22 March 2009
26.2! I am a marathoner!
Posted by oddlyoptimistic under: Uncategorized.
What a day. What a journey. What an adventure.
Weather.com said there was a 40% chance of rain and it would start at noon. I thought the odds in Southern California meant that it was not going to rain, but I brought a garbage bag with me anymore. Thank the Lord. It came in extremely handy. I woke up at 3:30am, got picked up at 4:30am, got to Pasadena at about 5:00am, and then we sat around and waited for awhile. We took some photographs and stuff.
As we waited to start, I stood in line to use the restroom. And, then it started to rain. And, it didn’t just rain. It absolutely poured. It poured. And, it was cold. It was cold. Very very cold. In this wonderful situation, we started out. It was drizzling on and off for awhile. It was not a pleasant way to start. You could hear the crowd groaning. I was wearing a garbage bag over myself.
By the way, Weather.com is a failure.
So, I started out nice and slow. I really did not care about the time. I just wanted to finish the marathon. That is absolutely all that I cared about. Finishing a marathon. To me, that was all I needed. The kid that could not run a mile in Middle school.
The rain eased a little bit, and then I started to keep going. Around mile 5, it started to pour again. It was not pleasant. I was passed by old men, old women, and kids that looked like they were 12, oh and a wheelchair. Man. I was like…wow. There were even people walking that were faster than me running. But, it really didn’t bother me. I was really impressed at my ability to not let that bother me.
What amazed me was that the calf pain and pain going down to my ankle was gone. It was absolutely not there. It was very very slight. None of the agony that I suffered earlier on. I was amazed. I was thrilled.
Anyway, we kept going. I made lots of friend on this marathon. I have no idea what their names are, but I do know what they were wearing and I certainly cheered for and was cheered on by many of them many times during the race.
Around mile 10, it absolutely started to pour again. I thought about the irony of the situation. We live in Southern California. It rains about 15 days a year, and of course it would rain on my first marathon. It was hard. Extremely hard to run in. It was raining so hard that I couldn’t see straight. And, I had put on sunblock before and it was going into my eyes and it stung. I was also a little afraid of slipping. But, there were funny moments. Funny moments make me happy and I can run for longer. For example, I had just put It’s Raining Men on my ipod. And, all of a sudden it showed up. That was pretty hilarious. I chuckled and ran.
I ran into these people and we had a bunch of funny conversations about it. I kept running. I had planned my gels at 6, 12, 18, 24, and when I took them then it was a good time. It made me super happy to take my gels because when they were done, I felt like I was getting closer to my goal. One of our coaches also told us to imagine ourselves as an Etcho-sketch and shake ourselves out at 16, and remember then to do 4-3-2-1. That four seemed to take forever.
Anyway, I got to 18 and I was still doing well. I was really proud that I was doing well. Even Mile 19, 20 went well and I was super excited. I was not hitting the wall. I was actually feeling pretty damn good. Mile 20 seemed to go on for a long time. But, I finally finished and I was happy because I just had to do 3-2-1 to go.
Mile 21 was okay. Mile 22 was harsh because right at the very end, there was a huge hill. Perhaps it wasn’t that big but it seemed pretty hilly at Mile 22. I did it though. I ran up it. I had finished 22 miles. The Pasadena Marathon is quite hilly. More than the LA Marathon.
This was where I hit the wall. Mile 23 and Mile 24 were harsh. I was starting to get worried. I had come this close, and now I started to feel as though I couldn’t go any further. I tried everything I could think of. Every mind game I had played, I started to play at full speed. I could feel my body and mind shutting down. I was running super slow. I tried to convince myself that I just needed to deal with each mile by itself and not worry about the following miles. It was hard though because I kept seeing those miles coming up in the distance. I mean here I did everything I could think of. I said my mantra. I played my mind games. I thought of all the people that had cheered me on - including the readers of this blog!
