Posts
On October 27th 2013 I completed my first official marathon. This was the Marine Corp Marathon and I have never been more proud of me and my husband ever!!
The day before the marathon we went for packet pickup which meant waiting in a queue for over an hour to receive our BIB's and race t-shirt. There was an exhibition with a lot of known brands advertising their items which was very difficult to turn down so we joined another line (it was shorter, 15 minute wait thankfully!!) to see it. It was a lot of fun! It was so great to see people of all ages there who would be running with us the next day.
At night we went out for dinner to Olive Garden's and ate to our heart's fill and then some more. I just kept telling everyone I met that I was running the marine corp marathon. Just wanted the feeling to sink in I suppose. I could hardly sleep the night before the marathon. But I did manage to sleep in till 3:30am. Then it was go time.
We had laid out all the things, clothes, socks, shoes, hydration belt neatly so we didn't have to rush. The one mistake we made was not eating a proper breakfast as we thought we had enough time so we could pick something up on the way to the race. Nope that didn't happen. I ate bits and pieces of the food my friends were carrying.
When the race finally started I had already been to the restroom twice (very important) and was fully charged up with adrenaline rushing through my body. My husband was right next to me so we hugged, I planted a big kiss on his cheek, had a couple of pictures taken before and then we finally started running.
I had to keep telling myself to slow down and not to burn myself out in the initial phase so even though i felt i was taking it easy I was actually running at -3minutes of my actual race pace. After all the uphills and downhills near the 9th mile marker I saw the pace team pass me. That was extremely disappointing as I thought I might not make the bridge on time. So again I tried to maintain a steady pace and kept running.
The half marathon was the lowest point of my race. I wanted to give up. I was tired and felt weak and for a brief moment I will admit I wanted to give up. Then my knight in a shiny green t-shirt came, took my hand and said 'just run with me'. If that is not the most romantic thing ever then I don't know what is. I took his hand and we started running and in sometime we were back again in the race. I felt so good that my husband believed in me when I didn't believe in myself.
When we reached the mile 18, I wanted to go as fast as possible. We over took a few familiar faces some because they had hurt themselves while running which was sad because they are all awesome runners, and saw THE BRIDGE. 'THE BRIDGE' is the most important aspect of the entire race at mile 21. One has to cross the bridge with a 16min/mile pace and if one cannot maintain that pace, then they are eliminated. So when we realized we made it we started high five-ing each other and you could see the happiness and relief on our faces.
After mile 21 we had no energy left in our bodies. We somehow used the tried and tested method of run-walk-run to complete the marathon. We did notice two women fighting at mile 23, but we can't blame them, they had run 23 miles!
My husband and I crossed the 26.2 mile marker holding hands and high-five-ing marines! We received our medals and we have never been more happier! So for me I can say, I moved from a couch potato to a marathoner! And they lived happily ever after - until they start preparing for their next race that is! :)
The day before the marathon we went for packet pickup which meant waiting in a queue for over an hour to receive our BIB's and race t-shirt. There was an exhibition with a lot of known brands advertising their items which was very difficult to turn down so we joined another line (it was shorter, 15 minute wait thankfully!!) to see it. It was a lot of fun! It was so great to see people of all ages there who would be running with us the next day.We had laid out all the things, clothes, socks, shoes, hydration belt neatly so we didn't have to rush. The one mistake we made was not eating a proper breakfast as we thought we had enough time so we could pick something up on the way to the race. Nope that didn't happen. I ate bits and pieces of the food my friends were carrying.
When the race finally started I had already been to the restroom twice (very important) and was fully charged up with adrenaline rushing through my body. My husband was right next to me so we hugged, I planted a big kiss on his cheek, had a couple of pictures taken before and then we finally started running.
The half marathon was the lowest point of my race. I wanted to give up. I was tired and felt weak and for a brief moment I will admit I wanted to give up. Then my knight in a shiny green t-shirt came, took my hand and said 'just run with me'. If that is not the most romantic thing ever then I don't know what is. I took his hand and we started running and in sometime we were back again in the race. I felt so good that my husband believed in me when I didn't believe in myself.When we reached the mile 18, I wanted to go as fast as possible. We over took a few familiar faces some because they had hurt themselves while running which was sad because they are all awesome runners, and saw THE BRIDGE. 'THE BRIDGE' is the most important aspect of the entire race at mile 21. One has to cross the bridge with a 16min/mile pace and if one cannot maintain that pace, then they are eliminated. So when we realized we made it we started high five-ing each other and you could see the happiness and relief on our faces.
After mile 21 we had no energy left in our bodies. We somehow used the tried and tested method of run-walk-run to complete the marathon. We did notice two women fighting at mile 23, but we can't blame them, they had run 23 miles!
My husband and I crossed the 26.2 mile marker holding hands and high-five-ing marines! We received our medals and we have never been more happier! So for me I can say, I moved from a couch potato to a marathoner! And they lived happily ever after - until they start preparing for their next race that is! :)
No comments:
Post a Comment