Today I discovered that I AM capable of running the last eight miles of a marathon even when my legs have totally cramped up and just walking is painful. It was a good day. :D
I think that this race was the hardest I've ever run...not necessarily because of the course or the conditions, but because I've never had my legs cramp up like that before - either in training OR in a race. It was a totally new experience for me. It was mile 18....and I felt certain that there was NO WAY I could even WALK eight more miles, much less RUN it.
Imagine the thrill I felt in discovering that I DID have the strength to finish a seemingly impossible task! If I could have begged, bribed, or cheated my way to the finish line, I would have. But there was no choice other than to finish or quit. I kept telling myself, "four more minutes of running, and then I can quit if I need to." That four minutes turned into an hour and a half or the hardest running I've ever done. But I did it! And I feel incredible! NOT my best race. But a GREAT experience. I learned a lot about myself today. :D
So here's the breakdown...
I woke up thinking, "I'll bet I can do a sub-four today." Ben had broken up the race into timed segments, and he was even going to pace us. Having already run the hilly part of the course, I knew what I was up for. So when the race began on that nice gentle downhill, I felt great running a nice, "fast" pace. In fact, I set a new 10K distance PR for myself, clocking 50:25 for the first 6.2 miles. My average pace here, including walk breaks, was an 8:08. By the half-way point, I was WAY ahead of schedule! The hilly section had begun, but still I had left Ben behind, and hit 13.1 miles in 1:53:54, averaging 9:12 for that section. Then there was the series of steep uphills. That was when I began to notice that my legs wee cramping up. I didn't worry about it too much, because I had never had a problem with cramping, and I figured it would stop as soon as I finished climbing. But it didn't. It got steadily worse, until just after mile 17, and then I knew I was in trouble. I was thinking, "all I have to do is a 10 minute pace from here on out, and I'll easily do a sub-four." But I just couldn't make my legs go. I tried walking for longer periods of time, but nothing helped. What I would have given for some icy-hot or something!!! My cardio felt great, and I didn't physically feel like I had been working too hard, but I was completely cramped from foot to glut. When I got to the top of the last big hill entering Mesquite, I realized that sub-four was out-of-the-question. I thought I might have to walk the rest of the way, but honestly walking was just as painful as running, and the thought of being on my feet for another 2 1/2 hours was excrutiating! When I hit mile 20, I was at 3:09:04, and the last 6.9 miles I had averaged a 10:54 pace. So I MADE myself run for four minutes. Then I would walk for two. Then I would MAKE myself run four more. I wanted so badly to give up! It really was the hardest run I have ever done. I managed to finish the race off that way, averaging a 12:48 pace for the last 6.2 miles. My finish time was 4:31:32. I was pretty disappointed at first, hobbling in that way. But then I remembered how seven weeks ago, I would have been THRILLED with a 4:31 finish! And I began to think that maybe that time wasn't so bad. And then, as time went on, I began to realize what I had REALLY accomplished. And now I'm pretty dang happy about the race!
Because my legs were so cramped up and sore, I had a really hard time walking around the expo afterwards. But now my legs feel pretty good! We'll see how I feel tomorrow. I don't think there's going to be any long-term soreness. I'm not sure what went wrong today. Maybe I started out too fast. Or maybe I was just tired from all the events these last few weeks. Whatever. I finished my third marathon. And every finish is a victory!!! :D
Oh! My son Elijah ended up setting a new PR for himself - with a 4:16 finish! He took second in his age division...against an 18-year-old. Elijah just turned 12 two weeks ago. :-) | 