My First Marathon

While I did forgo the mid-week speed workout last week for finishing up some things at work, I still went out for a nice 4-miler. It was a great run, only 4 miles, but still a great run to log. That's better than a horrible 6-miler, right? I love Taylor-logic; the right I give myself to rationalize most anything.

A few weekends ago as we were cleaning the apartment in preparation for our move this weekend, I ran [pun intended] across my first pair of marathon shoes. Yes, I still keep them for sentimental purposes. How could I scrap something
so easily when it represents so much of who I am today? Those shoes represents the mental, physical, and emotional limits I thought I never could reach.


To say they're beat up is a vast understatement.

Which leads me to the story I've been keeping from you. The story of my first marathon in 2004 in Austin, Texas.

I don't know when the idea came to me, but for as far back as I can remember, it's been a lifetime goal of mine to complete a marathon. You know the go skydiving, travel to all 7 continents, own a winery...type of goals. It never dawned on me that starting with a 10K, then 20K, then working up to running a marathon would be a good idea. Instead I jumped right in, as I do with most things.

It was my last semester of college...and it was a pretty slow one. I was still very involved, but only took about 11 hours of coursework, which lent itself very well to training for a marathon. Two other roomies and best friends jumped on board and we were all off training for our first marathon.

The five month training program spanned the winter months in Kansas, so a lot of my runs were spent on el treadmillo at the student rec center. And, well, let's be honest, I was a runner only in the sense that I would only run outside if the conditions were perfect. And by perfect I mean, 0% wind, 0% humidity, 100% blue sky and 0% hills. I know, high maintenance.

Around mid January I began experiencing pain in my right hip while running. Knowing that the marathon was only a month away, I feared that a doctor might tell me to halt my dreams of completing the marathon. So being the hard-head I am, I ran through the pain by overcompensating in my left leg stride. The longest run, a 20-miler, was one of the less than perfect days to run outside. So, I ran it all on a treadmill. Three and a half hours later and 3 quarters into the Super Bowl, I was finished...and so was my hip. I decided to see a chiropractor for a few quick fixes before I ran.

Long story short, I ran the marathon injured and did finish, though, with an out of place hip, a strained SI (back) muscle, and in 5 hours. My goal was #1 to finish and #2 to do it in at least 4 hr 30 min. After all, P. Diddy did it in 4h 15m and Oprah in 4h 30m. It didn’t occur to me these star moguls had professional trainers, nutritionists and all the free time in the world to train. Since then, I’ve felt the need to redeem myself and show that marathon what I can really do....uninjured. All I can think of is how much I want to run down that final .2 mile stretch with a huge smile on my face and not a look of pain in my eyes. It’s sick and twisted, I know...but redemption will be mine.

So, that's the goal for the KC marathon. Finish uninjured and still smiling.

This is a picture of me and my two roomies post marathon. That's definitely a smile of pain.