Finished.

I ran the marathon on Sunday!!! It was awesome. Really, it was just an amazing experience. My dad, mom, youngest brother, and one of my best friends (KATE!) came up from home to watch me run, too!! 

I was surprised about how calm my nerves were the night before the race. We went out to dinner and I ate so much spaghetti and bread that I could barely breathe, and slept through the entire night. The only slip-up was that I slept through my alarm in the morning -- there's my recurring dream from the summer about sleeping in and missing the starting line -- but luckily I set it early enough that I was able to still get a piece of peanut butter toast and a banana on my way out the door, even after waking up late. 

The starting line was pretty exciting on the Jacques-Cartier Bridge. Everyone around me was just so excited and of COURSE they were playing "The Final Countdown" just before the gun went off. As soon as it went off, I couldn't feel anything but raging happiness. I don't know if "bliss" is the right word, but I was just so happy that for the first seven miles really felt like I was flying. The weather was perfect -- a little bit cool with sun, and it smelled like autumn. I have to say that really the only thing I could've asked to be better weather-wise was the wind. MAN OH MAN we were running against the wind for some parts -- particularly over the bridge going back onto the main island. But everyone around me was just sort of laughing at how ridiculous we all must've looked, leaned forward and giving it our all but probably going verrryyyy slowly. The first half of the race all seemed to just blow by... when I got to the halfway mark I couldn't believe that that distance had been my entire race last year. Not to belittle the half-marathon at all.... it's an amazing feat and I'd love to race it again... but I was amazed at how quickly it went by. 
The second half, however, was not such a breeze. There is a big hill going up Berri right after the halfway mark. I kind of felt like it was the make-or-break point of the race, and if it hadn't been for a couple of my friends at the bottom and my dad running alongside me at the top, I'm not sure how I would've done. There was never a time in the race where I thought "I am definitely not going to finish this" but there were a couple of times when I thought "How am I going to finish this?!" (There's a difference, I swear.) The hardest part was probably miles 19-24... right around the mythical "wall" (although I'm not sure I ever really hit a definite wall.) My arms felt numb and I thought that I could feel every single tendon in my feet stretched to their maximum tightness.... but it seemed that at the right moments there was always a friend waiting around the next corner, or some random person on the street banging on a set of bongos, or something to make me think "This isn't that bad." 
The part that made me laugh at myself the most though I think was the 16-mile mark when I said to myself "Okay good, only 10 miles left." Only ten miles!?!?! I finally felt like a crazy runner person. 
The last two miles of the race were really just incredible. Laugh if you want, but tears were coming to my eyes as I watched the Olympic Stadium get closer and closer. Running through the chute, lined by thousands of people, through the finish line was probably one of the greatest feelings I've ever had. (The second I stopped running was a much different feeling, however...). 


I just want to thank everyone who has read this blog, or helped me through my training this summer in any way. Every bit of support and encouragement really helped. In the car on the way home from the race, my little brother asked, "So... are you going to to another one?" I don't have any doubts that I will... but right now I'm still recovering and need to brace myself to sit down in a chair... so ask me again in about a week.


Ohhh and one last thing... just some stats: 
I finished in 4:28:05 (even though I said I didn't care about time and only about finishing, I still wish I could've broken 4:20!) But.... on a much more positive note which makes me so happy and proud of myself... there were 65 women who raced in my age group (18-24 years) and I came in 26th!! So hey -- above the 50th percentile for my first marathon... I can't ask for more!!! :o)


Thanks again everyone!!!!!!

My only hope for tomorrow is that I finish like this guy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFJ8sn225ys


Yes, Tomorrow morning I am running a marathon. Oh. My. God.

Final Long Run!

