Rock 'n' Roll Marathon in San Diego June 4:

On June 3rd I left for San Diego hoping to get a new PR on my 3rd marathon. Everything up to that point went well.

I have done my homework (at least that's what I thought). I hydrated well I had no injuries, no complaints and I was ready for a good day at marathon.  Of course I did have many days of bad migraines (since I suffer from chronic migraines) but otherwise I had trained adiquately I thought.

Two weeks before I did run a half marathon at Palos Verdes and had a good time considering how hard the course was.  All rolling hills and very though course. Not to mention I had run a 5K and a 10K with good timings.

Then comes marathon day. The race was starting at 6:3am and I had to be at the start line by 5:30 which meant I had to get up at 3:30 to get ready because the shuttle was going to tak us to the start line at 4:45 am from our hotel.  What a morning... I will never forget the experience... I was at the 7-eleven for coffee at 3:45 am (the worst coffee ever-but had no choice - I checked everywhere and nothing was open at that time for coffee) and the guy at the counter looks at me like who is this crazy woman at 3:45 getting coffee then I told him I was running the marathon and he smiled.

So we were at the start line at 5:30 and it was very foggy and still very dark.  There were thousands of runners waiting for the start.  Most laying down or drinking or eating or stretching. You could see the looks on their faces all thinking about the next few hours and how they would do.  As for me I was nervous.  I dropped off my gear bag with the UPS truck and went to eat a bagel for extra carbs. 

So at 6:15 we lined up 22000 participants and were ready to run.  The gun went off and we started running.  The first 5k went smoothly as planned then I had to use the restroom (porter pottys) - I was in line for 10 minutes and finally I went to bathroom.  That stop killed my time which took a lot out of me to make up.

The first hour got hot and sunny and it was annoying.  I couldn't wait till the sun went away.  The heat is the worst enemy for migraines. Since I already started with migraine I was concerned.  After an hour the fog cam in with a nice breeze. So we were fine. Then at mile 14 I was ready to go home but ofcourse I had 12.2 miles ahead of me so I had to hang in there. This course had up hills that never ended. Up until mile 20 mu timing was okay and I could have finished under 5 hours but let me tell you marathon does not treat you well.  I was so tired at mile 20 that just thinking about 6.2 miles more made me want to throw up.  But there I was 6.2 miles away from finish line.  So I decided to push but I had not much strength left.  I had cramps in my thigh, my shoulder was killing me and not to mention my migraine.  It would have been possible to finish under 5 if - IF - I didn't have all those pains but, but, but,...this was marathon.........(very hard and you have to be super ready and trained) - that is when I realized I have not trained well - at mile 20 I realized I need to train a lot more to finish under 5 hours.  By accepting that I walked most of the way to finish line and then I was relieved the torture was over!!

There goes another marathon and another medal to hang on the wall. But the challenge is not over I still have to break that 5 hours someday.

There is a nice saying:

"Motivation has to come from within. I make up my mind to shoot for the moon. Even if I don't make it, I'll be among the stars."  Francie Larrieu Smith, five-time Olympic runner

Right now I am among the stars!!!!!  :-)