On November 20th I ran my first full marathon. Little late news and most of you probably know already. Regardless, I had a great time....so to speak. I will say in my so called train up for this I only had a few "long" runs on the weekends up to 16 miles. I thought that this would get me through the race at least and it did. But, what I didn't know is the unknown...what will happen to my body after I run further than I ever have before (past 16). I was flying right along through the first half of the marathon, in fact set a new PR in that portion beating my previous half marathon time (also my first half marathon) by a full 15 min! I was very excited at that point and felt strong. But not for long....I had to piss at about mile 17 and when I stopped and stood there after over 2 hours of running my body stiffened up! When I began to run again, my legs felt like tree trunks. At mile 19 I hit the proverbial "wall" that all runner's talk about. I had never been there or beyond before in my life. Let me tell you it was freaking cold the day I ran starting at 21 degrees and ending at 27 by the time the race was over! Anyway at mile 19 I couldn't even bend my knees as I ran! It was like I had leg braces on and was trying to run. I had already felt massive blisters on my feet which didn't help much at all. Every step I took hurt severely, to the point I was cringing with every step! I was all alone at this point and started walking for the first time in the race. I thought screw it as long as I walk a little and then continue running and just finish this race I'll be happy because I immediately knew where I went wrong in my training. I was so down in the dumps and just wanted to hang it up and stop. But I wouldn't let myself quit, I will never quit. I finally got to mile 21 and found water and people. This was exciting for some reason and I got new energy and hope. So I started to run again.. a very very slow pace. It still hurt so much to run with every step, I felt my bones hitting together like a sledge hammer pounding concrete. I ended up walking and running some of each for the rest of the race at a blistering slow pace....then my blister broke and relieved the pressure on my feet but now my entire body was just stiff and in serious pain. I ended up getting to the finish line and seeing my wonderful supportive wife and two beautiful girls cheering me on like I was running the fastest race of my life! But I was not, I was running for me to push myself beyond anything I've done before and encourage my kids to grow up happy and healthy with exercise in there life. My daughter loves to run and exercise as I'm sure the youngest will also. I do these painful events for a gut check for myself and for others to hopefully get inspired by and get up off the couch and stop making excuses for them selves to not live a healthy life. I now have a goal of completing a 50 mile race. Again just to complete it will be a thrill as I now know of this "wall" that you hit and it sucks...I want to go further than ever and continue to kick down the walls! Get up and kick down your wall what ever it may be thats making you stop training, quitting, stopping you from taking action toward your next goal in life.
When you're not training, the enemy is and he wants to kill you!
May not be a human enemy ...could be anything like a deadly disease or virus trying to attack you. Stop what ever it is in its tracks and TRAIN!
No comments:
Post a Comment