Like I promised I’m going to tell you all about my journey
to my very first marathon. Since I did one of the largest marathons in the
world (over 50,000 people) I had to sign up in February before registration
closed, that’s approximately 8 months before the actual race. It sounds like a
feasible goal at the time I signed up and I told myself I would run a little
bit every day to work up to it. I signed up through The University’s Dance
Marathon, an organization that raises millions of dollars annually for our
local children’s hospital and pediatric cancer so I had to raise $400 to be
able to run. I wanted to run for those who couldn’t and the days I didn’t want
to run I would tell myself I was doing it for the kiddos who had bigger things
at stake than my laziness. This mindset got me through until August! I thought
I was doing really well!
August and September told a different story. I started
school again on the 20th and things quickly picked up. My race was
to be held October 7 and looking at the following week (October 8- 12) I
realized I had 5 exams and a paper (October 8th alone was 2 tests
and a paper), that’s worse than finals week!!! Just my luck. During these last
few weeks I was balancing school work, extra-curricular activities, and trying
to train for a marathon. To make matters worse, the last week of September I
started to get sick, so those extra two hours I spent running I had to try to
catch up on sleep. Two days before I was going to leave, my friend that was
going to go to Chicago with me had to cancel because of school obligations and
I had no idea what I was going to do. I couldn’t go to Chicago by myself, I
didn’t know where I was going or what I was going to do. I spent the next 2
days looking for someone to go with me.
Thankfully one of my bestest friends Jeno stepped up and a
few hours later we were on our way to Chicago. Jeno was from a Chicago suburb
and even had a sister that lived in the city that we could stay with. She lived
under 2 miles away from the start and finish of the race so I could finally see
things starting to come together. We got to Chicago Friday night and my race
wasn’t until Sunday morning so Saturday was spent on getting registered and even
seeing a little bit of Chicago! Unfortunately we couldn’t spend too much time sight-seeing
because I had those pesky exams to study for and Jeno had 2 upcoming tests as
well.
The morning of the race came and I woke up at 5am. I called
for a cab and was on my way to the race. Because there are so many people, you
would not believe it is only 5:30 am, the cab had to drop me off a few blocks
away. I was supposed to meet The University of Iowa Dance Marathon group and we
were all going to walk together, I caught them leaving!! The walk to the race
was one of the strangest experiences I have ever witnessed. I had so many
emotions going at once. I was really excited to see what this was going to be
like but I was also nervous because I hadn’t ran in over a week and an actual
marathon training run in over a month!!
As I started to run I just say tons of people, everywhere!
You can’t really even run at the beginning because of all the people around
you. I met a girl who was doing this with me from Dance Marathon and she kept
me motivated. I was able to run the first 19.5 miles without really stopping
(except for drinks and bathroom breaks of like 30 seconds)!! How? I have no
idea! I guess it was the kiddos in the hospital that kept me going, or the excitement
around me. Not quite to mile 20 I had to start walking, I could barely walk, my
knees, ankles, feet (anything below the waist) was sore! There were moments
when I thought I was going to just fall down and times I even had to hold back
tears. Less than a mile left a girl from Iowa’s Dance Marathon came up to me
and told me to keep going. I have no idea who she was and I have never seen her
since but I seriously owe her that race! She helped me finish just by telling
me to keep going. As I crossed the finish line I knew I had done something
amazing! I was handed my medal, got my picture taken, and tried to figure out
how to get back to Jeno’s sister’s apartment. Side note: When you finish a
marathon they hand out free wind breaker things to keep you warm, take one!! I
was super hot when I finished so I didn’t think I would need it but you definitely
do! I started walking in the direction I thought I needed to, planning on
getting a cab because I really didn’t know where I was going. I kept walking
and walking and as I went I got slower and slower because my legs hurt. I
started to recognize street signs and realized I had walked an extra mile and a
half (at least) back to the apartment. It only took me over and hour and a half
and by the time I got there I couldn’t really feel my legs. I went up to the
apartment and stretched a little, but less than an hour later we were hauling
it back to Iowa City! We had to hurry to keep studying for our tests.
The four hour trip back Jeno drove because I couldn’t really
move my legs and we didn’t stop to stretch my legs which I realized later was a
bad idea. When I got back home my friends brought out a wheelchair and had to
wheel me in because I couldn’t even stand! The next week was a very sore one
but it didn’t matter because I knew I had accomplished something that some
people only dream about. I got through my exams and paper that week. It was an awesome
feeling to know the next day I could still go about my normal day because I’m
told that most people take the next day off, but not me! J
I now am thinking about running the marathon again next year
and maybe even train a little bit better. What I want to get out of this
marathon the most is to inspire someone else to run a marathon or do something
they never think they could do. I never thought that anytime in my life I would
ever run 26.2 miles and finish it, but I did. I want my story to show people
they can also run a marathon as long as they dream that they can. Go run your
marathon!
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