I'm a little timid to broadcast that because I know it's odd. Let me explain.
Ironman Cozumel was both a major accomplish and a huge disappointment. The accomplishment was in the preparation (so many hours of training), the swim and the bike went well and I finished that marathon despite being so, so sick. The disappointment was that the marathon was much slower than planned and due to my "digestive" problems, I was not able to run the speed that my fitness would have made possible. After that race I said out loud that I would never do a marathon again but in my head, there was a little voice saying, "you will do that again and you'll do it well next time." I ignored that little voice in my head for awhile but last summer I decided I was ready to listen to it.
Timing was an issue.
I already had enough races going on in the summer and early fall. I didn't want to wait too long to do the marathon, so winter made the most sense. There's no local marathons and I didn't want to travel for this one. So, I decided I would just do it ON MY OWN. The treadmill made the most sense because then I could have my water bottles filled with electrolytes and calories. Not to mention the fact that it's 30 degrees warmer in the gym than it is outside right now (my knees get sore in the cold).
I was nervous this whole week. I trained for this but I cut my training short because I was getting bored and impatient with building up my times. My longest training run was just short of 3 hours long. Adam reassured me saying that whatever I lacked in training, I would make up for in mental toughness. Ironman training did give me that gift of being able to suffer through loooonnnngg workouts.
At 9AM I took my kids to the gym childcare. Adam planned to pick them up at noon (on his lunch break) and take them to my parent's house for the rest of the afternoon. I set up my station next to the treadmill with my water bottles, change of clothes, sweat towels, electrolyte drinks, snacks, extra runners etc. Yep, it was quite a pile of stuff.
I broke the marathon up into 4 sections in my mind, one hour at a time. I started at a 5:30/km pace and actually held that pace right through to the end. Adam put a few movies on his ipod for me to watch. I hooked it up to the TV on the treadmill and that really helped pass the time. Of course there was suffering but nothing I couldn't run through. By the third hour I started feeling somewhat lightheaded and my joints and muscles were achy. My knee hurt off and on (my IT strap helped with that). My left hip flexor was sore for the last three hours but it didn't get bad enough to make me walk. I changed shirts three times and re-applied vaseline to any potential chaffing areas (think anywhere that clothing rubs). I remembered from IM having a chaffing line at the top of my shorts that was bad enough that it bled, so I was generous with the vaseline. I was so grateful for Silvana, who was there to support me by running on the treadmill next to me. Thanks Silvana!
I finished in 3:50 (time on the treadmill) and 4:25 (total time including time off the treadmill for bathroom and changing clothing/runners). It was weird to get off the treadmill with my wobbly legs. The other people at the gym had no idea what I had just done, they probably wondered why I was walking funny though. No cheering crowds. I stretched, showered and came home to meet Adam. He said, "I have something to present you with." Then he put a medal around my neck and I cried. I had been battling doubts about whether this marathon "counted" and so that medal meant a lot to me. Thanks Adam!
