And Here We Go Again...

Will someone please tell me how it is that miles 20-25 of the San Antonio marathon included 45 of (hopefully) the worst minutes of my life, but less than 2 days later I had apparently developed amnesia and thought that running a second marathon this coming weekend was a good idea?

I guess I never really reported much about the first marathon, but I started too fast and "hit the wall" - where your muscles use the last of their readily available glycogen and you literally run out of energy - at about 20 miles in and had to just gut it out the last few miles. My godfather ran miles 20-26 with me, and at 22 he asked how I was doing. It took me a good three minutes to assess, determine how I felt, keep from crying, and give a measured answer of "not so hot." A phrase kept running through my head, though: "tough times don't last; tough people do." I must have repeated that to myself hundreds of times over the next few miles, and kept going.

By the 26th mile, when I could see the Alamodome but it wasn't computing that the finish was there, I was back to being pretty zen about things and worrying about my finishing time (which was ridiculous in it's own right because it's not like you can make up for a lot of last time in the last 4% of the race). I also may have been a little delusional, a lot dehydrated, my blood sugar was low, my skin was grey, Iwould have gladly taken a knee replacement or two, and all I could fantasize about was finding a grassy patch on the other side of the finish line and laying down (no such luck). But crossing that finish - there was no other feeling like it.

I quickly went and found my family, my mom handed me some chocolate milk and my dad admired my finishers medal, and my mom put my "marathon" charm bracelet on my wrist - with a single silver charm of the Alamo and to which I will add a charm for each marathon I run - and gave me a hug. I immediately burst into tears and couldn't stop crying. She hugged me tighter and told me that I would never have to run another one again - but that wasn't it. It turns out that when I surprise myself by accomplishing something I never really thought possible, I can't stop the tears of joy.

Two ice bags, one hot shower, a full Mexican dinner, a car trip to Austin, one hour worth of soaking my legs in a 50-degree swimming pool and a good night's sleep later, however, and I was ready to do it all again. I was already registered for the Dallas White Rock marathon and had a charm of the Dallas skyline ready to go on my marathon bracelet. So what if it's only four weeks after the last marathon I kept telling myself. It's along the same routes that I run all the time - piece of cake!

Now that we're four days out, the weather is supposed to be overly warm on race day, I'm cringing at the idea of more carboloading (I'm so sick of pasta!), and it's recurring to me how bad I felt during parts of San Antonio, I can unequivocally say this - 26.2 miles will never be a piece of cake for me. But I'm doing it again.

Over the next couple days, I will be doing what I can to psych myself up for this race. It's just for fun, my only goals are to finish and have a good time and not start out too fast. I'm trying to reject any feelings of pressure and just relax. After all, "Tough times don't last; Tough people do."

I'll see you at the finish.

Lisa

P.S. Go drink some water.