To all the regular joes & janes that run ... on the roads & in their heads.
without the urge to write about it
At the risk of sounding like a converted new cult member, I think Yoga has a healing quality, both on the physical as well as the mental being-ness. Today is day 2 post-marathon, and although yesterday I was still stumbling around like someone who forgot how to walk, today I'm almost back to my normal self, with only a bit of soreness left in my quads and my hips.
It's odd, although I should have been eager to write about my first marathon experience, this time around, I was content to let my thoughts sit and mellow out. Oddly enough also, I'm not feeling particularly different or spectacularly elated about having accomplished this goal. I enjoyed it well enough - and I think with much gratitude about all the seasoned marathoners in the clinic that have made this such an unforgettable experience, whatwith the halfmark refreshments, updates about the others on the course and the finish line excitement with lots of hugs and shared joy. We all made it, each and every of us, including all the first timers. Two finished under great pain but nevertheless finished to tell about it.
Personally, I had a great first 21 km, taking my time and pace easy, running alongside a few clinic mates who are always a pleasure to be around with. Within the first 10 km I could sense that Lesley was itching to turn up her engine, so I told her go ahead and stuck by Angela, who was feeling a bit of IT band tightness early on. I have to admit, I got a little impatient starting around 25 km, and when I saw the faster folks coming toward us, I know that I had enough ants-in-the-pants left in me to start pushing. So not too long after, when the waterfront trail was beginning and runners began spreading along the course (we had been asked prior to the race to run single file), I asked Angela if she was ok if I turned my pace up a little and went ahead. That's when things started to turn from highly pleasant to perhaps not really pleasant anymore. No, I don't think I had the chance to meet my personal wall, or perhaps, I was too zoned out to notice (apparently I didn't see the 'actual' fake wall that we ran through around 32 km). However, I remember thinking at 32 km "oh crap, now I'm really on my own here". All the training that we had done over the past few months came together nicely to help me up to 32 km; however, what came after was unknown, new, and revealed another layer of me that I don't usually pay much attention to.
I had two instances where my heart felt fluttery, but luckily my idea to replenish my body with more electrolytes and water seemed to alleviate that sensation. The music on my mp3 player helped at certain stretches as well, and to my surprise, it turned out that quiet, calm type of music rang the truest (Radiohead, some Adele, etc.) in those moments, not those adrenaline driven sounds (Rage Against the Machine, Billy Talent, etc.). During the last few kms, I heard someone call my name - Julie had caught up to me and we decided to run together to the finish. Maybe just a little then did I start to feel the overwhelming urge to stop but neither of us stopped other than during our standard 10-in-1 sequence (yes I'm kinda proud of that!). Somewhere between 2 and 1 km before the finish, my right knee suddenly gave out, and I had this sudden flash of fear that I was going to either collapse in front of everyone or / and finish crawling. Luckily, it wasn't as bad as I thought and I was able to put more weight on my left leg and finish my race with a consistent pace, just with a slight limp.
Ok, as I am starting to recollect the race, more details want to be written out. So I'll stop for now and will pick up where I left off when those details emerge.
It's odd, although I should have been eager to write about my first marathon experience, this time around, I was content to let my thoughts sit and mellow out. Oddly enough also, I'm not feeling particularly different or spectacularly elated about having accomplished this goal. I enjoyed it well enough - and I think with much gratitude about all the seasoned marathoners in the clinic that have made this such an unforgettable experience, whatwith the halfmark refreshments, updates about the others on the course and the finish line excitement with lots of hugs and shared joy. We all made it, each and every of us, including all the first timers. Two finished under great pain but nevertheless finished to tell about it.
Personally, I had a great first 21 km, taking my time and pace easy, running alongside a few clinic mates who are always a pleasure to be around with. Within the first 10 km I could sense that Lesley was itching to turn up her engine, so I told her go ahead and stuck by Angela, who was feeling a bit of IT band tightness early on. I have to admit, I got a little impatient starting around 25 km, and when I saw the faster folks coming toward us, I know that I had enough ants-in-the-pants left in me to start pushing. So not too long after, when the waterfront trail was beginning and runners began spreading along the course (we had been asked prior to the race to run single file), I asked Angela if she was ok if I turned my pace up a little and went ahead. That's when things started to turn from highly pleasant to perhaps not really pleasant anymore. No, I don't think I had the chance to meet my personal wall, or perhaps, I was too zoned out to notice (apparently I didn't see the 'actual' fake wall that we ran through around 32 km). However, I remember thinking at 32 km "oh crap, now I'm really on my own here". All the training that we had done over the past few months came together nicely to help me up to 32 km; however, what came after was unknown, new, and revealed another layer of me that I don't usually pay much attention to.
I had two instances where my heart felt fluttery, but luckily my idea to replenish my body with more electrolytes and water seemed to alleviate that sensation. The music on my mp3 player helped at certain stretches as well, and to my surprise, it turned out that quiet, calm type of music rang the truest (Radiohead, some Adele, etc.) in those moments, not those adrenaline driven sounds (Rage Against the Machine, Billy Talent, etc.). During the last few kms, I heard someone call my name - Julie had caught up to me and we decided to run together to the finish. Maybe just a little then did I start to feel the overwhelming urge to stop but neither of us stopped other than during our standard 10-in-1 sequence (yes I'm kinda proud of that!). Somewhere between 2 and 1 km before the finish, my right knee suddenly gave out, and I had this sudden flash of fear that I was going to either collapse in front of everyone or / and finish crawling. Luckily, it wasn't as bad as I thought and I was able to put more weight on my left leg and finish my race with a consistent pace, just with a slight limp.
Ok, as I am starting to recollect the race, more details want to be written out. So I'll stop for now and will pick up where I left off when those details emerge.
Add a Comment
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Comment by Jane on May 18, 2009 at 3:34pm - Hi Carole, thanks! I wasn't planning on training for it, but since I had been running with those training for a marathon since Around the Bay, I figured I might as well do it instead of wondering how it would be. We did the Mississauga Marathon a couple of weeks ago and it went better than I expected... then again, I didn't have high expectations :) Now it's done and I can focus on other stuff. Others are planning on training for the Toronto Marathon now, but I won't subject myself to their peer pressure for now :)
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Comment by Carole Noble on May 17, 2009 at 7:51pm - Congratulations Jane. I didn't realize that your were training for a marathon. Did I miss something? Where did you run it? In any case - that's quite an accomplishment.
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