I had always thought I’d run a marathon. Well not always … about 4-5 years ago I convinced myself that that was too long. The human body isn’t supposed to go that far. It’s not healthy. That’s what I said to myself. I may have been right but regardless I have now run one.
So, how did it go? Here’s my quick distance-based chronology:
- Starting
- I feel healthy, I think I’ve trained enough but never gone more than 19 miles
- Nervous but secretly confident
- 5 miles
- I am the fastest man alive!
- 10 miles
- It must be tough on others how incredibly fast I am
- 13.1 miles (half way)
- I can feel it in my legs now but my stamina still feels good
- I am disappointed that I am only barely below my target of 2 hours; had hoped to have some “buffer” for later in the race
- 19 miles
- Jesus. I’m definitely feeling the strain.
- Still ok, buckle up soldier.
- 21 miles
- I know it’s only 5 miles to finish but i want it to end now!
- 23 miles
- The only enjoyment I can remember is when those kind soles hand me those cups of Gatorade at the water stations
- 26 miles
- Thank god … only 0.2 miles left. I’ve made it. I am an elite athlete.
- Hey wait, why do the signs say there are still 3 kilometres left? What?!?!
- Can’t blame it on the fucking metric system, must be the GPS in my phone. Jesus. 3 kilometres? I’m never going to make it.
- 26 miles + 1 km
- Is it ok for men to cry?
- I hate my phone for deceiving me
- I need to walk for a bit
- 26 miles + 1.5 km
- Ok, I hurt badly but I am not going to walk this fucking race
- Finish Line
- Yes!
- I did it!
- There’s no where to sit down!
- I can barely stand up
- Even if I didn’t like bananas I’d take your fucking banana treat … give me another!
Hopefully this conveys the triumph and the pain to which there was plenty of both. In the end I hit my official goal which was to finish but missed my informal goal which was to run it in under 4 hours (it took me 4 hours and 13 minutes). My informal goal not being reached was a result of the final stretch which was probably partially a result of my phones screwed up expectations but admittedly was a pretty speculative goal to start as I’d never run this distance before nor practice pacing on these long runs. The chart below shows my collapse around the time that I realised my phone was wrong about the distance:
All in all though it was a great experience. Would I do it again? Probably but I’m going to let my body rest first. Today is the first day since the race that I feel I can run again but today will be a small run to work out the kinks.