I didn’t care about the time. I really didn’t. The fact that I was doing this was enough for me. But, I had made a personal goal and that was to try to run the entire marathon without walking any of it. I had been successful so far. I was trying to rationalize if walking for a bit might help me run faster. But, I had pretty much decided to walk when all of a sudden I saw my mother! She had made it to the 24th mile. I saw her, and I ran and hugged her. That was what I needed. I pumped my fist in the air. I gave her my empty gel pouch. I pumped my hand in the air a few more times. And, I kept running. I have no idea where the energy came from. But, I kept turning around and pumping my hand in the air until I could see her go. The wall had a big hole through it which I had gone through. At that point, I was not going to walk. I was going to meet my personal goal and run the whole way.
And, I did. I kept running. Slow sure, but I did not care. I just kept going. I saw the 24th mile marker. Only 2.2 more miles. That’s only 9 laps around the track. I can do this I told myself. There were supporters around here, and they really helped me out. I had my ipod on, but I saw them cheering and clapping. And, it was awesome. The mile seemed to go on forever, and I could not see the 25 mile marker. I thought this was the longest mile in the whole world, but I kept going. I started to get more energy which is something that I never understood. Where was this on Mile 23 and Mile 24? I just kept going. One foot in front of the other. I still thought I was on Mile 25. I saw one of my friends, and a guy with him said,” it’s just down there, round the corner, then go straight.” I was still wondering where mile 25 was, but I just kept going. Nothing mattered other than finishing right now. Nothing. There were a police officer stopping the cars and he smiled at me, and cheered me on. I pumped my fist at him and he kept cheering.
Then, a miracle happened. I crossed the 210 freeway, saw the cars below me, made a left, made a right and ran down a street. And, then I saw not the Mile 25 sign, but the Mile 26 sign! Praise the LORD. It did seem forever because the Mile 25 sign must have blown away. At that point, I felt amazing. I did not feel like I had just run 26 miles. I felt like I had lighting in my shoes. I felt ignited. I felt a huge smile appear on my face, and I felt amazing. I have no idea where the energy came from, but I started running. Really running. I had definitely been jogging the entire marathon up till now. But, not anymore. My ridiculously large grin, my head held high, I turned the corner and saw the miracle word: FINISH. Man, I think I sped up again. I passed two people. One of them was quite old true, but there was a younger looking man. I sped past them. The younger guy turned around, saw me coming and stepped out of the way. I felt amazing. I saw the time: 6:30 but even that couldn’t make me upset. I had wanted to run it in under 6 hours, but even that did not disturb me because I just wanted to finish. I ran feeling proud, and as I finished I threw my hand into the air. I had done it! I had run a marathon. Me, the kid that couldn’t run a mile in middle school. I ran a marathon. An entire marathon without stopping to walk once. And, that was my goal met. To finish, and to run the entire thing without stopping to walk. I was hours behind the winners, but I felt like a champion. Because I was. I was a champion to myself. And, that feeling is worth more than anything else in the world.
“I ran a marathon,” I beamed out to the high school kids that gave me a medal.
“High five,” one of them said. I high fived the kid, and beamed hugely to the whole world. My mum appeared and gave me a huge hug. I had no idea what she said because my headphones were still on pounding music into my ears.
I had no idea what to do, but I kept beaming as largely as I could. Someone gave me a bottle of something, but I just kept beaming. I kept staring at my medal. It was amazing. I had done this. One of my coaches came up to me, gave me a high five and a big hug. Then we took a bunch of photos. My friend Helen kept taking photographs every 15 seconds. It was crazy. I felt like I could fly.
I called my Dad who was super excited and told me that he was really proud of me. I was pretty much screaming into the phone about how excited I was so the lady at the bag check heard me too and gave me a thumbs up before she gave me my bag. I put my sweats on, and we waited for another friend of ours to finish. She did, and we ran outside the finish line for her. It was something else.
I did it. I ran a marathon. Me. The non-athletic Kid. The kid who couldn’t run a mile in Middle School. Who had bronchitis as a child. I did. With pure determination and heart. I realized that I had learned a lot about myself. But, most importantly, I had learnt to cut all the distractions from my life. I had learned to listen to myself, and deem all unnecessary, pointless, distracting, negative dialogue energy out of my mind. For many an hour on many a long run, including today. And, I had discovered that I was a pretty awesome companion to have. I ran most of the time by myself, and it was good.
I feel pretty awesome. I feel amazing. I feel like a champ.
