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Published: March 5th 2009
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Before
I got interviewed What can you accomplish in 4hours and 23minutes? You could probably drive from Syracuse to NYC, or you could definately prepare dinner and desert for a banquet, or you could watch 2 movies, or you could complete a marathon, which is what I did March 1st. While other people in Barcelona were asleep or just getting back from a long night of partying, myself and close to 10,000 other people from various different places in the world were all lining up in Plaça España to challenge our bodies and minds. Some had experience running marathons, some, like myself, were getting their first steps into the race, but everyone was there for their own reasons and one collective reason: to complete 26.2 miles, somehow.
I had my trials and errors in the months leading up to this point, my doubts and my triumphs. There were only a few instances where the thought crept into my head that I shouldn´t run this, and moreso than the thought creeping into my head, it crept into my knee. The past month I forced myself to slow down and rest more, all the while wondering if it would affect the marathon in anyway, positively or
negetively. It is hard to say now, looking back, if I would have changed anything. Would training for a longer period of time with less intensity have hurt my knee anyway? Could my time have been quicker? Will I ever be able to beat that Kenyan that won the whole thing? Does any of that really matter?
Not really.
The point is that I decided I was going to do something and I did it. And now I am walking like a 90 year old, but I´m smiling about it. I never imagined how satisfying being sore could be. I didn´t know that I would take so much secret pride in having to walk down stairs backwards, or groan when I bend down, or forgetting that I can´t get out of a chair too quickly. That soreness reminds you that you just ran around an entire city. Oh yeah, I say and get some ice.
The actual race was amazing. Obviously it was hard, but when you are surrounded by so many people all working for the same goal, it seems easier. If she can do it, I can! And when you are gearing up for months,
The next day...
we ate some healthy foods all for this moment, and you realistically know that you will be running for at least 4 hours (I even like to over shoot and told myself that I´d be running for 6, just so I could feel even better when it was less) the challenge seems possible. Even when at the 10k mark your knee feels like it may have just cracked and you think ahead to major surgery, but keep running anyway, somehow everything seems accomplishable. The times when there are people lining the streets cheering and someone looks directly at you, right into your focused and panting face and screams,¨venga, venga!!¨ you know that there is no way you are going to take one walking step. When your running and your having these conversations with your body and your mind, when one or the other wants to give up, or even when both want to give up and somehow you see yourself, give yourself a little shake and say ¨get it together woman, we´re in this together!¨ you know that your power is great. And when any of the above isn´t happening, and you are just running you catch yourself looking around, like a tourist, ¨ahh,I haven´t seen this building before¨ and ´oh, what a lovely street!¨ and all of a sudden you are just sight seeing. But then, finally, after 20 miles has passed, and somewhat smoothly, you see the 35k mark and know you are at the end, the home stretch, the last 6 miles. Your thinking, ´easy, I just ran that entire thing, this is nothing!´ But it is something. It is the hardest 6 miles you´ve ever run. When you get through to the 40k mark, and you have a mile or less to go, as much as your thinking,¨yeah this is it!´ your body weights 2 tons and moves in slow motion. But in the end, when you cross the finish line, sprinting from some unknown sorce of stored energy, that has been saved for your entire life,specifically for this moment, it is all worth it. Honestly though, it took me about 10 minutes to get to the ¨it´s all worth it euphoria¨ because I was too busy almost falling over and crying and realizing that my legs will no longer bend.
When I think back, I have to give some credit to the fact that I grew up playing sports and have always continued to excersize. I didn´t just go from the couch to a marathon, although that is possible. I also have to think about all those parties in Miami where I danced for 12 hours straight for 3 days in a row and have to think maybe it was all part of the training...
For now, I am going to take it easy for a month (or maybe a week) and not run. With my time left here in Barcelona I am going to not think about miles, or even how long it would take to walk, I am just going to take the metro. I am going to give my legs time to return to their natural range of motion before I push them to the limit again.
I figured also, since I am resting and recovering, and celebrating a little, that I´d take a few days and go to Italy too. Revisit Florence, drink some wine, eat some gelato. Overindulge a little...I mean, really I deserve a vacation...
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Daren Goldin
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true source of your training...
"all those parties in miami where i danced for 12 hours straight for 3 day in a row" ...definitely part of your training, for me that's about half of my annual exercise. p.s. just got back from my 6th ultra 3 weeks ago, and ... sick!