Last week some friends of mine invited me to go with them to Phuket for the weekend. There was a run going on and a lot of them were doing the 10k, half, or full marathon. I really had no interest in running anything in the Thai heat but I hadn't been to any beach here yet, it was an hour's flight for under $100, and it just sounded like more fun than another weekend in Bangkok. So I figured I'd go and hang out with the non-runners and enjoy some drinks by the beach. Well when I got there the marathon sounded like a good idea so I signed up. I can't explain the logic behind this. Running a marathon requires months of training. I did the Cincinnati marathon over two years ago and can count the times I've run since then on one hand. At least you'd think I'd have had worn in running shoes. But since the choice was between flip flops and a brand new pair I could buy at the sign up, I went with the second choice.
So I woke up at 3 am and was pretty out of it until I started running at 4. The magnitude of my mistake came to me slowly. The first few kilometers were great. There was no sun and it actually felt pretty good running. