The Run of a Lifetime
Sometimes I just don't quite understand my fellow colleague Max.. One day at work, during lunch he suddenly goes; "I've decided to run a marathon.. in 6 weeks... in Athens". First we thought he was kidding, only to find out he was serious. Secondly he though he was crazy, which turned out to be fairly correct. He said he accidentally came across the event on the web and figured, "ah, this seems like something for me"!? Hmm, the guy hasn't really been running the past few years, and except for our weekly soccer practice I'd guess he hasn't done any exercise at all lately, so how could he possibly think that marathon is something for him? Well, there's only one way to find out, so two weeks later I decided to join the madness! So, that's how the story begins; One marathon, two participants, four weeks! 42 km can't be that bad, can it?
:: The motivation ::
It's the day after I decided to join, and it's time to get motivated. I was a bit worried about my recent injury in my back and that my knee had been bad for a couple of years, so I figured I could ask my physiotherapist on my scheduled meeting that day. When I told her I was going to run marathon.. in 4 weeks.. first, she looks at me with a you-gotta-be-kidding look, and somewhat kindly explaining that running marathon was NOT the smartest thing I could do in my situation.. My back would probably survive, but my knee is most likely to get a lot worse! But after a while she, after realizing I was already at the point of no return, was indeed helpful and gave me some advice to help me along the way. I proudly told her I at least had a really good pair of shoes to run with, although a couple years old they weren't really used much yet and as good as new! "And how are you supposed to be able to finish a marathon if you haven't used your shoes the last couple of years" was her reply! Hmm, she had a point there - it's was time to get started!!
When it comes to motivation, Max definitely played his part by sending me some of his "research".. Hmm.. did anyone mention knee injuries?! So, in conclusion; life won't be much fun if we always stick to what's smartest, now, would it?! Sometimes it now always about getting to the end of the road, it's HOW you get there!:)
:: The training ::
Max had already been training for two weeks, that's like 50% of my total training time, so I would have to work pretty hard to catch up! And Max was very well prepared indeed; maybe a bit too prepared someone might have said! With his brand new GPS running computer, new shoes and a lot of research of how to actually do this think in one month!
We both had the same goal, to finish without major injuries! We used, however, two pretty different strategies to get there. I was most concerned about the last part of the goal; "without major injuries". On the other hand, Max was most concerned about the first part; finishing. Meaning he stopped running as soon as he felt the pain come sneaking in order to be sure he didn't get injured before the marathon. Mine was, however, to constantly push it to prepare myself for what was about to hit me. So, here's what my plan was: the 3 first weeks I trained fairly hard. When it started hurting and became very uncomfortable running, but before it became directly painful, that's when I stopped running. After resting 1-2 days or whatever number of days it took for the pain the completely disappear I was ready for a new session. The remaining week I took it easy, giving my poor knees a chance to catch up and get ready for the big run! But at that point my knees didn't really hurt that much anymore.. I've also, after advise from my friend, practicing to run more softly, to minimize the "pressure" on my knees.
We were ready, both in undoubtably(?) good shape. It was a bit concerning that most of our trips was between 8-10 km only.. I had one run that lasted 18km before the knee started killing me, but still pretty far from 42km. That's when I made myself an ultimatum. If my knee started hurting badly during the marathon I would drop out, no discussion!
:: The race ::
After a long day of sightseeing the day before; getting up at 5:30 in the morning was a challenge itself. Eating plain wheat flakes with milk for breakfast didn't help much either. Especially without a spoon. But two hours later we were at the starting point in Marathons, almost ready to start. We felt pretty clueless how to prepare though. Do you warm up for a marathon? I mean, you'll be running slowly for 6 hours, what's the point of warming up!? But before we even figured out, I realized my starting number was gone, 20 minutes before the race began. Remembering reading that "you will not be able to start without your starting number" I kinda freaked out and ran back and forth looking for it. A few minutes after Max came towards me with my start number with a lot of footprints and dirt on it.. *puh*.. I have to admit my pulse rise quite a lot those few minutes.. so there I go, my warmup was complete!
