26.2 and nobody died, not even I

Some of you might remember my post about my futile attempts to run a marathon. It seemed that every time I got any serious training done, somebody in my close family in Poland either got sick or died, either case requiring me to forgo my marathon plans. OK, one time it was me getting sick (not dying though). 

The curse, because that's what it must have been, is lifted. I finally managed to run my first marathon. A friend advised California International Marathon and I am grateful he did because this is a very well organized event with great spectator support and a very, very pretty course. 

My training went great for the first 3-4 weeks that is. I ran some serious (for me) miles, with ease tackled hills, which in my previous training attempts had always intimidated me, I had fun. And then something happened. I lost all motivation and problems started. I don't want to dwell too much on those, I'll just say that my last, what I consider long run was on Oct. 28 for a Dec. 4th marathon. It was a 20mile run, I did it, I felt good afterwards, I was hopeful that my mojo would return - it did not. November sucked big time. My weekly mileage went down significantly, my long runs ended up being rather short (I am too embarrassed to tell you how short, but how does 13 sound?), my Achilles tendons (both of them this time) started hurting - I was not a happy runner. 

Still, I decided that I would run, or walk, or whatever, but I would not let the curse keep me from running the CIM. Some good last minute advice helped to calm my nerves and on the day of the marathon not only was I not nervous, I felt I would complete the entire 26.2mi possibly even without any walking breaks. A good pep talk can do miracles. 

Bus ride from my hotel to the start line was fun, though not for the residents of Folsom. Our driver got hopelessly lost and ended up in a nice, quiet residential area. He was the leader of a group of busses, which all dutifully followed as he was trying to figure out where the heck he was. I don't know about the other busses but ours had very squeaky breaks and of course there had to be a stop sign at every crossing and the driver just had to obey all the traffic laws. Oh, did I mention it was 5am?

Thank goodness for smart phones with GPS. The upside was that instead of waiting for over an hour in freezing cold (yes, it was 32F (0C) ), we had only a half an hour wait and I got a nice tour of Folsom, quite a pretty town, I think. I thanked the driver for that tour, to which he answered, 'Anytime, for you, anytime'. I think I will sign up for next year CIM. ;-)

And now, mile by mile report. 

I'll spare you, especially that I lost miles 8, 9, and 10 somewhere. I am pretty sure I ran them but must have slept through them because when I woke up at mile 11 I was quite surprised to be that far. Unfortunately that drift out of consciousness did not repeat even though I could have used it for the last 6 miles but more about it later.

I was hoping to finish under 5 hours if possible but what I was really looking for was to just finish and have fun. And fun I had. I don't think I missed even one spectator kid without a high five. I even jumped to give a high five to an inflatable snowman. I chatted with my new hero (and I told him he was), a fireman who ran in full gear (minus his boots) weighing 30lb. Wow! I enjoyed the views, colorful trees, sunny and windless for a change weather. 

Strangely enough I did not feel the need to fuel. I had gels with me but did not eat any, yes, you read right, I did not eat any. I sucked on 3 (only three) sports jelly beans mostly for taste than anything else. I did drink electrolytes because I sweat a lot. It is quite possible that since my diet is rather low carb, my body is used to burning more fat than carbs, and then I was running aerobically all the time. 

I did not hit any walls. I did not bonk. The only real complaint I had was soreness in my feet, which took some beating because I kept altering my gait to protect my Achilles tendons. The last six miles were especially difficult because I felt serious cramps coming on in both of my calves. A couple of years ago I used to get those often especially at night and I learned that if I flexed my foot I could actually stop the cramping. So I tried the same trick while running and it worked but only for as long as my foot was flexed. I must have looked really funny. And yet I was still enjoying the race. I did not even realize that I kept on grinning till one guy shouted, "Hey, this is mile 22 and you are still smiling? Speed it up!" I didn't. 

I got to the finish line at 4:19:50. Yes, under 5 hours :-). No walking breaks. No walls. No stopping. Fun all the way. Mission accomplished. Curse broken.

I want to thank you friends for encouraging comments, emails, facebook messages, and phone calls, especially that on the evening before the marathon. Your support made this run possible. I sincerely mean it! 

And now special thanks to: Jimmy Cliff, Paul Weller, Peter Murphy, Johann Sebastian Bach, Rainmakers, Chopin, Amorphis, Rachmaninov, Waterboys, Mumford and Sons, Roger Hodgson, Tchaikovsky, Red Army Choir (seriously motivational stuff), Philip Glass, Leonard Cohen, Yanni, Zbigniew Preisner, Kitaro, Czeslaw Niemen, The Call, Florent Pagny, Nolwenn Leroy, Manau, Hans Zimmer, REM, Cornershop, Peter Murphy, Budka Suflera, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Daniel Lanois, Charles Aznavour, and I am sure I am forgetting some other artists who kept my spirits high and my legs moving.