Run fat boy run!

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Hi All,

In reality I had no idea what to expect running a marathon, just that I was stupid for trying it without enough training.

For the past 3 days I have been in LA it has been beautiful weather, clear blue skies and mild temps but today however it was deeply overcast and bit cooler but still a perfect day for a run.

It was hard to sleep last night. In total I got about 3 hours, not the best start but by the time my three alarms and the wake-up call sounded I was wide awake for some reason. After 30 min ride on the metro and a 2 block walk I was at the start line asking myself again what the hell was I doing?

They were 10 mins late starting and I was in the middle of the pack of around 20,000+ runners.
My first 5 miles were pretty good and almost none-stop but slowed down slightly to post a better half marathon time than England of 2hrs 41mins. Then I hit the wall! Wow, I was reduced to a slow walk for the next mile or 2. I had no idea the wall is so painful. By the 16th mile I realized I had 10 miles left and 150mins for the 6 hour finish time. I only needed to keep to a 15min mile pace. I hit my second wind as the wall's rubble lay behind me. I became obsessed and calculated the time at every mile. I managed in the next 3 miles to create a 10 min buffer, which felt really good as I was still running some of the way.
Then as I turned a corner to find the 20 mile marker I ran smack bang into a new wall that was 100 times worse... I expected the body to fail, after all my longest run has only been 13 miles and in training much much less. So I watched with disappointment as my 10 minute buffer slowly disappeared.
I was then joined at the 22 mile mark by a nice guy who arrived next to me and started to talk. On his 9th LA marathon and in his 60’s he reminded that to finish the first marathon was the only worthwhile goal and to improve on it in the future.
So I let my mind focus on finishing and my pace started to increase slightly (very slightly) but at this point it was all I could do to put 1 foot in front of the other! I tried to take on drinks, sweets and fruit in the hope some energy would return although the pain was pretty bad at tis point.
At the 22nd mile marker the road stretched out to the city’s skyline which was the ultimate finish line, they have VERY VERY long roads here!
As I said before I expect the body to fail on me but not my mind, at the 25.5 mile mark we started to enter the city to the fantastic sound of Japanese drums playing on the side of road. As I passed them I was struck with the thought that I was actually going to finish... that messed seriously with my emotions! It was all I could do not to break-down, and it was very close! After a few mins of getting hold of myself (there was allot of cameras around after all!) I rounded the next corner to see the 26th Mile marker about 500 meter away and the finish line 0.2 miles after that. Wow, I had to cross to the side without pedestrians for a short while as I tried to compose myself again!
For the cameras I started running again (well, I hope it was running!) and finally stumbled across the finish line in 6hrs 15min.
As I set forward to retrieve my bag on of the medical guys asked me if I was alright because I had such an intense look on my face! I had to explain that I was trying not to break down. I never knew how hard it was to hold back emotions when you are exhausted...

Wow, the pain! I caught the metro back to the hotel and 4 hours later it is more painful as I try to move around again! OMG what is it is going to be like tomorrow. I hope I can limp to the poker tables when I get to Vegas tomorrow!

Well I finished! May not have been the fastest time but to finish is more that I thought possible especially at a few places in the race!
On a postive note a friend pointed out that I came first in my category. The Male runners from Sydney!

Anyway, that was day.. thanks for reading..
See you guys later!

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Comments

[Arv]

Congrats
Mate, well done! sounds rough. i was getting buggered reading the article. See you in two week. Arv

[Anthony]

well done!
Well done Andrew. Was there ever any doubt?... Actually reading your article I guess there was. Just remember to suck in all those emotions on the poker table. I can see it now, ...you'll get a straight flush and you'll burst into tears and tell everyone around the table you love them.