Marathon Surviver

Well, I’m glad to say that I survived the Singapore marathon, my first. It was a lot more grueling and intense than I anticipated. I guess that’s just a sign that I’m in my thirties now (not twenties) and my body can’t leap over buildings like it used to. Ha!

My analysis. . . well, I did the first half pretty well. My legs were starting to feel sore and heavy but I was able to keep going. My running partner, Natalie, and I made good time up to this point. But a half marathon is the furthest distance I’ve ever run before and my body started to protest. (I hadn’t really trained for a full marathon, but was taking the place of my friend who had an injury). So I really had to slow down after that. In fact around the 3/4 mark I couldn’t continue running at all. It was a strange feeling. My legs hurt, my heart rate was sky rocketing, and I felt dizzy. I wanted to keep running, but because my legs were about to fail I had to walk. And I was afraid my heart rate and breathing were too high. So to play it safe I had to walk for long parts of it.

Faithful Natalie stuck with me the whole time even though I protested that she keep going. As I think back about it I don’t think I would have finished if she weren’t with me. I’m pretty sure I would’ve given up. That’s quite a shock for me as I’m really NOT a quitter. But I came really close. . .

I think this race showed me that I need to train more if I’m ever going to do it again. I can’t just throw myself in haphazardly no matter how good my intentions are. It takes a lot of work to run a marathon. You can’t do it half way. Like our motto “Go hard or go home!”. Next time, go harder! Also, it showed me the value of a partner. Just knowing that there was someone else with me, and that she wouldn’t leave me no matter what was incredible motivation to keep going. Thank you Natalie for giving me this picture.

Will I do it again next year? We’ll see! If I can confidently do a half and push myself beyond that then I think I have a chance. Otherwise, no way!