Wednesday, May 16, 2007

I DID IT AGAIN!

I ran another marathon! It took me a while to have this sink in! Sorry for the late race report but since Monday I have a visitor from out of town at my house (my Newfie) so it’s been hard to write about my experience!

I arrived by train in London on Saturday, took it easy, went to Starbucks to read and enjoy a latte. When my room was ready, almost an hour later than the official check-in time! I had no time to take a nap and chill before the Maniacs Meet and Greet. We went to a restaurant that serves pasta in giant (huge) bowls!

Here’s a pic of our table (pic taken by Brendan Reid/qmp maniac)


The night finished early and I was happy to get back to my room for 8 p.m. I watched tv all night, spoke on the phone with my BF and prepared my clothing and breakfast for the next day…. I went to bed at 10:30 and felt asleep right away… I was up around 12:30 for a bathroom break and then started getting nervous about the race! I tossed and turned for the remaining of the night, not my best sleep!! But, I was up by 5 AM, got my breakfast in 2 h before the race and relaxed. I was out the door at around 7:30, I didn’t want to wait to long outside as it was a bit chilly in the morning.

On my way to the starting line, I meet this dad and his handicap daughter (in a stroller/wheelchair), Amanda, they were racing their 9th marathon together and wanted to finish in 3:40! They had run Boston twice already together! Impressive team! I was happy to talk to them, I wished good luck and was on my way to meet some maniacs.


The time was almost up to the race so we all took our place near the starting line, I went on my own to have time to myself before the gun went off... I felt the same as I felt for my last race, a bit teary, still couldn’t believe I was about to run for that long again! I knew this race was going to be different as my dad could not be there and he was such a great help for the last one. I was thinking about him a lot. I knew my friend Flashy and her BF would try to see me around 38-39K so I was holding on to the thoughts that it would be good to see someone I know along the way, especially when things start to get hard!!

My plan was to race at a pace that would have me finish with a 4h33 time (10:26 min/mile). I didn’t want to start to fast, which is always my problem, and I was very proud when I saw that I could pace myself properly and that was going very well (for the first 8 miles anyway).

Mile 1 10:16
Mile 2 10:26
Mile 3: 10:32
Mile 4: 10:18
Mile 5: 10:38
Mile 6: 10:22
Mile 7: 10:15
Mile 8: 10:23

The end of Mile 8 and the beginning of Mile 9 was quite hilly, I slowed down a bit so I don’t exhaust myself but that’s when my hip started to “feel funny”. It started to hurt when I would climb hills and disappear when I would be on flat ground. So the next 7 miles were done trying to forget about the hip and enjoying the ride. I was thanking people on the side of the road and the awesome volunteers!


Mile 9: 11:02
Mile 10: 10:19
Mile 11: 10:41
Mile 12: 11:05
Mile 13: 11:23 (half-marathon at 2:21:26)
Mile 14: 11:15
Mile 15: 10:42
Mile 16: 11:08

That’s when I switched to Plan B, which was a 4h45 finish with average pace of 10:55. I knew I wouldn’t be able to maintain a fast pace for the remaining of the race as I could feel my hip more and more. But then my knee started to hurt too and that’s when it started going downhill… I started to take walk breaks, hoping the knee/hip would miraculously recover... I was losing time and I was in pain. I was trying to tell myself some motivating speeches: “Pain is temporary, pride is forever”, “You’ve done this before, you know you can do it again” etc. But it wasn’t working, I was losing my “mental thoughness”!!

Mile 17: 11:37
Mile 18: 11:27

Around Mile 19, I started to cry, I was exhausted and I didn’t understand why it was going so bad and why it was so hard. Even though, I kept repeating if it was easy everybody would run marathons! I tried to straighten up my act for the next few miles.


Mile 19: 13:22
Mile 20: 13:01
Mile 21: 12:49
Mile 22: 12:27

Then by Mile 23, I lost it completely, the tears, the sobs and then I had difficulty breathing… a bad sight. I was already disappointed of myself for losing it and I was beating myself up instead of taking that energy to run a bit harder. My own fault, my mental wasn’t as strong as I thought it was… I really thought I wouldn’t finish at this point… Every time I would stop to walk, my body was telling me it didn’t want to keep going and starting to run again was so painful… But I guess I was strong enough to shut these thoughts and “just keep fuc’ing Running”!

Mile 23: 13:24
Mile 24: 13:24
Mile 25: 12:49
Mile 26: 12:30
.2: 11:01

The rest of the race was hard, I knew that I was going to miss Flashy at 38-39K at this point, because I told her not to wait for me too long there, if she wanted to see me finish in 4h30. That was harder than I thought it would to not have the support from my dad like at my first marathon, I appreciate even more today that he was there for me in Toronto!!

When I turned the corner and was able to see the finish line, tears came to my eyes again, I knew my friends would be there and I was happy I made it through another marathon. I crossed the finish line and hugged my friend Flashy! I started to cry again, it was hard but I made it, I learned a lot on myself….

Thanks to everyone for reading, I am happy to have such a great bunch of people for support! I am not done with this marathon business… ;-)



11 comments:

Amanda said...

Awwww -- you cried on the Road?! Wow dude, you're mentally stronger than me!

Arcane said...

Wow sounded tough! Hope you recover well and that you're already planning for the fall!

FreddyBeachPete said...

Great race report. You battled hard and WON. Congrats

Peter

Born To Endure said...

I love to read things like this..such determination...I am very proud of you..Marathons are so freaking hard!!
Way to go girl!!!!!!!

yumke said...

you are tough and marathons are tough.. i'm happy to see youfought through the pain and the mental part... congrats sonia! next time..

Laurel said...

You finished strong (mile 26/12:30?!?!), that shows your strength and determination!
What a great report. You are a multi-marathon runner...only a handful of the human population can say that. Congratulations!

Michelle said...

You did awesome!! You should be so proud (heck, I am proud of you)!!! I don't know if I will ever have the guts to attempt a marathon like you did. Way to go!!!

jellypepper said...

Awesome report! There is no shame in crying on the road -- the distance is unbelieveably taxing on your emotional and physical state. And you have triumphed TWICE. There is nothing more to say than WOW. You'll learn from this and your third will be even better.

Sonia said...

Thanks everyone for leaving comments! =)

I won't lie, I was disappointed at first with my result, but the important thing is to do it. Not how fast you do it =)

Anonymous said...

Sonia;

Who doesn't cry when running a hellathon? Awesome finish! A lot of runners I know would of quit when it got tough, but you kept moving forward: ) 15 or so years from now, when you're thinking of marathon finishes, this race will be on the top of the list. Great race!

Marty

Sonia said...

Marty!

Thanks for stopping by! I always like to get your input you've run so many of them. And I know you also had an episode sitting on the curb at mile 17 if I remember well! I miss reading your blog. Hope all is well with you, your wife and the monsters!!

If you get back online don'T forget to give me your blog address!!! If not, then stop by once in a while! Are you still running a fall marathon?????

Take care