The Marathon

On May 1st 2011 I ran my first marathon in Eugene Oregon. It was a early morning start at 7am and I had a friend run the marathon with me and another friend run a half marathon with us. My goal for the day was to make it in under 5 hrs. I started myself towards the back of the pack and tried to stay ahead of the 5hr pace lady who we nicknamed the "Grim Reaper". We would keep a watchful eye out for her to make sure she didn't catch up to us. I started off to fast even though I tried to keep myself slow, part due to my friends running faster than I do and part due to the race itself. I ran at a hr of about 145. Normally I would train below 140 for all of my long runs. The first 6 miles went great and we crossed the 10k mark at 1hr 7 min. We had one hill at mile 8 and we ran all the way up it. I took a fast 1 minute bathroom break at mile 9 and added a few gels to my pack from my family support team.

We hit every water station from there on out and kept a gel in us every 30 minutes. As I went by mile 16 I could feel my quads starting to hurt and realized that I had been going to fast to far and was fighting the lactic acid build up. I slowed my pace a little and just ignored the pain. I ran the next 4 miles that way and made it to mile 20 still on track to finish under 5hrs.

I also noticed that we had been following a speed walker from about mile 6 and he was still in front of us. I could not believe how fast he was able to walk. I then made it a goal to pass him. At mile 22 I could really feel the pain in my legs and it was starting to effect my calf's, I was able to push it to mile 24 when I had to walk for the first time. I walked as fast as I could walk for about a quarter mile then begged my legs to start again. reluctantly they slowly started to work for me and I made it to mile 26 and the entrance to Hayward field where there was a small step up to get onto the track and in doing so my left calf cramped up and almost sent me to the ground.

I was able to get it back to moving again and made it across the finish line at 4hrs55min. I will say that this was by far the hardest thing Ive ever endured in my life to this day and it took all I had to keep from getting sick afterwards. The marathon definitely kicked my ass and I never did catch the speed walker.

I took the next few days off and gave my legs some much needed rest, my calfs were still trashed and my IT bands felt like they were going to become a issue. When I started to run again 2 weeks later I could only make it a mile and my IT bands would just give out. I couldnt even ride my bike without then going out. this went on for 2 months and I could only make it about 2 miles max. I was so deflated to not be able to run or ride my bike I went to mainly swimming. I also took a trip to maui with some great friends and bought some IT band straps. I made a 6 mile run on maui but could tell I needed to back off some. When we got home I remodled the kitchen and living room and ended up with a pulled hammy and a hurt shoulder from installing a window and falling.

I also had to take a trip to elpaso to help my son and felt my entire workout routine falling apart, I was injured and not able to work out much and depressed about it brought back my eating disorder and weight gain back up to 202.

I have since got past the injuries and have built my milage back up to 12 and counting. I have my diet back in full swing and my weight back down to 198. I am entered into a lot of events for 2012 and am working on getting my weight down to 180.


I have learned to not push myself so hard when running a marathon and plan this year to run it by myself so I can focus more on my own pace and meet my friends at the finish line. I still dream of finishing an Ironman race and am working on the training now.