Yesterday was a momentous day in my life – I finished a marathon! All 42km (26.2 mi.)! My total time was 4 hours, 29 minutes and 6 seconds.
I went to the marathon with Stephanie (dorm mom at BFA) and Tommy (RA at Sonne). Tommy got a 3:17 marathon(!!!), and Stephanie did a 4:35.
(thanks to Chris Jones for capturing these shots at the finish line!)
The first half I started a bit too fast. In my training, I had never really tried to pace myself on my long runs; I merely tried to complete the distance. Therefore, I had no idea how fast I should be running. There were “pacers” who ran along the route to help us gauge our speed. Tied to their shirts were helium balloons which displayed their projected marathon time.
During the first half of the marathon, I was hanging around or ahead of the 4 hour pacer. My half marathon time was just under 2 hours (1 hr 56 min). As I was running that speed, I thought to myself that there was no way I would be able to keep up that pace for the entire marathon.
Around the 12km mark, there were a couple men who looked like they were trying to cross the path right in front of me. Oddly, though, they had a camera. Then I realized they weren’t trying to avoid me – they were trying to videotape me! One guy stuck a microphone in front of my face while the other guy aimed the camera at me. The guy with the microphone said something in Swiss German, and I think it was a question about the race. I motioned them away – I was not mentally prepared to be interviewed in Swiss German while running in a marathon!
Then another runner came up behind me and said something to me in Swiss German. I had no clue what he said, so I asked if he could speak high German. In high German, he said that the men were just trying to do an interview. I responded that I did not want to be in an interview and that I don’t speak very much German anyway!
After about 19 km, I started to slow down. The 4 miler pacer caught up to me just after 21km (the halfway mark). I knew at that point I could not keep up the 4 hour pace the rest of the way. It was slightly discouraging to see the pacer go by; I slowed down rather than trying to keep up. After a couple more km I had to start taking walking breaks; I was feeling slightly dizzy. Looking back, I wonder if the light-headedness came as a result of walking (my lungs were pumping oxygen into my blood; suddenly I didn’t need as much, so it was an overload). At the time, though, I thought it would be a good idea to take a longer walking break to regain full control of my head.
During the second half, I drank more and more water (and dumped it all over my head). I went back and forth between feeling hot (it was sunny out – not hot, but sun really affects me) and feeling that awful bouncing in the stomach from having too much water in it!
So my last half was kind of rough in that way, and a lot slower than my first (2 1/2 hours as opposed to 2). By the 40th kilometer, the 4:30 pacer had almost caught up to me, so I determined to stay ahead of him. Coming into the last stretch, I could see the crowds ahead. Knowing I was almost done was the only thing that kept me moving!
It felt really good to finish. It also felt really good to eat food after the long run. Katrina and I went to Budenfest and ate at the wrestling tent. I got Jägerschnitzel mit Brot, and Zwiebelkuchen (pork schnitzel in a pepper sauce with bread, and something kind of like an onion pizza).
After resting in the afternoon, I went and played soccer in the evening. Crazy, I know. I recover very quickly from strenuous activity. I just wish I could have put that bit of extra energy into the 2nd half of the marathon!
If I were to do the whole thing over again, I would train with a definite pace in mind for my long runs. I would also start out at a slower speed, then speed up toward the end. Who knows, maybe I’ll do another one some day!
People kept asking me today if I could walk. Yep, I was a little stiff when I woke up, and my left foot kind of hurt for part of the day. But overall, everything felt fine! No blisters, no chafing. Praise the Lord, I had enough energy to start the beginning orchestra!
