I remember it very clearly. Just a year ago, mid May, running and suffering a 10K in Tel Aviv in the heat, cursing myself every single step of the race. It was hot and humid and a lot of people ended up in the hospital. I was NOT one of them. So far, if I entered a race, I finished… bailing out is not my thing.
After finishing the run and meeting with the guy I've been going out at the time, I suddenly had the urge to do something "bigger". A marathon. I was not surprised to hear from that guy (let's call him Mr. X) that I won't be able to do that. "You are not 20 any longer, your body can't cope with it, you'll be injuring yourself for the rest of your life.". But once he realized that it won't be any good to say those things, that as a matter of fact, they pushed me even more to do it, he decided to support me and stand behind me till the end. I was relieved.
On Twitter I found a Coach (aka my Koach) who decided to guide me through the next 11 months of training, all online.
The challenge was up!
I am not going too much into details but I want to pick out a few things that happened to me health and mentally wise during my journey towards the marathon, MY marathon, which are important to me and influenced my life and training a lot.
Due to the fact, that I've been seeing someone, I decided to get back on birth control. BIG Mistake!!! Not being a person who is capable of taking the pill every day, yes I just forget it or ignore it, I decided to try a hormone ring (Nuvo Ring). I almost died. I felt that I'm ripping apart inside and my hormones were going wild. I didn't know what to do other than waiting for those 3 weeks to be over and take that blasted thing out and just stop the whole hormone stuff. Guys can't really understand how it feels when your hormonal household gets messed up and so it came with no surprise that Mr. X and I were having rather a few "fights" as I got crazy and he didn't understand what happened. (poor him... most certainly overwhelmed with it)
After solving the problem of the hormones, or so I thought, I started getting the most terrible cramps and they lasted till November. It wasn't really food related but that of course worked as well into the whole thing. Searching for a new gynecologist who actually knows what he's talking about and several ultrasounds of all my inner organs and toxic tests and cancer tests, my doctor came to the conclusion that after getting off the hormones, I must have gotten pregnant and have had a miscarriage and that my body was just not able to deal with all those different things in such a short time and went nuts.
In the meantime I did race a few 8K and 10K's. Not very successful and mostly under a lot of pain but as I mentioned before, I didn't bail out, as much as I would have wanted to.
Once the winter came and the temperatures went down, the better my running got. I was finally able to do longer distances and actually started enjoying myself. Mr. X and I went separate ways…. That much to "support you till the end" lol… no hard feelings here… I believe everything happens for a reason. I met someone new, Mr. Z a fellow marathoner and I was finally able to talk about all kind of things regarding running which Mr. X just didn't understand. It takes a runner to understand a runner.
During the time I dated Z he had some battles to fight health-wise too. His legs would hurt him so much, he was not able to even visit me, as he couldn't drive the car. He was pushing himself too hard and no matter what I said, I could not really get him to stop and be more careful. I guess, when you're in it, you don't want to admit that you've got limits. But I did learn quite a bit from his injuries and I started to listen more to my body, just like my Koach told me.
I had good runs and I had bad runs but all in all I had fun training until mid January when my legs started to hurt real bad even when I was walking. I went to my doctor and she sent me to do a bone scan. Not surprisingly I had stress fractures in both legs very evenly all over the place. I was told that I won't be able to run for several months if I wanted this to heal.
Not running for several months? When the marathon was only a few weeks away? No way! I even raced a 5K and due to the support of Mr. Z and another Race Siren, Chaya (who became a fellow Marathoner this May!!! Woot woot) who pushed me forward and made me finish the race, in pain but with a smile.
After the race I decided to find a sport-physio-therapist. And so I did, Meir was absolutely amazing. I would even say, sent from heaven. Within just 2 1/2 weeks he got me up and running with no pain. He showed me how to tape and I decided to wear compression sleeves as well as the tape.
Marathon Shopping was of course a very important stage mentally towards the race. I am, after all, a girl! I went to ZaZa Sport and got myself a cute pink outfit. Yes, I am one of those girls who run in a skirt and I'm lovin' it! ;)
I was also going cold turkey on caffeine. Anyone who knows me, can imagine how hard that must have been for me, but it was worth it. I am still without caffeine and enjoying it.
I started to get so nervous about the race, had some personal issues and enduring another heart breaking, that my hormone problem showed it's ugly face again, but in a different kind of settings. I just didn't get my period. I was in fact 10 days late and to be honest, something like that has never ever happened to me before, no matter what challenge I was facing. Maybe I do get older? NAAAA!!!! Lol
The evening before the marathon came and I met with Mr. Z and some of his run buddies for a friendly pasta dinner with other marathoners and hopeful ones (like moi). I could hardly eat and all I could think of was, certain people doubting me finishing the marathon. (some I guess even doubted that I have the balls to start). I needed some support and thus I reached out for Mr. X whom I didn't speak to for several months. After all it was him who promised to stand by me till the end. I sent him a txt and he promised to cross his fingers and he wrote "try to enjoy it". He most certainly put a smile on my face and I was happy about his txt.
Marathon morning arrived and I woke up at 3AM and tried to have some breakfast. Fortunately for me, the marathon was just 1K walk from my house and I used it for a warm up.
Once I got there, the nerves started to get me. I was standing on line to deposit my bag and unfortunately that was not well organized. We waited for almost 40 minutes which was ridiculous and then another 20 to be able for a last wee wee break before the race.
