Monday, October 6, 2014

I did it!


I'm so proud. I just ran my first marathon!

after the race



My brother took this picture somewhat early in the race. 


This is probably the most exciting personal achievement I've ever had.  Overall it was great experience.  I'd do it again.

Enter a teasing eye-roll from my husband.
"Why run 26 miles when you can drive?!"
"Because its fun" I say.
"You know what happened to the first guy that ran a marathon, right? He died!" he responds.
"Maybe he had a heart condition" I say.
"It's a good thing it's only 26.2 miles. Because 26.3 would be insanity."

I know he supports me and he is proud of me.  I like the way he gives me a hard time.  It's almost like he's challenging me. I love it.



If he didn't support me, he wouldn't have surprised me after the race with this really awesome charm for my necklace. I love it and its my most special momento.  My sister-in-law bought me the 13.1 charm for Christmas last year, so now I can wear them together.  I think he gets husband-of-the-year award.



It was freezing at the start. I don't know the exact temp, but somewhere in the mid-high 30's.  At least it wasn't windy.  I bought myself a pair of arm sleeves to wear on the race and boy am I glad that I did. I wore them almost the whole way.

Me and my brother in the corral waiting to get started

For those of us who are wondering what the heck they are, its basically just the sleeve of a shirt. They come in several price points (most around $25) and different fabric technologies. Mine were $10 from Louva (I found them at the Health and Fitness Expo when I picked up my race packet).  These were pretty inexpensive. I figured I would try them and if they sucked I could just toss them and not feel like I lost anything.  But they were actually pretty great.  I chose to wear arm sleeves instead of a long sleeve shirt because:

1) I wanted the flexibility to take them off if I got too hot (I never did)
2) My core gets hot when I run, and I hate being hot.  I planned to wear my Captain America tech shirt and I knew a double layer would be too much.  Although these may look corny, they were the perfect solution. I love them and they were a smart purchase.
3) The brand I bought are by a local company called Louva. These are knitted and I was concerned they would either be too hot or not stop the wind from reaching my skin. Neither of these issues were a problem for the race.  They extend to the palms of my hands and had the thumb holes- a very cool feature.  AND THEY STAYED UP!  Not once did they fall down around my elbows, which would have been super annoying. One of the cardinal rules of running is never try anything new on race day, but I got lucky and they didn't bother me at all.  I'd recommend them to anyone.




It was a fair amount of work to get here. And I remember getting sick of my training plan and starting to think that it wasn't worth it. I was struggling in my runs and beating myself up mentally.  But then magically it all turned around about 4 weeks out and the rest of the training seemed to be smooth sailing.

Tapering was a learning experience for me. I started paying attention to my food intake too late in the game according to what I learned in my clinic (just a few days out, as opposed to a week), but honestly I was getting so nervous and uncomfortable that it wouldn't have mattered. I couldn't eat. Food just didn't have flavor and the thought of eating anything made me nauseous.

But this is how I get when I'm nervous. I have an appetite, but I just feel sick all the time. There's not a whole lot of give and take in the department though. Bodies need fuel, especially if you're going to run a marathon.  You have to eat. A lot. Its a delicate line to walk when the food you eat makes you sick.  I manage this the best I can.  I eat super small portions of foods that are gentle on my stomach (bread, rice, bananas, smoothies).

Then on race day I planned to eat my usual pre-race power breakfast of Overnight Oats and I just couldn't eat it.  I picked at it until it was time to enter the corral and just tossed it out.  Not the best start to my run.  So naturally I'm hungry by mile 4.  WAY earlier than in my training runs (usually not ready to eat until mile 8 or 10).  So I scarfed down one of my Vega Sport bars.

On Summit Avenue, only a few miles from the finish. I hit my stride and finally felt like I was running at my potential (sub-10 minute miles).

I've eaten these bars so many times on training runs before with no incident whatsoever. It never occurred to me what would happen next.  My stomach hurt for the next 22 miles.  I wanted to puke the entire way.  I needed to use the bathroom. Aside from nerves, there was nothing different about the race than usual.  I grabbed a half banana at one of the refueling stops and held onto it for the next 2 miles.  That banana and water were the only things I ate for the rest of the race.

I'm sure this is why my time was dismal. I wanted to hit around a 4:30 finish.  Instead I finished at 4:54:30.  Still not too bad for my first one. I'm not going to allow myself to be mad about my time. After reviewing my experience in my head, I don't know what I could have done differently. When you're sick, your'e sick. You just have to manage.

I felt rotten the rest of the day. My knees were actually okay.  I felt tired, but not really too bad. My stomach is what hurt the worst.  I still couldn't eat. I tried to eat the bagels, bananas, broth and milk at the finish line, but I just couldn't.

It was great that Mom had supper ready for us when we got home.  I really wanted it, but all I could do was nibble.  I had been up since 445 and just wanted to take a nap. Now its 3AM and I woke up hungry, went downstairs, ate a bowl of cereal and started to write.  I feel pretty good.

No recipe today.  Just my story.  I'll write again soon.





3 comments:

  1. Yay! Congrats! I totally understand the super sickness feeling, although not the nervous feeling. I think during your taper because you weren't burning as many calories, you just didn't need them. It sounds that you just got so concerned you werent eating enough that is started a vicious cycle. No biggie, just something to think about when training for the next run. The hardest part about the marathon is not the marathon itself, but the training, and you did it! Great job and I can't believe you are talking about another one!

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  2. Finishing a marathon is great feeling! And the training is brutal - definitely the hardest part. I agree, after thinking about it, perhaps I was paying too close attention to my eating during tapering. I chalk it up to experiences gained. Maybe the next one will be easier. Trying to decide - Milwaukee Lakeshore or Chicago 2015? The jury is still out.

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  3. Congratulations on finishing your first marathon! What a great accomplishment! Thanks so much for the great review of our Sleeves. We are so glad that you were happy with them! -Amy & Jodi of Louva

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