Yesterday I ran a marathon.
I completed it in roughly 3:42:00.
My goal was to run it in 3:30:00, but I’m not upset I didn’t make that goal. I am getting over an injury. Fortunately my peroneus [sic, probably] muscle didn’t hurt at all during the run. That is no longer true. My legs are really aching now. Hardly a surprise.
For the first half of the run, I was great. I was going faster than the 3:30 pace bunny and felt good. My father and sister were stalking me the entire way, so I had something to look forward to. I loaned my sister my camera and she took pictures. My mother was waiting for me in Assiniboine park with the dog, Harry. She had made friends with a photographer who got a good picture of me. (I hope I’ll be able to buy it for a reasonable price.) Harry was having a great time and when my mother was racing to meet me at another part of the park, he thought it was a great game and tried to trip her.
After the halfway mark, I started slowing down. I didn’t really accept it until the 3:30 pace bunny passed me on main street going over the Norwood bridge. I tried to increase my speed to keep up, but I just didn’t have the energy. So I slowly fell further and further behind. Eventually I just lost sight of them. By then I was just slogging along. With seven miles to go, that was a real slog.
The worst part was when I turned onto Bishop Grandin. I could see the apartment building that was at the end of University Crescent, and I could see how far off they were. That was discouraging. They never seemed to get any closer. But eventually they did, and I was in the university again.
For the last bit, I didn’t have any more to give, so I didn’t try and speed up for entering the stadium. I just focussed on the track and got to the end. There was someone there to greet me and guide me to some food and drink. I downed a Gatorade quickly. It was one of those awful tasting blue ones, but I didn’t notice.
My family was all in the stands cheering me on. I found out later that they didn’t take any pictures. My sister had run out all the batteries of the camera. She thought she could take a hundred pictures without a problem, but I had never mentioned that the batteries could run out. So there is no picture of me crossing the finish line.
After I stretched and ate whatever was put in front of me, I wandered out of the stadium to see the family. I was pretty giddy, and feeling high. Everyone was my best friend, so I was giving profuse thanks to the volunteers.
We went home and I showered. Then we went to a quick brunch at Perkins. The rest of the day was spent recovering. I took a walk to help flush out the lactic acid in my muscles, but they still hurt today.