It was not the race I wanted, but I set out at the beginning
of MCM training to run a sub-three-hour marathon, and a sub-three-hour marathon
I did run.
The night before I tossed and turned and paced the halls of
the Holiday Inn (The whole weekend I kept finding myself singing “I’m at the
hotel, motel, Holiday Inn,” which reminded me so much of my mother who loves to
say things like “Paula! I went to
the Harris Teeter this morning and it was like ‘Who let the dogs out?!’) Even with the rest I had given my
ankle, I knew something was not quite right. While I walked around D.C. pain-free for most of the day
Saturday, I immediately felt discomfort when I did an easy jog Saturday
evening. I had doubts in my head
whether I should even run on Sunday, but I decided to just keep my fingers
crossed and if worse comes to worst I could always pull out of the race if the
pain became too severe.
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| Crossing my fingers that my ankle will hold - Morning of MCM |
Whether from ignorance or stupidity, I did watch the sun
come up on Sunday morning while standing just a few feet from the starting line
in front of a little over 23,000 runners in Arlington, VA. The day was beautiful – cool and partly
cloudy. And as the Star Spangled
Banner played, active and retired military vets floated down from the sky while
American flags trailed behind them.
After a slight false start when some runners accidently
began with the wheelchair crowd, around 7:55 am, the race was underway. Even though I started only a few people
deep, during the first mile or so, the pack was thick and it was slow-moving
uphill. Randomly I did run in to
(not quite literally) a guy that I chatted with a few weeks back during the
Marine Corps Half Marathon in Camp Lejeune. In his Where’s Waldo-striped cap, the tall, jolly kid
excitedly told other new friends around us, “Hey – I ran with this girl at the
Marine Corps Half a few weeks ago.”
I later passed by my friend, who pulled away early in the race, around
mile 18. He was in pain and could
barely speak. I felt sorry for
him, but little did I know at that point that I would soon be taken down by the
marathon as well.
Before I even made it to mile three of the marathon, my
right ankle was already throbbing, but the pain was bearable. Thus, I kept marching on.
While some of the marathon has become a blur, I remember
countless times throughout the course thinking, “Wow – That’s beautiful” as I
passed woods colored with autumn leaves, sparkling waters with monuments in the
backgrounds, and under old, arched bridges.
I also remember the people of the marathon – I chatted with
several runners throughout the course (my “I run better than the Gov’t” singlet
was a good conversation starter), and all the Marines were so helpful,
friendly, and polite! (Love all the ‘ma’ams’ I received as well as the soup and
hot chocolate I enjoyed in the medical tent after the race!) I was also so thankful for all the
supporters who came out and lined the streets early in the morning to cheer us
on. My mother popped up a few
times along the course, and I was excited to see my friends around mile 25 near
the Pentagon holding the cutest signs that I ran past all day.
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| My sweet friends Becky (left) and Jane (right) on the MCM Course near the Pentagon |
I moved along well through the first 21-22 miles of the
race. I had planned on running
between 6:30 – 6:40 minutes per mile, but my body felt strong enough that I was
covering some miles closer to a 6-minute mark (The 5K between the 25K and the
30K, I ran at an average pace of 6:11 per mile.)
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| Rolling through some marathon miles |
However, with only a few miles left in the marathon, I
realized that I had begun limping.
If it had happened at mile 13, I certainly would have pulled out of the
race, but when I was so close to reaching my goal and had so many solid, fast miles
behind me, I just couldn’t quit.
With my bum leg, my pace quickly slowed from 6:30-minute
miles to 7:00-minute miles, to 8:00-minute miles. I’m not sure I even bothered to look down at my watch the
last mile or so. I was only
focused on continuing to cover ground.
I’ve seen the pictures, and they are not pretty, but I
shuffled my way across the finish line in 2:56:05 – about four minutes under my
3:00 hour goal that I set at the beginning of training. Overall, I was the 9th Place
Woman of about 10,000. In the
25-29 year-old female group, I came in 2nd – behind the overall
female winner, which probably means the award that I get in the mail will be
first place for my age group (Generally the top three overall winners are taken
out of age group awards.)
Even though the marathon was a success in many lights, I
cannot help but still feel some level of disappointment and frustration. Like a detective solving a murder
mystery, I have gone over and over my last steps of marathon training to figure
out what may have caused the ankle pain that left me limping across the finish
line and still unable to walk four days later as I write this post. Fortunately, after spending hours and
who knows how much money at a local Urgent Care, I did learn from an x-ray that
my injury is not attributable to a broken bone or stress fracture.
While I think it is certainly possible that the only cause
could be overuse, I am now thinking with 99% certainty that the injury is a
result of my dog yanking me out of my triangle pose while I was stretching over
my right leg before last Tuesday’s night run in order to chase after a
neighborhood cat. Needless to say,
Sugar is getting only walks from now on.
As I close the 2013 MCM chapter, I turn my attention from
marathon training to healing my ankle.
I am still waiting to take those first few without my crutches. I have had a slight glimpse in to how
it must feel to be handicapped, and it is more difficult than you can imagine. I’ve had to re-learn how to do things –
like how to get a cup of coffee to my desk, or an apple.
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| Carrying my apple at work. |
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| 2014 Boston Marathon: Confirmation of Acceptance |
MCM Training Week
Twenty (Final Week!): 14 Miles Before
Marathon
This Week’s Beer
Choice: Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA – Marathon Eve at Il Canale in Georgetown
(Spaghetti for Dinner – No Surprise There)
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| 60 Minute IPA at Il Canale - Eve of MCM |
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