Saturday was my final long run before the marathon! It was 20 miles, and once again, my totally awesome little brother did it with me on his bike. There were a few minor trip-ups, however....
So I arrived back home the night before at about midnight, after a six our roadtrip home from Montreal, and I really did NOT want to be waking up at 7:00 am to run for 3.5 hours, but I decided that I could suck it up one last time. So on Saturday morning, I woke up and opened up my suitcase to get out my running gear. I grabbed my water bottle belt, headphones, sneakers, and went downstairs. When I sat down to put on my sneakers though... I realized that I had two left shoes. I brought the left sneaker from each of my pairs of running shoes from Montreal. I could NOT believe it. I was so angry... how could I have POSSIBLY done something so STUPID!??! It would've been a little less stupid if I had at least brought a right and a left shoe. So after I was done yelling and swearing about my shoe situation, I went to my room and found my old Asics that I ran in during my senior year of high school cross-country. I reluctantly put them on and went outside to start my run. Then, my one and only hair elastic broke... and then I realized that the tiny sharp pain I'd been feeling on the bottom of one of my toes was actually a tiny piece of glass that I'd stepped on and had gotten lodged in there.

So... after jumping over all of these hurdles... I finally hit the road to start my run. It was a gorgeous day and the first seven miles that I ran by myself could not have been happier. (sidenote -- Janelle Monae: wherever you are and whatever you're doing right now... I just want to say that your music is one of the most amazing things in the world and not only makes me happy day-to-day but also really gets me through some of my tough runs.) I tried to start out faster than I did my last 20-miler, and I held up pretty well.
Sam met up with me in the Devens Army base like last time, and we chatted for the rest of the run. The only downside to talking to Sam while running is that sometimes he makes me laugh so hard that I can't run!!

The old shoes definitely did a number on my feet, and I could feel hot spots as early as mile 10... which turned into popped-in-my-socks blisters... gross.

But... after ALL OF THAT... I ended up running my LONGEST RUN EVER -- 20 miles -- in 12 minutes less than I did 19 miles 3 weeks ago!!! YAY FOR GETTING STRONGER! I'm so so so happy with myself, and although it's now Tuesday night and I'm still sore, I'm READY FOR THE RACE.   :o)

Winding Down

So this past weekend was my last long run in Montreal before the marathon. I was supposed to do 20 miles this weekend, but decided to switch two weeks around so that I can do my last 20-mile run at home again, with my brother when I go back for vacation.
This past weekend, though, my brother was actually visiting me here, in Montreal, and I have to say that I probably made a mistake by doing my long run on Sunday, after he left, because the weekend with him really did a number on my legs and made me feel not ready at all for 15 miles on Sunday. On Saturday him and I rented Bixi bikes and rode around the city, went to the Farmer's Market, and through the plateau quite a bit. I also did a short 3-mile run afterwards, so by Sunday afternoon, when he left, I did not want to run 15 miles. I dropped him off at the bus station and started my run from there. When I was standing in line with him at the station I said, "Sam... I really don't want to run right now. Like, I've never wanted to run less I don't think in my entire life. Well, maybe except for that time at my high school league championships when I knew I was set for last-place out of about 100 girls." Sam laughed and said "Just don't go then. You'll probably be fine if you don't go, you've already done 20 miles before." I thought about it for a while... and his offer was so tempting. I could so easily just hope back on the metro and curl up in my bed and watch the Sopranos and make up for the hours of sleep I'd lost staying up late that weekend, and avoid the looming thunder clouds.
But then... I thought of something. Back in May, when I had a 12-mile run only 3 weeks into the training program, I remember having this thought: "Oh my god. I trained ALL SUMMER for this distance last year. I'm never going to be able to follow through with this for the whole summer. I'd better not tell too many people that I'm 'running a marathon' ...'cause I highly doubt I'll be able to go through with this whole thing." And then, that weekend, I ran 12 miles. And 10 the weekend after that, and 14, 16, 15, 18, 12, 20, 12, 15..... and as I stood there in the bus station, looking up at my 6' 4" brother while wearing my dorky water bottle belt and Red Sox hat... I thought "Wait a second.... I haven't skipped a beat yet." and it's true. I hadn't missed a single day all summer and there was no point in starting then.
My run wasn't even that bad. I was really really sore afterwards, more so than normal, but I did it. And I never have to run for hours in the city of Montreal again (besides the actual race) if I don't want to. But I probably will want to, and I'll probably look back one day and say "hah. that program was easy." But right now... It wasn't easy to me, and I'm proud of myself because I did it and I didn't give up.
I have one more week left of serious training, and then two weeks of tapering... and then the race. I've run around the world 0.02 times, burned enough energy to power 988.5 TVs, and burned the equivalent of 203.45 donuts. So, thank you, dailymile.com, for putting my grueling work into real-world information for me, so that I can grasp it with reason a little more tightly, and not just feel like a monotonous running machine.

New muscles?

I think my legs have new muscles. Or my legs were mysteriously replaced with someone else's (which can run 12 miles at an 8:40 pace and feel nothing) overnight. I seriously cannot believe how effortless my run felt today, and was especially not expecting it with small amount of sleep I was running on. 

But yeah... my 12 mile run today was a piece of cake and I find it funny that it was the end-goal of last summer's entire training. 

Awesome things about my run today: 

1. I ran up the mountain, which I haven't done in a long time, so I find it a small feat in itself that I started this long run with a 3-mile uphill. 

2. At the bottom of the mountain there was a group of bagpipers having their own little concert together in the park. 

3. When I got to Parc LaFontaine, there were so many artists and musicians everywhere -- cellists, violinists, french horn players, painters....

4. While running the last mile back to my apartment, I looked up at the top of the mountain and it seemed so far away and I could not believe that I had been up there only 90 minutes before. 

Great run.    :o)

Numbers

By the end of the week, I will have run 400 miles during this training period. WOO!

The marathon is also exactly one month from today. I'll do almost another 150 miles before then... I just can't believe how short of a time it sounds like, yet how many miles I have left to cover in 22 runs. Nerve-racking...

Oh yeah, and dailymile.com also just informed me that I have now run 0.02 of the distance around the earth's equator (since May). That's a small number... but the earth is pretty big....

I have the best little brother ever.

So... I'm home, back in MA for the weekend, and it's the weekend of my first 20-miler. I was really nervous last night, and my dad made me eat a hamburger AND spaghetti.... I thought I was going to explode. Anyways, I mapped out my route last night, into town center, down the bike path to the neighboring town, into the old army base, 6-mile loop, and back home on the bike path again. My little brother, Sam, goes to school in the old army base and helped me plan out the route. Then, he told me that he'd wake up this morning, bike out to meet me at the 7-mile mark, and bike around the 6-mile loop with me. So anyways, I downloaded Harry Potter 7, started out at an easy pace, and by the time I got to the end of the bike path I was already dreading finishing the run. I was just so... alone. And sort of bored. So then I see my brother and dad in the car, and I felt a bit better. Sam had on his backpack full of bananas and water bottles for me. I told him that he didn't need to stay right next to me, considering that I was running so low that he almost had to WALK his bike... but he did. He stayed next to me, biking right alongside, chatting me up, for the whole 6 mile loop. And then the next 7 miles back. SAM BIKED NEXT TO ME FOR THIRTEEN MILES ON A SATURDAY MORNING. He was so awesome. And I didn't listen to Harry Potter at all once we'd met up. We talked the entire time. The surprising thing was, I was ABLE to talk that whole time while I was running... and that helped me to keep pace. It was so awesome and Sam was my hero today. Maybe for the next month even.

I ended up running really really slow today. When I started my run, I decided to go at it with this mindset: "This is all I have to do today. I just need to finish, there is no rush." So I tried to run at (what I thought was) about a 10-minute-mile pace. It ended up being more like 11-minute miles at the end, which is really slow-sounding to me, but I'm so glad that I did it now. It was a great learning experience, because at the end I didn't feel nearly as bad as I'd anticipated feeling, so now I know that I can definitely do that distance faster than I did today. The only thing I feel a bit disappointing... is that we took a little detour and I ended up only doing 19 miles... OH WELL!! Great run. Great, great run.