My Marathon Journey

Yesterday I completed a Marathon and it was the best day of my life. I cannot quite begin to explain my feelings right now. I am overjoyed with my performance! I am still in disbelief at how great things went yesterday. The stars were aligned for me and I feel so grateful to have had such a great first marathon!

Some highlights from my journey…

I woke up Sunday morning to find that my fundraising goal had been met. This was a huge boost for me. I had been having some doubts a few days prior to the race and the knowledge that so many people had faith in me and my cause and put money on the table for me… well I had to do it, there was no backing out and I was so proud to run for such an awesome cause!

The first five miles were cold and crowded and freaking scary. I was still unsure of myself at this point and scared of the road ahead. I knew I needed to stay positive. I had my notes of encouragement to pin to my shirt, but I was still very nervous. I guess I thought the excitement of running would get me through the first 5, but there were so many people, it was really intimidating.

I met the lady in the purple spandex around mile 5. I wish I knew her name… she was amazing; I guess its part of the experience. You come across people that you need and keep moving and try to inspire others along the way to keep the Marathon moving. The lady in the purple spandex was singing and running the whole marathon. We passed each other for about 10 miles and I have no doubt that she kept many people moving forward yesterday. When I first met her she was singing something like… “you are so beautiful…” and kept on singing oldies and hip hop and silly show tunes, no ipod, just the songs that kept her going. I came to find out that she was running her 107^th marathon. This would be the 30^th State she had run a marathon in, and Saturday was her 106^th marathon. Yes, that’s right, two marathons in two days. The lady in the purple spandex was sometimes right next to me to give me a high five and sometimes far away, but I could hear her in the distance and it totally took away my fear and anxiety and allowed me to run these mile peacefully and happily.

I met another girl, Raquel, around the same time. I would run most of the rest of the marathon with her. At mile 22 I realized that I had made a new friend along the route of a marathon and it was clear to me right then how easy it is to open yourself up and trust someone to carry you through the difficult moments in life. We cheered each other through 4.2 miles of running that I will never forget. I was hurting and excited and proud and shocked all at the same time. I had someone there to go through it with me and for that I am truly grateful.

I had heard all about the St. John’s Bridge. Some said it was a race breaker, some said it wasn’t that bad, but to take it slow. I had tried to plan a couple training runs to include it, but never was able to get there to know what I was in for. A thought occurred to me at one point in training that I didn’t want to know the course ahead of time, because what you don’t know can’t hurt you. So here I am running along St. Helen’s Road approaching the bridge. It was beautiful, and I was already starting to pump myself up. For me this was going to be the first toughest part of the marathon, both because it was a steep hill, and because I was never able to run past 18 miles in my training runs. As I started to climb it I knew I was going to run the whole thing. I wasn’t overconfident; I knew I had to take it slow. So I started chanting to myself, and a couple times out loud, “slow and steady wins the race.” All the sudden I was at the top of that hill and looking out at the bridge and it is a magnificent sight. Crossing over and seeing downtown and how far I had come, I got the biggest runners high ever!

I was asked if I had any moments of clarity. I think the whole marathon was a moment of clarity. I did this and I was right where I was supposed to be the entire time. I had a wonderful day and had so many awesome people cheering me on, both on the course and from as far away as London, UK!! I felt all of that as I was running along and feel very blessed to have accomplished such an amazing thing!! I will be carrying this around for a very long time and will not soon forget how cool it is to run a marathon.

Along the way I did a little check in with myself. Every few miles I would ask myself “would I do it again?” and every time the answer was yes! I can’t wait to start training for my next marathon!!!

quick note - my results

I set a new personal record today for walking the 10k. I shaved about 3/4 of a minute per mile off my record time, which I set mid-July at the Smith Rock Sunrise Classic. I also looked back at my time last year for this event - which was with a friend and the early stages of getting fit - and I bit off a huge chunk of time from that: I finished 24 minutes earlier today than I did just a year ago. Things are looking up.

And that's a great number of funds raised for Write Around Portland. I'm leaving my donation widget up on my website, The Writing Vein, for another month so people can still donate if they find some extra cash lying around and they want to give it to an awesome cause.

Thanks, everyone! For being you, for being Write Around Portland, for the financial support to the organization and the personal support to those of us who participated in our various ways in the event.

tip #101

In these last few days leading up to the marathon and Mayor's Walk, we are tapering off training. We are resting and doing the things we need to do to be in optimal condition to go our chosen distance.

Here is one simple tip I learned from friends at a relay this summer. And it's the perfect week of event thing to do: trim your toenails! That's right. Trim them right down to avoid blistering, bruising, and potential loss of nails.

Perspective

A friend was planning to do the Mayor's Walk with me on October 4th. Unfortunately, she had outpatient surgery, which resulted in about 20 stitches, and the doctor telling her it wouldn't be a good idea. The stitches come out just before the event.

My friend was bummed. We did the event together last year - the first time either of us had participated. We were looking forward to doing it together this year - 12 months of fitness training and miles walking/paddling/biking/elipticalling (I know, that's not a word!). She felt badly that I might have to do it without a walking partner; I told her it was fine, I would use it as my pace training that day.

She laughed. She reminded me that last year we stood there at the start on the bluff near UofP, with our eyes toward downtown and nearly cried. It looked so far; it was drizzly; it was only our second event and it was an overwhelming site. Now here I am saying "it's my pace training for the week."

