Sweet Success: Triumph Despite Injury

I did it. I ran and finished my first ever half marathon. The weekend went by so fast and my body is now filled with aches, pains and tingles. I'm forced to take this week completely off from doing most anything, which is rare for me, though I have found myself feeling extra tired. The journey to become a marathon runner has tested me in a lot of different ways and proved to be even more of a challenge than I originally thought.

Training in the winter forced me to experience all possible running conditions; snow (including this year’s famous ‘thundersnow’), sleet and rain, wind and extreme temperatures. I’ve been thrown and worked through my fair share of injuries and moments out on the trails, gasping for breathe that never seemed to come while cursing at the lactic acid build-up in my legs. Every run has turned into some sort of lesson for me so wouldn’t you believe if this past Sunday, race day, proved to be any different.

After an evening of downing carbs and an ample supply of water with the Team and listening to some last motivational words, I headed back up to the hotel room early on Saturday to lay everything out for race day. Clothes, shoes, socks, sports beans, fuel belt, hair ties, bib, the list goes on and on. Whoever said all you need for running is a good pair of shoes, lied.

Despite the early hour of 4:45 a.m. I was too excited to get going. Feeling like a kid on Christmas morning, I jumped out of bed, started getting ready and headed down to the lobby to meet up with the Team. We packed the lobby with a sea of purple and green and spent time stretching, munching on Powerbars and bananas, taking pictures and dreading heading out into the cold, windy temperatures.

We stayed in the lobby as long as possible since our hotel was practically right at the start line and the windy, cold temperatures were not previously expected. About 20 minutes to spare, we were out to line up in our corrals and ready to start.

My stomach was filled with butterflies and I couldn’t stop jumping up and down to keep my muscles warmed up in the chilly weather. My mind was taken off my nerves for a bit when I spotted my family in the crowd yelling my name and taking pictures, what an awesome group they are! Finally the horn blew and I was off.

The course was flat and pretty scenic along the beach. About three miles in I remember thinking how stiff my legs were despite my greatest efforts to loosen up and I had a dull, sharp pain in my inner thigh. I decided to focus on my breathing and the live music playing around me at about every mile.

My fuel belt helped shave off some time since it gets backed up at water stations. I would merge to the opposite side of the station, jumping over the used water cups on the ground and keep on going. Team in Training Coaches were popping out of nowhere and running along side me, offering words of encouragement.

I was feeling good, hitting about a solid 8:30/mile pace, but the sharp pain in my thigh had taken a sudden turn for the worse and I was now in total agony. I had been experiencing pain on and off for a few weeks there, but I'd thought it had healed up. Mile seven came and it happened, I heard a pop and felt a tear, forcing me to immediately veer off into the grass, leg locked and I sent my running partner on ahead.

My worse fear happened and I was now out on the coarse, injured, runners flying by, trying to get my leg moving. Don’t get me wrong, I have an extremely high threshold for pain but this went beyond pain, I literally couldn’t run. I tried hobbling a bit but my leg gave out and I tumbled a bit before catching my balance. After watching me struggle for long enough, the medic van came over and told me to hop on and they would take me in. Determination taking over, I told the medic, “I’m not getting on your bus” and continued to hobble about.

I was finally able to get into the motion of a jog, very uncomfortably but I was moving. I’ve ran this distance for time before and knew I could fly through the mileage at a decent time so at this point, I was focused on crossing the finish line, no matter what. My jog eventually turned into a run, probably due to my muscle going completely numb with pain.

I went into this marathon expecting to be challenged physically, but this race turned into a complete mind game: I was not stopping now.

Rounding the last corner onto the boardwalk I could see the finish line. The crowd was screaming and cheering which took my mind off my pain. Crossing the finish line, even though it was not the way I wanted, was an amazing feeling and I felt proud. Proud that I completed my journey and just finished my first marathon.

I stumbled around trying to catch my balance, received my medal and was immediately greeted by my family with hugs and an arm to use to support myself. I was in a lot of pain, but for a moment it didn’t matter. Sitting in the victory tent with my family, friends and Team with my medal hanging proudly around my neck was the only thing that mattered.

Back in the city, I took the entire week off of physical activity and focused on healing, which is happening slowly but surely. Becoming an endurance runner most definitely had its rough patches, even all the way up to the end, but all in all- I had a great time. I learned so much not only about the sport of running but about myself which was just as important.

I couldn’t have done it without all the support around me so THANK YOU! I have the next three weeks off to recover and re organize and then wouldn’t you know it, I’ll be training again! October 30, 2011, Marine Corps FULL Marathon… here we go again!