10 minutes remaining, and we were preparing the gear! Max had of course his GPS with him, and I had my cellphone! We've promised people back home to give live updates during the race, so a cellphone was a requirement. How I was supposed to write text messages with the cellphone literally taped to my arm was another question. But more importantly; on my cellphone I had 4 hours of music - The Ultimate Marathon Mix! Legends say that faith can move mountains, but so can music!! Not literally, but music is the best motivation you can ever find! There are certain songs that just gets the rhythm and fill you with excitement! That's my 4 hours of marathon mix! That's what was going to keep me going! We were now ready for what was about to begin!
So, when it comes to the race itself.. what can I say?! It was 5 hours and 21 minutes of running! YES, I did complete the marathon! All the way! Was it hard, yes indeed it was, but I made it!
The biggest surprise; my stamina (or lack of it) wasn't an issue at all, I wasn't really breathing very heavily at all during the race. The pain, however, was just indescribable. In the beginning I kinda struggled to not run too fast as I knew that would probably kill my knees after a while if I did. So the first 25 kilometers went very smoothly, but the last 17, nah, not so smooth. The pain, sweet pain! Especially the last kilometers; I can remember how every step I made felt like my legs were going to fall anytime. Exhaustion, cramps, blisters, you name it! But my knees were OK! I actually had to stop and feel carefully because my muscles and feet hurt so much I had to be sure the muscle-pain didn't suppress any knee-pain! After 35 kilometers I just couldn't take it any more and had to start walking, which I did for the remainder of the race. At that point, though, I didn't really run much faster than I walked anyway, so I guess I didn't matter! I think I even walked passed a couple of guys still running.
But during the race you have a lot of spare time, and you start noticing the small things around you, the things that keeps you motivated. To me, seeing young children and entire families along the road cheering and shouting "bravo bravo bravo" was really inspiring. For quite some kilometers I ran together with an old man, he must have been 60-70 years or something. He was running steady as a rock up the hills. Amazing, who wouldn't get motivated by watching him. And when the going got touch, the text messages from Ngoc helped a lot, and not to talk about good old Roxette and Boney M singing loudly through my headphones. All together, it kept me going, one step at the time!
Coming into the stadium was just an amazing feeling, seeing Ngoc at the finish line cheering me forward was a priceless moment. The stadium wasn't really that crowed anymore, but it really felt like it was, people were screaming and cheering! At that precise moment all pain was forgotten and we all started running again. Though, 10 seconds later I was brutally reminded of the pain again. But it didn't matter! I was there! It was done! I was just about to finish the run of a lifetime!!
:: Final thoughts ::
The next day, going shopping in Athens, oh how I regret not bringing crutches!. And even worse, how I regret harassing Max for bringing crutches! I though it sounded like a bad idea when we left, kinda like jumping into the lifeboat in case the skip should start sinking.. but believe me it sounded like a good idea the day after! At that point it felt like all of my tendons was ripped halfway apart, which might not be far from the truth either.. But three days later, I was feeling a lot better. I was nearly able to walk normally and only one tendon is still hurting, but doesn't seem like something seriously. And today, one week later, I'm doing very fine and happy as ever!
So, I somewhat surprisingly reached my goals, and was I lucky it turned out this way, yes indeed I was! But one question still remains: WHY!? Pretty much all my friends asked me; why going through so much pain and lonely hours, running a high risk getting long-term injured?! I've never really been able to answer that question yet, it was definitely not for the money! Although there was a prize money the race cost me 80 euros.. and to put it that way; I wasn't running the best odds of winning. So, was it to be able to brag about it afterwards and impress people? Nah, not really. It's of course a nice story to tell, and.. hmm, maybe a little, but that wasn't my motivation when I joined it. What about pushing my limits and prove I could to it? Nope. I already know long-distance running is not my area, if I wanted to push my limits I'd chosen something I'm good at. Besides, I'm a programmer and computer engineer, if I were to prove something I'd use my brains, not my legs!
So, I still don't have a good answer! I shall admit I had a hard time finishing the marathon and that some parts of it wasn't much fun at all. But I guess it's all about the feeling I'm left with in the end! The satisfaction of achieving something great is one thing, but when I now, one week later, look back at the race, it wasn't that bad after all. The pain is gone, all I can remember now is exactly what I want to remember; the good times! Because that's what it really was all about, a great experience!
Pain is temporary, pride is forever!