I don't really have to tell you, that of course, I kind of missed the start and had to hunt behind the field. Now THAT was most certainly NOT good. I caught up with a guy who was running a good pace for the first 8K but I realized fast, that unfortunately I won't be able to keep up with him. I had to let go if I wanted to finish the race. The half marathoners were taking over and I even saw friends from the office. During the time we (marathoners and half marathoners) shared the same street, I got a lot of thumbs up and I felt great. My spirit was high and I knew, everything will be just fine.
Just before the 10K mark, I saw one of the super fast runners who was walking back. It just shows, no matter how fit, fast or strong you are, no matter how well you plan a race…. during a race it's a whole different game. I saw several people give up on my way.
After reaching the Half Marathon mark, I was overtaken by some of the rollerbladers. Again a lot of thumbs up and I knew I was on the right track.
Upon entering the park, around 24-25K into the race I got a bit scared. There was no one! I felt great and wasn't worried that I could collapse but it was still a weird feeling to be all alone. In shorter races I was never alone, no matter how slow.
While running in the park I felt like a youth scout searching for my way. The signalization was most certainly not good and I got lost, later after the race I found out, that I was not the only one who got lost. (So it was not my cute Blondeness which got me into trouble this time). At some point in the park I was escorted by a "First Aid" Biker and we had a nice "flirty" chat. Yes I even took a pipi break and nope, not in the bushes, they have toilets in the park. Lol
Towards the end of the park I overtook another runner, gosh that was a huuuuge ego boost lol and I was handed some banana and oranges to eat.
The last 10K were pretty intense, I had to search for the track once again even though there were volunteers who should have shown me how to run but I guess after 5 hours they were rather fed up and I had to convince them to help me out. (Next year I will be printing a map of the marathon on my shirt and take a GPS with me!)
Once I saw the 35K sign I knew I am going to be just fine. I had a nice chat with one of the girls at the water station and then filmed myself smiling next to the sign. Hey! My Koach said… "if you can smile at the 35K mark, you know you can finish the race". And so I did. Smile and Finish.
The last K was actually the most emotional one as it was next to the beach and filled with runners who already finished, cheering me up. Of course just before the finish line I got lost once again and the volunteers were once more very helpful NOT!
Just before crossing the finish line I was overtaken by Ofer the Running Photographer. Thanks to him, I got the MOST AMAZING FINISH in picture anyone could dream of for her/ his first marathon. Toda raba raba raba Ofer!
After crossing the finish line, giving the time chip back and getting my medal, all I wanted was go home and die. Lol.. well actually I wanted to find my bag… so I started to search for it. As being one of the slowest, most people were gone (and yes I have to admit I was a bit disappointed that none of my friends bothered waiting for me…. after all, you don't see your friend finishing her first marathon every day….. ah well…) and no one knew where the last few bags were held. Great! Just what I needed… to walk some more (as if I haven't done enough already that day, lol).
Eventually I found my bag, I got something to drink and eat and was offered a chair to rest. One of the organizers sat next to me and asked me some questions about the race, things that were good and bad and things they should consider changing. It was great to be able to talk with someone right after the race while the memory was still very fresh.
I checked my txt messages and missed calls. Seems Mr. X was the most optimistic one. He sent me a txt at 11:09am "How was it". Well I was still in the middle then. Mr. Z was less optimistic and tried calling me around 12pm. Just around the time I was at 35K and nope I did not answer. So I sent Mr. X a txt that I survived and I'm done running … at least for today and I called Mr. Z to tell him that I'm still alive.
After I regained some of my strength, I decided to take the bus home and yes you guess right, I had to sprint to the bus to catch it. I have no idea, where on earth I found the strength to sprint but I did. Once home, I walked the dogs, took a shower and finally crashed.
Saturday till Tuesday I walked like a pregnant duck and my back did hurt rather a lot so I spoiled myself with a massage at Holmes Place.
I met up with two fellow marathon runners, whom I met on FB, for a beer and we had a good laugh about the way we walked and we talked about all kind of marathon which are worth running.
My Koach wrote me "I am proud to call you a Marathoner" and actually so am I.
All in all it was a hard year with a lot of downs a few ups and a marathon to remember. I did it and that is all that matters to me. All those who thought it can't be done for me being:
- · Too old
- · Too fat
- · Not fast enough
- · Not fit enough
- · A girl (never underestimate girl power)
- · Blonde (wink wink)
Well I proved you wrong!!!!!
Message to all those Hopeful First Timers out there! Don't believe those who say it can't be done! Listen to does who believe in you! And most important, listen to yourself! You know yourself the longest, the best and you can trust yourself the most!
I wanna say thank you to:
My Koach for his great running plan, his answers to my silly questions and believing in me despite all the downs during the year
G2 and G3 for supporting me all the way and pushing me on, you guys are absolutely awesome
Mr. X for the time I was allowed to spend with him and all those times he had to hear my "sorry babe no time, I have to go for a run at 5am, 11pm, 9am, 7pm" and for his txt and crossing his fingers
Mr. Z for the time together, for teasing me that I won't be able to run a full marathon, I know deep inside he knew I will do it and I know he is very proud of me
I could not have done it without your help. <3 Love you all and see you at the next big race! (Ironman Zurich, July 2012!!!)
