A couple of weeks ago I went for a run. I didn’t really volunteer to go - but I wasn’t co-erced either. Basically what happened was this: A friend turned 21. He enjoys a challenge. I think he enjoys challenging people more. So he challenged his friends to come to his party which was…. a 21km run. Thats 13 miles. That is a half marathon.
I’d just got back into running - like JUST. I’d run 5km maybe 3 times in 2 weeks? But Elliot and I said yes without really thinking about it. On the day we broke our normal rules and ate cereal and porridge for breakfast. I have to say it was really nice… then lunch time we broke rules again and went to a bakery! Porridge and sandwiches in one day…
So we got to the start line - a little beach at the end of a peninsula. Its funny how your stomach anticipates stuff… mine was slightly butterfly-ish and so was Elliots apparently. I was the only girl at the start. A little bit intimidating but I wanted to prove I could do it! We set off… it was a wintery day but the sun was so hot. And running along a beach with no wind just makes it extra hot!
The first kilometre or so I was plodding along behind all the guys thinking up ways to remove myself from the race smartly. I didn’t wanna look like a loser or failure (ha!)… I was thinking should I injure myself? But while I was thinking this, we were still travelling and soon it kinda got to the point where I was thinking ‘I’ve come this far, what’s the point of stopping now?’ Even though it was only about 5km into it.
Soon the guys left Elliot and I for dirt. We did say they could go on… but still we felt rather unfit at that point! The scenery was really nice so we walked up the really big hill that apparently was ‘gentle’. We ambled along, jogging for quite a long portion of it. We reached the halfway point and stretched, then continued. The others were long gone. We were quite enjoying ourselves. Once you get into the rhythm, you get into it!
However, at the bottom of a hill, we suddenly realised we were damaging ourselves. My feet were killing me cos my shoes are a teensy bit small. Elliots feet simply were not made for running and our joints were aching. We walked along the flat and tried to run again. But it just hurt so much! It really wasn’t a question of fitness anymore - it was our joints and limbs wearing out. We decided to skip out the extra hill that made the distance add up to 21km and were debating whether to call someone to pick us up. Then the birthday boy called us and told us we only had a short distance to go.
That lifted our spirits - but just after the call we saw the guy who had cycled the distance! He was behind us - and the other guys were also behind us. That renewed our vigor even more and we walked a little more briskly up the last hill. Being first we were able to stop and look at the view on the way - we saw how far we had actually come! Finally at the destination we flopped down and man - my feet! I just sat down for about half an hour. Not puffed, just resting my bruised feet.
When I had to stand up again, oooh it hurt. While sitting down I felt like I could run some more - but sitting down for a while must have made my muscles contract and my knees and lower gut were really sore.
Later that evening after resting them some more, I was really feeling the pain in my knees. We worked out we ran about 18kms which was really encouraging! The next day was the killer though - if I thought I was sore that evening, it was nearly agony the next day. Surprisingly my muscles weren’t sore, it was my knees that gave me grief. I was finding it hard to get up and down stairs and even just walking. I strapped one up and that helped a lot but I was still limping all day.
Is there a lesson in all this? Well Elliot and I found another interesting way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Neither of us really trained for it so we consider ourselves to be in reasonable condition! We did it in 2 1/2 hours which wasn’t too bad either, considering we walked a lot. Ha!
But I wouldn’t recommend going and running a half marathon if you are invited to. You really do need to work yourself up to it - for the sake of your knees and joints and feet. These are soo vital to everyday life and if you go and stuff them up with just one run - its a little silly. You don’t want one run to stuff up the rest of your life. So I would recommend good shoes - REALLY good shoes - and really good training. And be sure to keep hydrated and limber. One thing is for sure though - I’m so NOT going to be there for this guys’ 42nd birthday!
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