Sometimes things do not go as planned....and yesterday my finish line experience was one of embarrassment and disappointment... nothing to do with the quality of the OC Marathon & Half marathon it was much more personal than that.
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I am always able to smile at the negative ...here I am with my neoprene scuba clown fish hood....
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So did I mention it rained on the parade of Marathoners and Half marathoners... the heavens opened it felt glorious it rained and pelted hail...quite liberating actually. I love to catch rain drops on my tongue!
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| race ready....visualization.... |
I have not ran a full marathon since Boston 2 years ago due to medical and accident.... I am still dealing with Achilles Tendonitis which is a weird bird in its self. I get the best therapy and can run up to 5 miles with no pain and run on grass and off road terrain.... I am no stranger to long distance running and thought the OC Marathon would be a great place to begin my marathon journey again...
Here is how my pre race stacked up
1. I was extremely stressed out about how I was getting the the marathon and getting home.... UBER was put on my phone and I put it out to the universe....But I have great facebook friends and family and it happened.
2. Was healthy and had no pain in my Achilles Tendon I was wearing Brooks Launch which have a slightly higher heel lift and really comfortable.
3. Arrived with an hour to spare was able to warm up and drop off my dry clothes bag to the UPS van to meet me at the finish line.
4. I had visualized how I would run the race... be conservative, run with the 3 hour and 45 minute pace group. Land lightly; keep the knees aligned, Use my arms, breathe relaxed....look at the wonderful scenery.. If I started to have pain the in the Achilles Tendon to walk it out and if not possible at mile 12 to opt to go to the half marathon instead.
.WHAT I HAD NOT PLANNED WAS THE EARLY START FOR THE MARATHON....AND THE 45 MINUTE LATER HALF MARATHON START.
The National anthem was sung by a heavenly voice and as the gun signaled the start of the event the rain came too!!
The Race
I set off I had Hammer gel and my Polar 400 running monitor, I was soaking wet but not cold, the first mile or so is round Fashion Island of Newport beach before views of the Ocean appear which is usually my happy place! Today there were no beach goers as I pattered through the seaside communities of beautiful homes the rain was torrential and I was soaked. The pacer was awesome..at .Mile 4 he barked out you all have a minute in the bank! at mile 7 he warned of a hill.. I think that is were I became undone... my leg had started to have a little pain at mile 5 I tried different running gait but it was definitely my tendon.... then the hill came and it hurt more.... then at mile 10 it was there to stay ..I tried to disassociate with all the snails all over the road from the landscape but nope I hurt and now the decision to be smart was finally in my face.... I had fallen off pace to cope with the pain but now there was a different problem....
The final mile...
I was passed by a cyclist who was leading the first male runners from the half marathon... I felt already depressed and a failure for having to finish at the half marathon so I waited for them to pass not wanting to steal their finish line experience... and I asked an official to call into the finish line I was changing to the half due to injury.... now I am just 600 meters from the finish I am MORTIFIED as no female runner has past yet I started with the marathoners but ending with the half marathoners...I tried to blend into the track finish I put my arms up to the race announcer not to mention my name.... they gave me a beautiful half marathon finisher medal but I was truly embarrassed at having to cut my race short and finish in front of a lot of spectators who must have thought how fast I was!!! Mortification doubled tripled quadrupled..
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| my finish line photo... |
Finish line was the medical tent were the ice was applied grateful for the VIP pass to get hot coffee...but I felt a failure... when will I be able to return to the sport I love..... But I was at the OC Marathon and decided to paint a smile and help at the Kool N Fit tent to spray runners as they came with tired legs to the booth!
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| the bling |
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| starfish... |
CONCLUSION
Although I felt depressed and down I am a running coach and I know had I had a client running I would have advised to cut the race short and listen to your body. I did beat myself up but I also
Finished 13.1 miles, collected a beach City medal for completing 3 half marathons including Surf City and Long Beach. Was able to see others finish in their jubilation and help Kool N Fit too. I was also able to walk after I had rested and iced the tendon. So now waiting for an MRI to find out why I am limited to only 5 miles to the 13 mile distance...feeling grateful.
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| Race Announcers |
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Privilege to cheer and meet again Adam Gorlitsky
Adam is pretty amazing read his story at about I Got Legs... |
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| Spraying Legs with Kool n Fit. |
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| The man that makes it all happen Gary the amazing Race Director. |
A HUGE thank you to my friend Chris Boyer for taking me to collect my bib, to Cheyenne Wiscovitch for taking me at 3.30am and to April Hayes for taking me home.
Feeling grateful and blessed at least I can move forward...and can still swim and run 13 miles!
The OC Marathon & Half marathon weekend is jammed packed all week long from 5km and kids races to the 26.2 miles, What I truly love about the event is the charity organization Kids Run OC read more about this incredible program which gets pre adolescent kids running and maintaining a healthy life style here
at Kids Run OC
Thanks to #brooksrunning #hammernutrition #polarglobal #rudyproject #ocmarathon #koolnfit #covinahillssportsmedicine
