at the runners. I have a bit of a germ phobia so I had 2 options. One, pour the water from the jug and risk getting water up my nose or the selection I chose....fish nearby for cups on the ground for used cups and fill my own cups with water. I lost a lot of time between mile 6 and 8 on the hills, and I'm sure that the lengthy water stops didn't help. However, the best was yet to come. After mile 8, I was on fire! I ran in an all out sprint. It felt surely amazing!! Unfortunately, somewhere after mile 9, I was faced with more hills followed by a slight break, but mile 10.5 straight through 12 was level up. On my way up the hill, walking and running, in excruciating pain in my legs, I hooked up with a guy that was running my pace. We couldn't say much at that point, but we were able to institute that we had both only run 5ks, only run 8 miles prior to that day, and that it was much easier running with someone. We decided we would terminate together. With no names at that point, the two of us with a tasteless goal, banded together encouraging each other to make it to that long awaited terminate line without stopping. With one mile left to go two friends/spectators came to cheer me on an help give me that last burst of energy, but nothing was going to give me any burst at this point except crossing the terminate line.
At 2 hours 14 minutes, I crossed the terminate line. With provocative hills, an injury, sub par water stops, and a brief restroom break, I still closed at an staggering 10 slight 20 second pace. I was ecstatic! It was such a great accomplishment. I'm proud to say my best friend who is an avid runner closed in 2 hours and 1 slight and will probably go on to run full marathons. For me, I proudly wore my medal as I ate my morning meal in a bistro in Boston. The numbers 13.1 mean something that I never idea it would before. I have a brother who has run the Boston and Nyc marathon. I have other brother who has done 2 Ironmans in his forties. Does that minimize what I did? surely not! Why because as I said in the beginning, it's all relative. This was my stretch goal and I closed it. I made myself and my children proud. And in life, isn't that what it's all about?
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