Ahhhh... That's the sigh of relief after being finished with my marathon. I'd forgotten what it felt like to have something that you train for over the course of several months and then the satisfaction that comes with its completion. What a beautiful, humbling, and painful thing. So many times during my race did the question float forward in my mind and ask, "What was your point in doing this? How is this fun," and many other similar questions, all between the 20K and 40K markers.
Some interesting things to note along the way:
- There were about 20,000 people in this race, so I was never alone.
- As you'll see in the video, there was much nervous excitement, accompanied by cheerleaders leading exercises.
- I started in the "M Group", which started 50 minutes after the "A Group" since I didn't have a registered time from another race. - This meant I had a lot of passing to do to catch up to people who were more my pace. Sometimes I ran in rain ditches to get around clusters of people.
- Whenever I took out my earphones to my Ipod, all I usually heard was the treading of feet on pavement. Nobody was talking...
- ... except when we ran through the tunnels. Then, the Koreans screamed and shouted like grade school children.
- I started the race a little hungry because I had to wait around for so long. I also peed 3 times before my group went.
- At 20K, they gave us "Choco Pie" the Korean equivalent to moon pies. I grabbed 2, one for then, and one for later. But since I had no pouch for it, I tried tucking it into the back of my shorts, only to have it shuffle down and out the bottom, so it looked like I was pooping moon pies.
- I couldn't get enough liquids in me. At 27.5KM, I started drinking the water from the sponges they were giving out.- I got a brief hamstring cramp around 30K.
- The distance between the markers seemed to get further and further apart, like some kind of sick joke. I think I was just getting slower.
- I saw around 20 foreigners in the entire race. I thought there would have been more.
- At 30K was when my time stopped mattering in my mind. My goal became to not walk.
- I cramped up solid around 35K and had to stretch and walk until the cramp went away.
- My goal became to just get this stupid race over as soon as possible.
- Somewhere along the way, the music that had been pumping me up seemed to fade into background elevator music.
- Around 37K, my friend Zac met me to run the rest of the way. I never knew it could be so uplifting to see a familiar face.
- It was a discomforting feeling to chug about a liter of liquids at the last drink station and not feel at all like my thirst was quenched.
- I cramped up twice more before the finish, just walked until they subsided, and then continued on.
- Crossed the finish line with an official split of 3:49.43.
- As I slowed to walk after the finish, about half of the muscles in my lower legs seized up.
- The next hour or so of pain may have been some of the most discomfort I have ever experienced. Nothing would loosen with time. I downed about 2 liters of Gatorade and water, but didn't pee until several hours later. My hips were so tight, I felt like I'd just finished riding a huge horse.
- My emotions were at the end of my sleeves afterwards. Joy and pain came so quickly, so when Rebs ran towards me, I couldn't help but to well up with emotion. It was so good to hold her again. (You can't call me sappy unless you've done a marathon yourself.)
That's pretty much it for details. My aches and pains have subsided, though my back seemed to tighten up yesterday and my left ankle feels a little tweaked. But I'm just happy to say that I got out of it alive, given that quite a few people have died while running marathons. I feel that God has blessed me to be able to experience such an event. I don't know yet if I'll ever do another one. I would have to have a really good reason. Although, the half-marathon seems much more appealing to me. Maybe next year. For now, I have the itch to climb.
