Finishing My First Marathon

May 28

So this past Memorial Day, May 25, 2009 I completed the Los Angeles Marathon! 26.2 miles! At one time! I am still a little bit shocked at this turn of events. I have turned from being someone who hated running in high school to someone who enjoyed it as a getaway from the computer lab in college to someone who runs these kinds of races in their free time.

I do have a few amusing things that I want to jot down for posterity’s sake:

The Fundraising

Initially I was only thinking of what I could get out of running a marathon. First off I could say that I ran a marathon. I could learn about myself and what I’m made of. And so on and so forth. But part of the way through the training I decided to run for Team World Vision. It was rewarding to be able to realize even in the midst of such a solitary sport that I could be doing this for other people. It was good to get to spread the word a little bit about what World Vision is doing in parts of the world, and it’s even better to be able to raise funds for a charity that is spreading the love of Jesus Christ in tangible ways to our world.

I’m still accepting donations so I welcome you to visit my donation page and consider joining with me to support this charity. And a HUGE thanks to everyone that has already supported me.

The Toe

On May 20th, I went to Costco to get my tires changed. Prior to this I had moved one of my existing tires to the spare tire because I had a nail in the sidewall. Basically this meant that my spare was usable but just barely. So I asked the tire center at Costco to move one of the existing tires to the spare so that it would be a little more reliable if it ever had to be used. I asked them if they did it when I picked it up, but I wasn’t confident that they did it as I had asked them. So I wanted to check it out for myself when I got home. As I was pulling the tire out from under my truck, it hit the toenail on my right big toe and separated the nail from the flesh a bit. I just stared at it because I was in shock. I had just read a post about hacking a marathon in which Adam Pash of Lifehacker fame briefly mentions messing up his big toe before his first marathon. I, of course, thought something like that would never happen to me. But that is also why I Hate Murphy (of Murphy’s Law fame). So I’m staring at my big toe, and blood is starting to come out. Thankfully I washed up, wrapped it up, and later applied some liquid bandage that took care of weather-sealing the wound. While it could have been pretty horrible, it all turned out alright. In fact it was the least of my worries during the actual running. On the other hand it did make the days leading up to the marathon more stressful!

The Mob

I made the mistake (again!) of starting off further back in the full field. That meant that there were a lot of people in front of me that were going to be running (or even walking!) slower than me. So I had to weave in and out for the first 6 miles at least. Stupid urge to urinate right before the start even though I had done so at Union Station a half hour earlier!

The Band

Yes, my Iliotibial Band started to hurt. This is the same injury that I experienced when I ran my half marathon. And all of this, I am guessing, happened because I was not paying attention to my form at all in the beginning while running through the crowd. I started to feel the effects of it near mile 10, but it didn’t actually start to hurt until perhaps mile 15 or 16.

The Wall

Initially I did not think that I hit The Wall. But now that I’m thinking back about what happened in the last 6 or 7 miles of the race, I might have to change my answer. Reasons why I might have hit The Wall after all:

1. Hallucination - I thought that a mile marker was coming up. Then I looked up again, and it was nowhere in sight.
2. Forgetfulness - I lost track of what mile I was on near mile 24. Or was that mile 23…
3. Dead tired - Usually I fancy myself strong of mind. But there were quite a few points where I could not psych myself up to start running. I just felt like I was stuck.
4. Focus - It was near impossible to think about anything else except for finishing. I could not multi-task with my brain.

Yes it sucked a lot. And no you have no idea what it feels like unless you experience it. Everyone should. :)

The Pace

I started off on great pace to finish in 4 hours. That would been extremely ideal. However I started to peter off as the race went on such that I eventually was trying to struggle to complete in 4:15. And that didn’t even happen. Thankfully I did finish under my overall goal of under 4:30.

The Near Fight

Generally people in and around a marathon are going to be pleasant and full of good cheer. But as I was running I noticed that there was a middle aged Causasian male runner who was getting into it a little bit with a young Hispanic male on a bike. I didn’t see what happened, but they were talking as if I was about to see some fisticuffs right there. My guess is that someone ran into someone else, which almost caused a much more devastating accident. I steered clear of them and picked up my pace to get away!

The Stairs

After running a marathon, take my word and walk down stairs backwards. I look dumb, I know. But it feels worlds better than walking down like a normal person.

The Day(s) After

Take it off from work if at all possible. Luckily this is possible for me. I was tremendously sore from head to toe. The soreness ranged from my shoulders and back to my entire legs and even my foot! In fact every step that I took with my left foot felt like there was a ball underneath it. Imagine my surprise at discovering this when I got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom! The day immediately following the marathon was definitely one of the most sore days of my life. I was hobbling around like a crippled old man.

Conclusion

So there you have some of my thoughts. I hope that you enjoyed them (if you read them). If you just skipped them, that’s fine as well. It’s your loss. :)

I definitely do not regret doing the marathon. It did indeed teach me about myself, and the whole experience is something that will have forever changed me. Doing one is completely different than hearing about it from others. Will I do another? Who knows. A guy that I chatted with a little bit before the start encouraged me to not be someone who is “one and done.” It took a lot of time to train for it, and I was still definitely feeling the effects of doing such an extreme thing. But considering all that I learned, and all of the health benefits that I received I would count it as something well worthwhile.

Oh and if you’re wondering, here are my official results.