Like most college kids, peer pressure plays a major role in
decisions that are made. For me, it was running a marathon my sophomore
year. I had joined the UC Running Club
where I met ‘crazies’ just like myself—people who enjoyed running.
After running with them for a full year, they convinced me
to sign up for the Flying Pig Marathon, I was stoked. I enjoyed all of my
training and had plans (or hopes) to finish at a 3:30 pace. Everything was fine
and dandy, until a week and two days before the race—I signed up to give blood
at work (Mistake #1). The next day after giving blood I went out for a run and
realized what I had done.
I tried to make up for it by eating more, my desperate
attempt to erase the stupid decision I had made. I ended up eating too much
pasta the night before (Mistake #2) which resulted in my being up half the
night throwing up (gross I know, sorry!). The only thing I was able to eat in
the morning was half of a banana (Mistake #3).
When my friend (training partner) and I arrived downtown, we
did not have enough time to use the restroom before the gun went off (Mistake
#4). One mile into the race I had to stop at one of the porta-potties and told
my friend that I’d catch up (Mistake #5)—I never caught up.
For the first 6 miles I was feeling pretty good. I was
excited to finally be running in an actual marathon and it was when I saw my family members for the first time with signs cheering for me. I was having a good time..until
mile 8.
Mile 8 was the beginning of the end. I started feeling my
energy levels drain. I found myself looking forward to the Gatorade stops
because it meant I could put calories into my body, I didn’t bring any Energy
Gels with me (Mistake #3 probably, but we’ll keep it in order, #6). By the half marathon mark I was ready to quit;
you should not be feeling as bad as I did at mile 13. I began telling myself that the next time I
saw my parents (my dad should probably be considered a pro marathon spectator
because they were ALL over the place) I was going to stop and quit.
Well, I
didn’t see them for quite a few miles and I reminded myself that I had already
bought a 26.2 sticker for my car. I told myself that I was closer to finishing
a marathon then, than I would have been if I stopped and had to train all over
again…it worked, for a few miles anyway.
By the time I was at mile 16 I was dead set in stopping, but
then I saw my old cross country coach, and since I had never stopped running in
front of him before, I wasn’t planning on starting then.
The next time I saw my parents I was at mile 19 and I was
feeling pretty okay. I yelled out to them “I think I can do it!” and trudged
on. At mile 20 or 21 I grabbed a GU they were handing out, unfortunately it was
coffee flavored (Mistake #7) and since my stomach was still bothering me I
barely got half of it down.
By this point, my energy levels were depleted and I was
running on empty, my legs were tightening up, I was in pain, and my feet were
barely moving. I finally decided I was going to walk. As it turns out
my friend Bryce was right—walking hurt WAY worse than running (or what I was
considering running anyway).
Somehow I made it to mile 25 and that’s where my high school
cross country coach’s husband found me. He was helping run people to the end. We chatted for a little while, he asked me how
I was doing, I told him I was never going to do it again, he laughed and informed
me that most people say that. He left me with .2 miles to go, I miraculously mustered
up a smile for the camera at the end and crossed the finish line in 3:43:58. I
Wanted To Die.
Luckily my parents found me because no way was I in any
shape to venture off to find them. My dad had to hold me up at one point
because I almost fell over. I told my sister that if I EVER said I wanted to
run another one, then she was to tell me NO. I swore to myself I would never do
it again, and I have stuck to that for 3 years, but then I got a job here…
I plan to run another marathon in the spring and hopefully
have a much better experience the 2nd time around.
Now, I didn’t
write this to discourage or scare anyone away from running a marathon. I wrote this in hopes
that you all wouldn’t make the same mistakes that I did. Also, if you find
yourself feeling like poop on race day, you know that you are not alone. Even with
everything that went wrong, I still finished and you can too!
Good luck to everyone a marathon on Sunday!
Happy Running!
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