10/12/09

marathon = done

full disclosure...

first things first. i don't know what my exact time was yet, but it was over 5 hours.

i started off the race great. the first 13 flew by and i felt great. then my legs started hurting. and at 15 i was in major pain. from there i run-walked the rest of the 11.2 miles. yes, it was miserable!

it was really cold. i wore a garbage bag over me and socks on my hands for the first 9 miles (thx rebecca), and i was wearing my tank and long sleeve too. i remember seeing a thermostat at around mile 4 that said 33 degrees. chilly. people on the sidelines would cheer me on by saying "go garbage bag!" or "yeah garbage bag!". haha. that was one of the highlights for me. oh, i also picked up a pair of gloves that had been thrown on the ground because my hands got cold again, around mile 20. i think i should've picked up a sweater too, but there weren't sweaters after mile 13.

i think my legs hurt because they were so stiff from the cold and i didn't stretch enough. looking back, i wish i had worn another sweater and pants instead of shorts. i didn't shed a drop of sweat during the entire run. i had pain in the tendon behind my knee - i never had that pain during training. i didn't feel out-of-breath at all but my legs hurt so bad i toyed with the idea of dropping out at mile 20. in the meantime i was beating myself up over having to walk so much.

will went to mile markers 4, 12, 26 and chinatown to cheer me on but we never saw each other. isn't that sad? but i think if i had seen him during the race i would've ran to him and cried. haha.

at mile 26, i was running and i heard someone call out my name. i saw two friends, rob and mark. they had these huge smiles and they were cheering me on and trying to get photos of me. they were so cute. that helped big time and helped me end strong.

the race did not go the way i'd hoped. as you can tell, i think i'm still trying to get over that. but i'm glad i finished and at 30 years of age i did a full marathon. also, the chicago race course is pretty cool.

thank you all for your support and encouragement on this journey.

EDIT: half - 2:21:59, full - 5:29:05

6 comments:

  1. congrats noona! i'm proud of u!

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  2. Very proud of you, Bo! You did great!! I don't know, but you might get addicted to trying for another one. ;)

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  3. Wow...didn't realize how much you had to overcome during the race. That makes me even more amazed that you finished!

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  4. Congrats on finishing, Bo! You should be proud of yourself...I am, and it sounds like everyone else is too! Remember, it's more about the journey than the destination, and you had quite a significant journey of preparing for this marathon, in which you had a good deal of victories.

    Your experience sounds a lot like my 1 and only marathon. The first 16 miles felt fine, then the rest was miserable with run-walking.

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  5. thank you everyone! i really enjoyed writing about my marathon journey on the blog. maybe one day i will do a sprint triathlon. but don't quote me on that. :)

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