the day i ran a marathon.
September 30, 2012So, many moons ago I told the world that I was going to run a marathon {refer to this post hurr}. Remember how I had said I was going to be dedicated to my training regimen? Well, life hits. I started training in april, then upon moving home, I injured my ankle at the very start of the summer. This set me back about 2 weeks, I was unable to train properly. Well, let's be honest, summer happened, and for whatever reason, I just did not want to run.
"It's too hot outside"
[my mom:] "you can't run at night, you'll get molested/raped/kidnapped/lost."
"running early in the morning=I have to go to bed early. I never go to bed early=no energy."
That was what this summer consisted of. I did have a point where I was consistently running 5.5 or so miles everyday--which was good. But once I got a job working 42 hours a week, it was done. There was no way. Keep in mind the entire summer, I did not run more than 5.5 miles at once.
Summer came to a close, and I moved back up to Utah State. I started running more because let's be honest, I was now down to 1 month before my marathon, and no real training. It was still hard to get myself to go run, but I did it more often. Never too far though.
The week before my marathon, I did a run, of a whopping 8 miles. yep. All through out my training, I never did more than that. I was supposed to do a 20 miler the week before my marathon, but that obviously didn't happen.
The day of my marathon was quickly being approached. The nerves started to kick in. The stress of the week was amplified, anticipating my soon to be doomed fate [or death] that would be the result of this never ending race I was about to encounter.
SEPTEMBER 27th: I was beyond sick. whether it was due to nerves, dehydration, whatever. My kidneys ached, I was nauseous, literally had a hard time walking around or stomaching anything. I had to call in sick for work, as well as miss all of school--it was THAT BAD! & I have no idea what it was. At around 5:00pm, I got out of bed, and ventured to walmart to stock up on gatorade. It helped a lot, but guess who didn't sleep at all that night? This girl.
SEPTEMBER 28th: I was unbelievably stressed this day. I woke up with a migraine, and had to wear my glasses all day. Wasn't feeling too great. Other unfortunate events were happening too which, let's be real, I probably cried more this day than I have in a long time. Combination of stress, sickness, fighting with an extremely important person, all that good stuff. Eventually the day wound itself down, and I made my way home. I worked the things out that I needed to, and was blessed to be able to go over to one of my parent's neighbor's home and they gave me tips, as well as provided me with many essential marathon things such as GU, caffeinated fruit snacks, etc..
I hardly slept at all this night either, but do you blame me?
SEPTEMBER 29th: The day of my Marathon: I woke up around 6:00AM. I was nervous beyond belief, nausea started to kick in, I literally thought I was going to die. But at least I'd die trying? Who knows. We rode up to Huntsville in the early hours. I was trying to keep myself calm by taking pictures of the beautiful scenery, but I was still scared out of my wits. Eventually we arrived, and the time came where I was to aboard a bus and be taken up to Monte Cristo. The drive up seemed never ending & I thought to myself "If it takes a car this long to get to the start, how long is this going to take to run??" Fortunately I got placed in the seat with the bus's wheel. My legs were already slightly cramping before the run, never a good sign. When we arrived at the top, we had about an hour and a half before starting time. It was so cold that I couldn't stop shaking. The scenery was truly AMAZING though!
Here are the "scenic" photos I was taking in an attempt to calm my nerves.
This is me, before loading the buses, you probably can't tell, but I was beyond scared.
while waiting up at the top, I continued my picture taking to distract me.
the lines for the porta-potty's were ridiculous, good thing I was one of the first people to use them. but seriously, CHECK OUT THAT SCENERY! That's what it looked like the entire time.
MIRACULOUSLY, this is mile 15, I had not stopped running. The weather had been fantastic, the scenery was amazing, I had kept my pace completely perfect up to this point, I almost started crying at mile 10 thinking "how have I even done this?" Even attempting 10 miles during training seemed impossible to me, now here I was, at mile 15, literally no sweat. HOW?
when you see this, it feels GREAT! It doesn't make sense in my head how I got here, but I did.
running into the finish line is one of the most amazing feelings
I was wanting to cry, but it's a weird feeling, you feel like you're crying, but no tears, it's like my bodies reaction was to stop it because it made it hard to breathe.
I felt great! Of course my legs were pretty shot, but I was surprised I was able to make it, and to do it as quickly and easily as I had.
