What does it take to run a marathon? read on……
The Journey to Washington has been an interesting one, too much to write about, but here is a little insight.
Running in the lead up to Washington had become a yard stick of sorts for how I measured my new success, Gold Coast, San Francisco, Noosa, Sandy Point, City to Surf, Chicago, Sydney Harbour, Melbourne finishing at the “G”, and I have to say some measuring up better than others.
I decided in late August that I would take on the challenge of running my First Ever FULL Marathon, 26.2 Miles, 42km – now most people like to give themselves a good 8 or 9 months of training, I on the other hand gave myself roughly two months to get ready, in between I would do the Chicago Half Marathon – no worries Jeff said to himself.
About four weeks out I had given my worst performances in the half marathon, getting a worst ever time and a close second the following week.
At this point I said Oh Crap (Well a lot worse) I had roughly two weeks from this point to get my Personal Best time back, so I set about this challenge and got within 7 seconds of it in Melbourne two weeks prior to Washington, Whoo hoo I was high fiving myself for this one, marathon man was back, and I knew that I had more energy left in the tank after it, so now I was confident I could get it down.
With the flu and challenges presenting the next week, presumably from the previous gruelling training schedule I was now downing antibiotics, right up until two days before the “Amazing Race” well I’m calling it that!
The week before I hit the Boxing Class, Steve a Few times and I even encouraged him to hit me hard with a circuit training session and said if I didn’t break my time I would do it a second time, now trust me this particular circuit is something you DO NOT want to do twice in one day – I smashed it by 30 Seconds WHOOO HOOO I was now sure that I could finish on Sunday, on Thursday morning I headed to do a spin session with Sharon, now this was tough and maybe even made me doubt myself for a second, but only a second, I spent the next 4 days mentally preparing for this event than Jumped in a taxi to the airport, Lunch with a few good friends in Sydney and than only LAX.
30+ Hours and 15,000 Miles later I landed in DC, straight to the hotel, so afraid of stuffing this one up, I rested, rested and rested, was careful with my diet, and didn’t leave anything to chance.
Not even a drop red on the plane ride over….
I picked up my Bib and Race stuff from the expo, these are becoming very second nature these days, and I don’t seem to get as much of a kick out of them as I once did, but the uniqueness of this one was it was being run by the Marine Corps. Now this is one very effective group of people and I dare not argue with any of them.
I recall sitting through a talk by one of the presenters on preparation for the marathon, when the guy went around the group and asked the most amount of mile s prepped for the marathon I wasn’t game to say only 13.1m so I said 18miles, one guy did say the 13.1 miles and the horror on peoples faces was extraordinary, almost as if Good Luck Buddy, better luck next year!
So now a little worried but not deterred I just said now what do these people think they know the body is an amazing thing, and it can do what ever we put our mind to.
I managed to meet Bart Yasso, an amazing Global runner, this guy is inspirational, a guy who has run world over multiple times, it’s his Job believe it or not…..
Before I could know it it was race day and I had prepared all was up to me…..
Now here is the funny thing look at my inventory of race day items I left the hotel with:
1. 15 Roctane Energy GU Gels (Seriously what did I think I was going to do with 15?????, I used 7)
2. A bottle of water
3. White bread and Jam Sandwiches
4. A litre of Gatorade
5. My chuck away sweater
6. iPod (Now I don’t care what people think about iPod runners I am not running without mine just yet!!!!)
7. My American Express Card (Never Leave home without it!!! But silly me what did I think I was going to do with this order a meal, check into a hotel, request a massage ???? %$%&*)
8. $40 US dollars
9. Metro Ticket
Arriving and getting off of the metro at Arlington was spookey, pitch black, walking onto a closed down freeway beside a cemetery, being searched by military, ooooohhhhh this is like I was getting ready for some sort of battle.
Lining up in the 3:50 – 4:00 mark, I downed my Gatorade, Sandwiches and Litre of water.
A precession of ceremonies commenced, the National Anthem, Firing of the Military Guns, a Military Fly over, WOW!!!! A very cool way to start a marathon, standing shoulder to shoulder with Marines, Civilians from all walks of life in excess of 20,000 was an awesome experience before I even started running.
Running the event was the US Marine Corps… they took care of every logistic, as you run the start line, a row of Marines in uniform formed a guard of honour and the course was not one point missing a marine…..The streets were lined by enthusiastic Washington DC residents, cheering, encouragement, It was hard not to take off to early, especially with the first 5 miles having some significant hills, in fact more than I had anticipated, but like many things in life you can never be prepared for everything.
I managed to take the first few miles with relative ease, but knew I had 20+ left, we hit a lovely town called George Town, now this is one awesome place and I promise If I ever move to the US this jumps the list over San Francisco Bay Area and Chicago Down town….. it’s a city I could very easily call home in an instant….
Before I knew it I was coming down through Washington to the Half Way Mark – and the crowds were huge (well I thought) and I was running well, on track to hit a 3hr 35m time….. even at the 13.1 mile mark I hit 1hr 46ish which was pretty cool, a few more miles a woman in the crowd must have seen me starting to waver a little – here goes, she looks at me and shouts “Come on your looking good, relax your shoulders, core in and keep on going your right on Target” now that was like having your trainer on point at mile 15…….
Round the corner to Capital Hill, WOW never seen the building up from the Washington monument, the White house, row of museums’ the Smithsonian building this is awesome… the adrenaline is pumping…..
Coming down to mile 20 I really started doing it tough, how did I know ? well I started singing and most people who know me know I should never Sing or Dance…… it was kind of fate…….. the songs on my iPod – “were going to have a good time tonight, were ganna dance tonight” , “From a Land Down Under” , Come on Aussie Com on” hehehe it was just one after another the fellow runners and spectators must have thought who the hell and where is this person from……. I started high fiving the kids along the way!!!!! A little while later I was back in focus with my “Eye on the Prize” I settle into a finishing last few miles….. Passing the Pentagon I knew I wasn’t far away, One marine looked at me and shouted at me to Keep on running and don’t give up, now with such authority and conviction in his voice I wasn’t one to argue.
The iPod pelted out a couple of very timely tunes - Little Lion Man Mumford and Sons with Don’t F%$* it up!, followed by from St Kilda to Kings Cross by Paul Kelly and Viva La Vida Cold Play……
As I approach the Finish Line I had one more challenge to conquer, it was a HILL now who in there right mind puts one killer of a hill at the end of 26.2 miles – I guess the US MARINE CORP does.
It was like a spin bike session with maximum resistance, x 1000 - Yes I was in pain but I DID IT!!!!!!!
And Crossed the Finish Line in 3hr 56m The Garmin Map – now I must have looked bad as I stopped I was dizzy, and looked like CRAP, the Marines at the finished asked me if I needed Help, but you know me, Nah I’m ok, I proceeded to walk ever so slowly to the Medal Collection point, by which stage any pain in my body was gone, the pride of receiving a finishers medal for such a challenge was quiet possibly one of the most rewarding moments in my entire life, and receiving it from a marine who had given up a lot of there life to serve there country was to me an honour and inspiring, this was something that I and only I alone could accomplish, it was up to me to achieve or stuff it up, and yes “If it is to be, its up to me!”.
I after getting my Photos, medals and food I crashed to the ground like a drunk monkey, I think I must have lay there for well over 30mins.I got up and headed back to the hotel, via the metro, now silly me gets off the metro a station early and walks 3 miles to the hotel…..
Getting back to the hotel, I Face Booked the result, Thanks for the Congratulations and sent a quick email to friends not on FB.
Everyone was so excited for me, the responses overwhelming " One of the first to come in was "well done Jeff!!!! You have much to be proud of and completing a full marathon is accomplishment enough....but I am VERY impressed with your incredible time!!!!!! Fantastic effort:):):); ", Another friend from Chicago called to Congratulate me! Thanks Paul, your awesome it was really cool to get that voice mail when I switched on my cell phone later that day……. now the next 3 days were going to be hell.
I had planned Sunday Afternoon and Monday to go sight seeing, than off to Vegas and San Francisco for a few days to relax.
BUT no my body did not like one little bit what I had done to it, I changed my flights and hotels to remain in Washington for the rest of my time in the USA.
The next 24 hours my body went from being thirsty to sweating profusely, headaches, dizzy, nausea the list goes on…….
By Tuesday Afternoon I headed out for a couple of hours and walked around, body sore, bones unhappy but getting there.
Wednesday I was all go, did the some Museums and more of Washington DC – But by afternoon I had spent the rest of the day in George Town, this is my favourite suburb in DC, the shopping fantastic, restaurants are shoulder to shoulder and filled with delightful people.
Getting back to Sydney and Melbourne was a daunting task and ended up getting on the Qantas plane with some hesitation but did decide to miss the Sydney Monopoly Pub Run on Saturday – sorry Phil and Co. I was really really wrecked and disappointed I missed the 26 pubs from Kings Wharf to Kings Cross……. In the 2nd Annual Event.
I learnt many lessons this last week, from how to run a marathon, what we are really capable of if we put our mind to it, and most importantly achieving what I once considered impossible.
Some have asked me what next ??? well I am working on it, it has to be something that is sought by many but conquered by few…….. it might include a mountain, an endurance event like a du-athalon or tri - watch this space.
Thanks to the many supportive donations of friends and family we as a team have managed to raise $1,500 for the starlight foundation a very worthy cause in deed, I had the opportunity to visit with the folks a week prior to the Marathon, and you should see a story on this shortly.
Finally a Thanks to Steve for his tireless work to get my body into shape in less than a year he has helped me transform my body from Dead in the Water to a “Marathon Man”, through all of the complaining, crap and swearing at him, he has quiet simply done an outstanding job, no one else on earth could have lasted the distance and the credit deservedly goes to him......... THANKS!!!!!!!!!! for helping me reach the impossible and being part of defining my new future healthy lifestyle, tomorrow we start work on the next big thing – bigger, better, harder, stronger……
Cheers,
Jeff