Things do change. With training and persistence, things improve. And it's important to look at my accomplishments sometimes, too. It's too easy for me to look at what didn't go as planned, e.g. "darn, I only did 17.5 minute miles today; what happened?" or "wow, I didn't stretch enough and my right shin and big toe are so cramped." Those may be true. But it's also true that, while completing the 10k at 2 hours and 9 minutes last year was great - this year I'm aiming to complete it in under 1 hr 42 minutes.

Keeping perspective is important. And friends can help do that.

All in the Timing

This morning I participated in the Komen Race for the Cure. A small group of friends and I decided to do the Women's 5k Untimed Run.

Remember, me, the walker? And I just said I did the run? What we really did is that, out of the 7 of us, 2 were going to run, 3 of us are in training for the half-marathon, and the other 2 were planning to walk.

It was a brilliant plan and it worked. We started near the back of that event's pack - with the slower runners (over 10-minute miles). Our original plan was to to all run across the start line and then the walkers to slow to our walking pace (either training or regular walking) after a block or two.

Luckily, the start was so slow that everyone except those in the very front were fast walking across the start once you got there. Even the smaller pack of runners were starting out walking due to the number of participants.

So - the deal with the few seconds is this. I kept up a pretty good pace, although I know that one of the two I was walking with was slowing her pace for us. After we did the up and over the bridge, loop up on Naito to make it the full 10k and then headed back for the finish line, I saw the timer coming into view.

I was pretty bummed when I got close enough to see the numbers and not just the red glow on a black rectangle. I could see that I was going to cross that finish line at about 49 minutes and that was slower than my recent times of similar length. I computed the numbers in my head. Bummer. Too slow.

Without going into the convoluted math I do in my head (round here and approximate there to make it easy to compute) - the actual numbers came out better when I had a calculator. It's funny - because I keep forgetting that knocking off .1 or .2 of a mile to make it easier to divide, or ignoring the true seconds and rounding up - it all works against me when I'm looking at pace.

What went as a disappointing approximately 17-minute miles to an acceptable actual calculation of 15.2-minute miles showed me that, yet again, seconds do count.

The little pieces of time, the actual measurements, each step, counts.

Just like each $5 or $10 or whatever amount our friends, family, co-workers can drop in our hands or put on our FirstGiving pages counts for Write Around Portland.

inspiration is a two-way happening

Last week I took my distance training day off - on the advice of my doctor because of pain in my Achilles tendon; but still. I took it off. I did a one-mile stroll with a friend the next day. Then I missed my pace training 2 days later; same reason. I did the 4 miles of the pace training, but at regular speed - not speedy speed. That was this last Monday.

On Tuesday I did my strength training and regular walking (several short brisk-ish walks totalling an hour scattered in between my jobs).

Then it was Wednesday and time for my hill training (in preparation for the half marathon in Seattle; I don't need it for the Portland Mayor's Walk!). I was concerned about my heel and feeling a little frustrated about missing the distance day and not doing the pace training. And doubting myself. Not wanting to do it - up and down the hill to Mt Tabor several times.

I distracted myself by checking my email. Which turned out to be the perfect anecdote to my funk. There was the following email from my dragon boat / half-marathon walking / whitewater rafting friend :

Hi Dot... every now and then I check in on your writing [on your website, The Writing Vein] ... and I love reading what you write! I also just wanted to tell you that it inspired me because I'm getting to the point where I think about going out for a run/walk or walk and I don't want to... but you remind me that I will feel better if I go and do it. Thank you for that!

I was just going to go do the 1/2 Marathon without training but think I'd better get out there and get my feet in condition!

Don't forget the Race for the Cure on the 20th!

...oh, and she's a MissFit Alliance Race for the Cure teammate, too.

I went out with a smile and walked up and down the hill. And without any pain in my foot but with a renewed sense of "I can do this."

Thank you, Karen, for your perfectly timed counter-insprational note. And I did feel better for having done it.

Run-Reading

Thanks to Andrea for getting the blog going! I have sort of a funky practice that I thought I’d share here in the spirit of Run Around for Write Around.

I read while I run. I run-read. It’s safer than it sounds and pretty much a requirement for my process, both writing and marathon training.

That is to say, running in the morning, as I do, helps me sweep away my cobwebs, sharpen my pencil and add focus to a day that will involve working a day job before getting a lick of writing in. Running sustains me for a multitask sort of day. Similarly, reading short stories, novels and nonfiction, which I do throughout my day, opens my imagination, forces my mind to make connections it wouldn’t necessarily make, and inspires me to hit the page.

So, efficiency expert that I am, I do both simultaneously. I read-run. I run-read. I check out audiobooks from the library (reserving dozens at a time because availability fluctuates and you want to have a good variety on hand), download them all to my computer and upload one to my iPod at any given time, then run-read. I delete files as I go (off my computer and iPod both) and consider that upholding my end of the covenant. I don’t consider this blasphemous to traditional reading, either. I listen to unabridged versions, no exceptions, and preferably ones read by the author. Reading this way, I feel tied to the tradition of oral storytelling and it's super stimulating, no matter what genre the material. I’m an aesthetic reader and an aesthetic writer and listening to stories this way lets me see clearly what may work or not work on the page with my own writing. Furthermore, I'm able to read 80% more than I would otherwise. Not too shabby.

If for no other reason, read-running keeps my brain active on something other than wondering what the hell I’m doing running up Balch Creek at 6:30AM with a sore shin.