Thank you for following my journey, and for your extremely encouraging comments. I definitely read the comments on the 22miler turned 25 at 3:45am.
I plan to keep going. I don’t know if I will run another marathon soon, but I want to again. I think for awhile I may keep to half marathons.
But, I just want to tell anyone reading this that you can do it. Whatever it is that you have always wanted to do, but never thought you could do. I am an example of that. If I can run a marathon, it proves that anyone with determination and heart can do it. Because I definitely broke no records. But, that is nothing in comparison to how awesome I feel about myself. You can be a 5ker, 10ker, 15ker, half marathoner, full marathoner. You can do it.
Random fun facts about today:
According to the National Weather Service station just east of Pasadena today between the hours of 6am and 11:30am…
0.23 inches of rain.
Winds between 7 and 10 mph, with gusts up to 28 mph.
Windchills ranging from 41 to 44 degrees
Workout:
- Type: Run
- Date: 03/22/2009
- Time: 17:07:34
- Total Time: 6:30:00.00
- Calories: 2541
- Distance: 26.2 miles
- Average Pace: 14:53.3/mile
19 Comments so far...
Owner Says:
This will go down, as one of the great days, in your life, which you will treasure forever.
Well done, my great CHAMPION.
YOU ARE NOW A MARATHONER. GREAT STUFF. FANTASTIC. FABULOUS.
mickieblueeyes Says:
Awesome job. And thanks for sharing such a great story of determination. Geeze if you can run a marathon you can do pretty much anything now.
princessrn320 Says:
I have to tell you that I had tears in my eyes, as well as, a huge smile on my face as I read the story of your journey. I am like you in so many ways and I was the kid that the others acknowledged as not being a runner or top athelete but they always follow it up with a “that’s ok, you can do other things”, as if to dismis you, to placate you.
To stand up to that knowing that it won’t come naturally and to do something so few can or will do, to sacrifice time and energy to consistently push yourself through physical and mental pain to achieve your goal is so inspiring! To finish a marathon in 3 hours is a big accomplishment to be able to keep runing for 6 1/2 hours is just amazing, to me, even more so. What determination! You make me so proud, I am inspired to keep pushing ahead and struggling just as you have. I hope soon to be able to say the same thing you can now say….I AM A MARATHONER!
Congratulations on a terrific journey and a job well done!
Tobbi
lassie Says:
I also loved reading of your accomplishment and I am sure you still have a big grin on your face. Congratulations.
biggerthanbigfan Says:
youre still grinning, arent you?
mylifeinhishands Says:
GREAT JOB and congratulations! What a thrill to read your story. 
spin0 Says:
Congratulations! What a great record of your special day. I’m so moved.
ejbokinsky Says:
Congrats on your first marathon! I’m sure as you were training there were those who doubted your grit and determination, whether overtly or secretly. These are the people you should tell your story to first and loudest (and most often). My older brother kinda shook his head when I told him I was training for the Marine Corps Marathon, and I took great pleasure emailing him a picture of me with my bling!
You were so right to comment a great deal about the psychological part of the marathon, as I think it is equally as important as physical preparation. Although, I don’t know if I would’ve had to mental toughness you had considering the elements with which you had to contend. That is a credit to your character.
Now, take a well deserved break. Even before your body heals completely, you’ll already be planning for your next marathon. Hope Mother Nature is more cooperative next time.
mdskyler6 Says:
I may not know you, but i’m so proud of you! And it’s obvious through your words of encouragment that anything is truly possible! OMG, i can barely run 3 miles right now, but i hope to one day be in your shoes. I can’t believe you trumphed all the obstacles in your way…it’s just like life! congratulations on being a truly undefeated person!
Lisa Sabin Says:
Congratulations! You accomplished your goal…Wow! Be Proud of yourself.
pbidty Says:
WOW! Congrats on the 26.2!!!! Thank you for sharing your story. I am training to walk the MORE 1/2 marathon on April 26th in NYC. When times get hard I will remember your account of your thrilling accomplishment and it will put lightning under my feet! Next you should run and get a rain coat … the thought of the garbage bag clenched my heart! BRAVO to YOU!
Shanela Says:
Brilliant..well done!!