I had felt this puppy along the race, never anticipated the size being THIS big! I felt it pop, but I kept going. I thought it would maybe be the size of a quarter, not the size of 3.
I haven't drinken chocolate milk in 4 years, let me tell you, pretty excited to have an excuse to.
I completed the "full monte!" I literally am having a hard time comprehending that this actually happened.
I came home to this sign that my dear neighbors (who I very recently know) made for me.
Now that you've seen the views from my marathon, what did I learn from it?
- Accomplishing a marathon basically comes down to two things, at least for me: NUTRITION and ENDURANCE. Patience goes along with endurance, I would say. You have to find a pace you are COMFORTABLE at, and even if it's not extremely fast, the tortoise always beats the hare. When you go at your pace for so long, try an hour or so, you have to obviously replace that now gone energy with food (or GU packets, whatever). MIND over MATTER.
- Patience is big. At a certain point, it gets pretty hard. My "wall" kicked in about mile 18. I never had that "I can't do this" thought, but I definitely was slowed down. Excruciating pain in my weak ankles, and what is potentially a stress fracture on my right foot, really started screaming at me. I had to remember to be patient with myself though and understand that it is okay if it takes me a little longer, after all, my goal was just to finish.
- I CAN DO HARD THINGS. Okay, super typical phrase, but it really does apply here. I'm currently dealing with a situation that is putting my patience [or serious lack of] to the test. Running this marathon helped me realize that in this path of life or in this current situation that I am facing, that YES. It's going to be hard. It's going to take a decent amount of time, probably an amount of time that puts me out of my comfort zone, but that's what makes the finish line so rewarding. Pushing yourself to the limits, enduring, staying patient, enjoying the journey, these things are all the things that got me to the finish line, and regardless of how long it took me, I got there knowing I did the best I could--& that's all the reward I need.
- NEVER GIVE UP: I was privileged to run nearby "Team Bart" (click to see a photo of them). What an amazing experience it was in itself to be able to witness such a great service. Bart was born with a trisomy chromosomal condition [or an extra chromosome], and due to this condition along with a disabled intellect, his body has been in constant decline which limits him almost always to his wheelchair. This amazing man, Manuel, has pushed Bart in many marathons! I was so lucky to get to witness this first hand. As I ran past at one point, Bart looked at me and said "YOU DON'T GIVE UP! YOU ROCK!" and we shared a fist bump with one another. It literally touched me to the point of tears. Being told not to give up by him, literally helped me keep moving forward. I'll never forget that moment in time.
- If I can run a marathon, ANYONE can. & I mean that. 4+ years ago, I never thought I'd be able to accomplish something like this. I decided to make a change, and now here I am. Even though, a week ago I thought I still was incompetent in accomplishing such a feat, I did it. If you ever have the desire to do something, and some inadequacy you feel within yourself is preventing you from doing so, STOP IT. Make a change within yourself, and strive towards your goal. The only thing that stops us all from what we really want, is ourselves.
Well, I'll be surprised if anyone makes it this far! Regardless, I just want to thank my amazing family and friends who were all so supportive of me. I couldn't have done it without them. I'm also forever grateful to my Heavenly Father--I know that He blessed me with the capability to achieve such a thing, there was no way that I could have done it on my own.
Now, I'm going to need some patience to deal with the fact that it takes me 10 minutes to walk up the stairs, and it'll probably be like that for a week! But oh well, all the pain was worth it. & I hope I someday get the opportunity to do it again.
MUCH LOVE.
7 ounces of lovin'
Megan! That's awesome. You are tough. It was great to see a pic of Bart and Manuel too. I grew up in the same ward as them. Marathons are addicting (according to my brother). Are you going to run another?
ReplyDeleteholy crap! i'm so impressed with this! i'm afraid to even run a half marathon. also, you look really good. you're obviously in good shape, i'm jealous! congrats on your marathon! (:
ReplyDeleteMegan, this is awesome. What an inspiring post!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your story! Inspirational.
ReplyDeleteMeganito, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this post. You are amazing! New item added to my bucket list...run a marathon. :)
ReplyDeleteSo impressed. Great work, Megan. You are awesome :)
ReplyDelete"The only thing that stops us from what we really want is ourselves." Literally the main thing I learned after doing this same thing. Must mean it's true! Awesome post!
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