First off – I did it! I finished my first half marathon! fist pump in air Woo WOO WOOOOOO!
It may have taken me three tries, but hey – third time’s a charm, right?! Third country, third marathon and I came under my goal of 1 hour 57 minutes.
Learn from my mistakes and train!
1st attempt: Medoc, France 2007 – attempted full marathon. No training whatsoever (i.e. length of driveway furthest mileage I tackled), danced and partied night before in high heels. SILLY. Plus, dressed as a playboy bunny – not sure if that helped or hurt me. Got to the 13 kilometer mark (about 8 miles). Limp, stumble, pain through left knee. Bunny down! Bunny DOWN!!!!
No more walking, let alone running. Yeah, you might say - DUHHHH! Of course that happened. But, marathon was just a word to me before that experience. 26.2 miles just did not register in any type of logic whatsoever.
2nd attempt: Los Angeles, California 2008 – attempted half marathon. Seven weeks of runner’s training (6 months of weight training before that…not the same). 8 mile marker and again, my knee let out an excruciating yelp and I could again, barely walk. I did finish. I did. But I walked for most of the 5 miles that were left and finished in about 4 hours?
(As for this video – quite embarrassing – no makeup, guy passing by farting, early morning. Not a good combo. But, it’s all I got from the day, and well, nothing like showing off to the worldwide web.)
3rd attempt: Cardiff, Wales 2009 – Never trained so slowly and for so long in my life. 26 weeks of slowly building up endurance, speed and strength. Twas frustrating at times – I always wanted to run further. Twas painful at times – well, let’s be honest, the first 16 weeks it hurt every time I ran. EVERY SINGLE TIME.
And, it was annoying other times – sometimes I just wanted to relax and not have to think about running. But then, one day, the pain went away, my speed got so much quicker, and I actually really started enjoying it. 7 miles was no big deal to get out of bed and do.
(Plus, my coach was pretty much an expert and, even though it was slightly irritating that he knew so much about running – I couldn’t have done it without him. I mean, maybe I would have – but it would have taken my fifth try instead of my third. Thanks Jocko for putting up with me! I was a bitch at times…)
The morning was freezing, and legs were tight. 11,000 runners entered, and 8,811 people ended up running.
Pace started off a bit too quickly. Goal was to get 9 minute miles, and we were doing 8 minute 20 second miles for first two miles. Slowed it right down to a ten minute mile (which I got a bit uptight about when Jock told me – I was aiming for 9 minutes! – he assured me it would be fine). Sure enough, we found our pace and stuck to it.
8 mile marker stared me in the face. I winced as I passed half expecting to tumble to the ground and cry out – Damn you eight miles. Curses to you and your mileage! and cry and cry.
Miracle. No crying, no tumbling, no pain. Not too much longer after that – well, 45 minutes later, and I passed the finish line!
My goal was 1 hour 57 minutes, and I beat it by 44 seconds! That’s 8 minute, 52 second miles. (And, not that I was competing with anyone else – because I wasn’t, I just wanted to finish – but well, my rank was 4236. That means I was better than more than half of the people there!!! Heh heh. Take that you knee!)
Tick that one off the list, and now to nurse those tight calves. Walking down the stairs truly is the most painful.
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I rewrote this entry about five times. I try to make these entries shorter, I do. But sometimes they just have a mind of their own. So, I do apologize for my logorrhea – i.e. diarrhea of the mouth. Hope you enjoy them, and I will stop writing now. At this moment. After I finish this sentence and upload a video.
OK, I’m done. Bye bye for now. Toodle Pip, as they say.
