My First Marathon Experience

I completed my first marathon yesterday, December 6, 2009. It was by far the most physically challenging activity I have ever completed. I decided to run a marathon almost a year ago. After completing my first half marathon on Super Bowl Sunday, I decided to go for it and registered immediately for CIM (California International Marathon).

My training officially began in September when I hired a running coach, followed a strict schedule, and made trips to the track. Aside from my regular runs, Tuesdays were strength training, Saturdays were typically long runs, and Mondays were my favorite--recovery days. As the months went by, my weekly mileage increased. In addition, I ran a half marathon in October-where my time improved by almost 10 minutes, and a 30k in November where I did very well and even made the top 10 in my age group. I completed every workout with the exception of 2 weeks ago when I ran too much (not following schedule) and my body was extremely fatigued. I went into CIM marathon feeling very confident and strong.

The night before the marathon I dropped off the kiddos with the grandparents and enjoyed a nice meal with the husband at Zelda's-a true Chicago Style Pizzeria. In typical race fashion for myself, had a horrible nights sleep. After tossing and turning, I finally fall asleep only to be woken up at 4:30am for my wake-up call. I already had my clothing lined up ready to put on. Made my way to the lobby where there were hundreds of marathoners. Had a bowl of oatmeal (my usual boring breakfast) and went to board the bus to take us to the starting line. It was pitch black outside and freezing-27 degrees. The excitement and urgency with the crowd was red hot! Everyone was pumped and wanted to get running! On the bus, I heard tales of previous marathons and Boston......

6:45am-Announcer starts talking on the microphone. Mayor of Sacramento welcomes all "runners" and congratulates us for just being there. Only 10% of the human population actually participates in a marathon. I was excited now!! Wow...I was one of the 10%! Next, they called all handicap/wheelchair to the front and announced that after they started, the race would begin 7 seconds after. I lined up at the 3:45 pace--much slower than I usually run but perfect pace for me to finish strong and in good time.

7:00am-Gun goes off and I start. People are passing me left and right but I don't worry. Their adrenaline is running and I knew the excitement was getting the best of them. I decided to save my energy and focused on a good pace. My first split-9:01. My second-8:35 and I kept that pace up until mile 19. Did I mention how cold it was? I was wearing a thick jacket (husband thought I would have to carry it the entire way) thick gloves, fleece hat and ear warmers, long pants, etc. It was so cold, actually freezing. My body was perspiring however, I could never get warm. Just impossible.

Mile 19.........After I passed mile 19, my right knee started to really hurt. The cold weather wasn't helping the arthritis in the knee and it really started to throb but I continued to carry on. However, my shoe lace came untied and I knew that if I stopped, it was over. But with the knee and the shoelace together, I, well......my mind started to mentally break down. Next thing I know, I literally came to a complete STOP. I sat down and tie my shoe. YES-I sat down. Then I just start crying. I am crying hard. I knew it was OVER. I tried to talk myself into moving but I couldn't. I just cried. Then I was walking. Sort of limping my way--more like feeling sorry for myself. Then I started to look around to see if there was any car that I could jump into to bring me to the finish line. But then I thought-I can't let me kids see me fail. So, I started to run again. But by mile 20, I was at 2:58. That left me with 47 minutes to run the last 6.2 miles. Under normal circumstances, I should have been able to run the last 6 miles in 47 minutes. But these weren't normal circumstances. My body/mind had checked out the minute I sat down to tie the show. I started to panic and cried even harder. My knee was too sore to run or at least that's what I told myself. That was my excuse. Mentally I was a goner. I rcontinues to run /skip/walk and and as each mile approached, my split times were getting worse and worse. I see the pace sette3:45 pass me at mile 20. Okay--not too bad. I was ahead of myself. I can keep up with this group. NOT. Next thing I know, pace setter 3:50, then 3:55.....I reached mile 24-3:38. The dream is officially OVER when I hear this time. The guy next to me says, "at least it will be under 4 hours!" That made it even worse! As I passed mile 25, I won't even tell you what my split was at that point, I was so gone, so removed and for the first time, I hated running. It seemed like an eternity to the finish line. I just wanted to quit but didn't want to disappoint the family (who btw-missed me!!) As I am running the last of the strip on J street, or whatever it was called, I kept asking myself where the heck was the State Capital/Finish line? It was so far, so long, so miserable and I just cried, cried, cried. I crossed the finish line still crying!

I didn't even want to take the medal that they put around my neck at the finish line. Usually, I like to absorb it all, the race, the people, the energy. But after this run, I collapsed on the grass and continued to cry. A few people asked me to take their pictures, not even noticing that I was crying or if they did, they didn't care and weren't going to allow me to spoil it for them. (I don't blame them!) I walked around one time and made my way back to my hotel room. I was so disappointed in myself. Physically-I cannot express how ready I was for this. When I hit mile 19, mile 20-I wasn't tired! My pace was consistent! But me knee, it was killing me and I just got emotionally and mentally distracted. Furthermore, its exactly like my coach said-I focused too much on chasing the golden ticket and not focusing on my passion for running. Truth be told-I didn't enjoy the running at all. And the last six miles were truly miserable. This was the first race that I did not enjoy. It was also the first race that I focused so much on time rather than just enjoying the run.

My final time was 4:00. Not a qualifying time for Boston. Will I do another marathon? Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely.