In the weeks leading up to the big day, I could have told you that any number of things would happen in life's attempt to make things like running a marathon even more difficult than it is. Although it was not really a huge surprise that obstacles were going to present themselves, I would've never guessed how exactly it was going to go down. I ended up getting sick about 2 weeks before the marathon. I never get sick. I honestly don't think I've been really sick for over 2 years. But, I am attributing this to the dentist visit that resulted in having to take antibiotics, which probably weakened my otherwise usually dependable immune system. That little episode killed about a week of training. After that, I started to develop a very uncomfortable tightening in a muscle in my left leg, which prevented me from running for longer than 30-40 minutes without taking a break. This muscle cramping/tightening continued for the last two weeks, all the way through the marathon.
The night before the race, I found out that the weather forecasts all confirmed rain for the next day. I ran out to the closest store that would be open at 10:00pm, Walmart, only to find that they were sold out of rain ponchos, but I ended up finding one at CVS. The morning of the race, I woke up at 4:00am to have some breakfast before getting ready to head out. Oatmeal with milk and plain yogurt, strawberries, red grapes, bananas, green apples, dried cranberries, and sliced almonds. I ate as much as I could and got ready for the car ride to Dodger Stadium. It rained moderately all the way there. I found out that the cars were all lined up on the 5 freeway, waiting to get off the exit to go up to the starting line. The starting time crept closer and closer, so I decided to jump out of the car (my dad was driving) and run the last 3 miles up to the starting area, before the race even started. It stopped raining at that moment, so I thought at least the earlier part of the race would be somewhat dry, but I was wrong. It started raining as our section of people started moving, and not only did it not let up for the entire race, it rained ridiculously hard at times, even horizontally. My leg started tightening about 2 hours into the race, and it persisted for the next 3 days. I ended up finishing in about 7 hours 2 minutes, not my estimated finishing time, but a finishing time nonetheless.
I could barely move the next day, except for getting up to eat or go to the bathroom. For the next week, I carried my finishing medal around with me in my pocket, not to show off to people, but more to remind myself why I was in so much pain. It was one of the toughest things, both physically and mentally, that I've ever done in my life, and I think there have been few times in my life when I felt as accomplished as this. I'm glad I did it, but for now I wish people would stop asking me when I'm going to start training for my next marathon.
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