San Diego Rock n' Roll Marathon, June 1, 2008

I always knew that before I became too old to move around I needed to run a marathon. It's just one of those things on the Life Checklist that needed to be checked. I spent a lot of time looking through the Marathon Calendar for a race that would be in a city that would be pretty to run through, had a flat course, and a large presence, i.e. lots of fans and be a true 'experience'. If I was going to put myself through this I was going to go big. The Rock n' Roll series of races is billed as running parties so that sounded like a great experience.

For detailed information about what a marathon is like, including pre-race activities, check out my report for the Las Vegas Half-Marathon. Here, I'll just tell you briefly about the race.

On Sunday morning, bright and early at 5 am, I was stretching and warming up. The Marine Corps Band kicked us off.

Racers are broken up and sorted in corrals based on their anticipated finish times. I went conservative because I didn't want to slow up people faster than me. My goal going into this wasn't so much a great time as to finish, lol.

 

 

Moments before the start. There are racers all the way up to that balloon arch in the distance. I believe there were about 25,000 at the start.

It took about ten minutes for me to reach the starting line and for my time to officially start.

Something I really enjoyed was running through downtown San Diego. This is the only time you get to run in the middle of the street!

I found it interesting how much food was available on the course. At one point there were tables of cut oranges. Volunteers were handing out pretzels, gummi bears, and salt packets in addition to gel packs. I brought along my own gel packs but I did eat some pretzels and plenty of salt packets. It's so weird to eat salt packets, lol.

Unfortunately at mile 12 my diaphragm cramped up. Later I tried to figure out the reason why this happened and the only thing I can conclude is that I was breathing too shallowly. The result was that I was in excruciating pain. Each breath felt like a knife to my gut. I couldn't even jog, I had to walk with one hand pressed to my gut. I was really distraught because I seriously thought I'd have to quit the race, it was that painful. Only the reminder of all the hours I'd spent running in preparation for this kept me going.

At mile 16, just when we were coming into Mission Bay, the pain eased up enough for me to run. I ran slowly, but at least I was no longer walking. By that point I'd given up any hope of a decent time, but I was glad that I'd be able to run again and finish the race at something other than a walk.

Coming out of Mission Bay the mile 20 marker is a great encouragement. During my training I'd only managed to do 17 miles, so anything beyond that was a bit of a mystery as to how I'd fare. Adrenaline was on my side because the last six miles felt no more difficult than the previous six.

 

Yay for the finish! Again, a crappy time, but at least I crossed the finish line. I admit I got really emotional after I crossed the line and I started to cry. Years ago I never would have considered running a marathon, much less envisioned myself completing one, so it was an incredible feeling of accomplishment. The funny thing is, now when I think of a marathon I don't have the same awe that I did back when I had no intention of running one. Running a marathon used to be a mythological achievement. Now it's just something I already did. Funny.

 

I ingested way too many salt packets during the race because I was paranoid about being deficient and messing up my water balance. The result is that I was covered in a fine film of salt at the end, lol.

 

Mission accomplished!

- Tricia, belated May 6, 2009