Where do I start ? What do I say about my first marathon?
What an emotional, exhilarating, terrifying, inspiring and fantastic experience!!!
This is how it happened from my standpoint:
I woke up at 5:00 AM after not having slept well at all – only dozing off and on… such nerves and tenseness! Wow! I have never been this nervous in my life before…. get dressed, stuff a sandwich down my throat, put my hat on and leave my sunglasses off as it’s cloudy and raining outside and head out to the start line.
I find the 4:00 hr pace bunny – who happened by wonderful coincidence – to be a Flight
Centre co-worker of mine who was one of many people to inspire me to start running in the first place. Dave – you are the energizer pace bunny machine! Exacting, constant and right on time.
Tania finds me at the start line and pumps me up with last minute strategies and positive reinforcement and then we are off.
I settle in at the 5:30 – 5:50 pace (adjusted for water/ Gatorade stations and the kilometres fly by …..7, 10, 15, 19, and suddenly, I am half way through – WOW – I’ve just run a half marathon and I feel great ! This used to be the end in three previous races that I’ve done! Ok…onward I go, keep going strong ….24, 27 and 30 Kilometres come and go and I realize that my legs are starting to feel a bit weak and that my pace is slowing.
I am still behind Dave the 4:00 HR pace bunny by about 2 or 3 minutes ….no sweat I tell myself that I can make that up…that is just a good surge on the last 3 kilometres.
Now I am rounding up on to 33 and 34 kilometres and I realize that this is going to be harder than I thought. Surprisingly, it’s not my lungs or my heart (I naively thought that this would be the problem) but I am shocked to realize that what hurts so much is my legs – all of my legs!! My calves, my hamstrings, my glutes, my ankles – everything! Wow! I realize that I this is not going to go away and that I have another 8 kilometres or so to go and that the pain is getting worse.
Running a marathon is truly a “mind over matter” challenge! All of those stories, all of the people that I had talked to, they talked about “hitting the wall”, running through the pain, putting the pain aside in another part of your brain and willing your body to keep moving but, honestly, I thought that some of those people might be exaggerating or complaining too much ! I had never experienced anything like that in two years of constant running and training so I didn’t believe it necessarily (a bit arrogant, aren’t I?). hahahhah
Well, a marathon will humble you and me and everybody else!
So, I realize that this is the way that it is: I won’t quit (God forbid even the thought!),
I could walk the rest of the way but walking hurts just as much as running, I could walk and run interspersed together ….what should I do?
I grit my teeth together and concentrate on the crowd and the beautiful scenery along the route and run. Just run …try as hard as you can…go as hard as you can.
Now it’s 39 Kilometres and the end is in sight, only 3 more to go…come on I know that I can do it….I pass 41 K and I can smell the finish line….I make a beeline for it and will my legs to move as fast as they can….I push harder and harder….I pass many people who were ahead of me for many kilometres and I smile in satisfaction – I have more fuel in the engine than they do and I can go hard at the end…I finish strong with my head up high.
I’ve done it.
Time – 4:13.
I am a marathoner.
I am a woman that worked hard to get to the finish line who sacrificed a lot of her private life and work life to run for the last 4 months and I am damn proud.
If I can do it, you can do it – anybody can do it.
Then, I started to cry; the tide of emotion overcame me – all of the discipline, the training runs, the pressure to excel, to execute one more run, to eat the right foods in the right portion at the right time, the stress from co-workers and loved ones having to pick up my slack,…it all came crashing down on me at that moment.
But I would not change a second of it because I am a marathoner.
I run.
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Love it!!! Congrats.
Awesome! I love it!
Bravo! Great achievement! I hope you will be running it again next year.
Hi, I can so relate to the story. Ran my first full on in fargo this May.
what a great feeling. Had not put in all the miles required but had ran 20 half marathons. I was bothered by heel pain last fall into this spring. So I cut down on mileage and iced , iced and iced the heel some more. As of a miracle,3 weeks before Fargo the heelpain went away. Ran lots of dirt roads with my two dogs and went out to Fargo just to have a fun. I started with the 4 30 pace bunnie but realized it was a bit too slow and just went my own way. Still felt strong at Mile 20, strong at mile 22. At mile 25 the Grimm Reaper was there with a big sign wich said; The end is near. I knew then I could finish strong.
4.15 was my time and soooo happy.
Way to go Aleks! So very proud of you!!!!!!!!!!
So awesome! Woohoo!
I am not an emotional guy, but you evoked emotion in me. I have been there several times and know the feeling. I was recently diagnosed with asthma and need inspiration to start running again. And this could be it!
Many thanks!
KEN
It was my first marathon after having 3 kids. I finished at 5:53, way way slower than before I have kids. But it was great, I felt alive again.
Congrats on your first marathon!
Angelina
Running against Post Partum Depression
I am honoured to know I was somewhere in the crowd near you when I ran on Sunday too…the 4:00 pace bunny eluded me after only 10km but I managed to push out a 4:21 which was a thrill…congratulations to you on such a wonderful accomplishment!
Well done Aleks. You describe the marathon experience very well. Anyone who’s run a marathon can relate to your experience. Congratulations on finishing in a very respectable time.
Nice report Aleks. No matter how many times I read a race report form a first time marathoner I am impressed – proud – inspired. As I mentioned yesterday now you know how great it feels and now you are one of the very small percentage of people with the tenacity to take on and accomplish such a feat so congrats and welcome to the world of marathons. I am sure we’ll meet on the roads again, except next time, I’m sure you’ll finish ahead of me!
Dave
Congratulations Aleks! You ARE a marathoner. Fantastic.