Rock N Roll Marathon San Diego, CA June 1st, 2003
Well . . . one year after
buying my first pair of running shoes and starting running I crossed the finish
line after 26.2 miles of pavement pounding pain. It was an emotional moment . . . completing my first marathon my
body was so drained and I was so happy to be done. In a sick way I knew that I would run one again. I knew I could do better than I did and I
could do things differently. So here are some of the
things I learned along the way .... Lesson
#1: Running on reinforced
concrete for 26 miles hurts! While running the race it was my calves and
hamstrings . . . following the race it was my joints . . . then it reached the point where it all just hurt It was a comical site to see
us hobbling around in the days that followed . . . now it is Wednesday and
stairs still suck and the idea of putting on a pair of running shoes and
running on concrete sounds absurd. Lesson
#2: There were plenty of people
that were less fit . . . older . . . uglier (I know it’s hard to believe) . . .
slower . . . with the worst running form you have ever seen that KICKED MY
BUTT! Marathon running to a large
extent is about enduring the pain and putting in the training to get your body
accustomed to the abuse Lesson
#3: Don’t go tuna fishing 2 days
before a race . . . by the time I got off the boat, and had finally finished
throwing up my legs were fatigued. It
was sweet though to catch and then cook up some tasty Albacore Tuna. Well to put it in
perspective . . . I am getting closer to the Kenyans who happened to finish the
race a mere 1 hour and 40 minutes ahead of me. (Sick I tell you they run 4:45
miles for 26 miles) I am sure I could
out drink them though ;) It was fun (great bands,
thousands of cheerleaders, and plenty of hot girls that were kicking my ass)
Next marathon will probably be Catalina on March 13, 2004 if anyone is
interested in joining (They drop you off at the far end of the island and you
run back on trails) it is a butt kicker but sounds much more appealing than
running on concrete! Final stats for the day 21,420 runners 2,241th place |