April 2009:Began contemplating another marathon
August 2009: Decided to run marathon #2; promoted the endeavor to friends; tentatively planned to run the Lisbon marathon in December
September 2009: School canceled for the month due to the Swine Flu "epidemic" in Egypt; impromptu Eastern European vacation; decided against the Lisbon marathon due to insufficient training time; researched other marathon options and decided on the Egyptian Marathon in February.
October 4-8: First 3-6 mile training runs at the school track- felt great, worked on improving my time!
October 10: First longish run (6 miles) back at Wadi Degla.** (See Wadi Degla run description post above). The wadi was my go-to running venue last year.
October 14: Broke my foot when my high heel caught in a sidewalk hole :( Doctor banned running for six weeks; marathon was not looking good; I went stir crazy and bought an elliptical machine!
November 30: First run (30 min.) post-broken foot on the top deck of the Nile cruise.
December 12:First long run at the Katameya neighborhood. Five loops= 15.1 miles. That in and of itself felt like a huge accomplishment!! I ran a good time and FELT GREAT except for that awful hill!!
December 17: GAME (back) ON! Registered for the marathon.
December 18-January 9: INDIA! Caught the Swine flu or something nasty; sick for the next month.
January 15: Attempted an 18 mile run; my body and I quit at mile 14...discouraged and demoralized.
January 22: Ran 22 miles! This was a psychological boost after I quit the week before.
January 29:Ran another 22 miles with a friend who needed to do her training run! I felt great! The guards at Katameya stole my friend's cab money and an argument ensued.
February 11: Took the day off work. Caught a morning plane to Luxor. Finally made it to the "hotel". Not as grungy as places I stayed in India, but not exactly what I had in mind for the night before my big race. Caught a cab to the official race hotel to pick up our packets. Immediately booked a room at the resort after we entered the lobby...that was more what I had in mind!
Packet pick-up was rather chaotic. Too many people, too small a venue. People only partially waited in lines. Still, it was vastly more organized than I expected any Egyptian event to be. I met a guy in line who had run 136 marathons. He runs one nearly every weekend.
February 12 **RACE DAY**: Woke up with a killer stomach ache. I was SO nervous!! Caught the bus to the starting area in the Valley of the Kings. The race didn't start on time. I wasn't sure how I would know it started. Would there be a gun firing? Or perhaps a horn? Or just a stampede of people? Suddenly, (and without warning) a horn sounded (I think). The crowd cleared.
The race was four laps (approximately 6 miles each) through a town and some rural areas. Stations for water and banana distribution were set up every several miles or so. Egyptian bystanders in traditional garb stood and watched the runners. At first the spectators were mostly pleasant, cheering for the runners. However, at the end of my first lap, a mob gathered around me and bystanders started grabbing at me to pick my pockets. Nevertheless, my first two laps were great and I finished the half with a time of 1:57...my best ever. I was feeling great!
As the race wore on, the spectators became more antagonistic. Bystanders began screaming, spitting, chasing, throwing things at and grabbing at runners. The temperature heated up to 85 degrees F which is much to hot for a race of that duration. Around Mile 20 I had a meltdown. I was drained physically and emotionally. I was tired of running that same loop in rural no man's land. At that point, race organizers had taken down the course so I also had to content with the industrial traffic. I was sick of having to swat at or scream at bystanders and avoid the creepy Egyptian men propositioning me. KHALAS!! ENOUGH ALREADY!
Somewhere along mile 18, I had found my friend Rebecca on the course and we continued together. I think that is the only way I was able to finish this hellish race! The view crossing the finish line was great, though.
Back in October when I had started training for the marathon, my goal had been to cut 25 minutes off the time of my first marathon. After my broken foot, I just wanted to finish the race. I accomplished my goal and finished in 4:45. While I should have been pleased with that finish time, in the back of my mind I knew that I negated my outstanding first half with my mile 20 collapse. Oh well, this race was brutal.
During the latter part of the race, the only thought to enter my mind was my own insanity for running a marathon and that NEVER WOULD I EVER RUN ANOTHER MARTHON. Exactly a month later as I was summiting Mt. Kilimanjaro, I thought to myself- "Climbing a mountain is ridiculous. I hate this. I would do 50 marathons before I would repeat this experience."
Well, time heals all wounds and I am looking for both my next mountain and next race! Barring broken bones and other untoward events, I am planning to run here ...
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2 comments:
You are a mess! If you ever get married and have kids, you will have a whole herd of them because you will quickly forget the agony of labor!
Gorgeous photo!
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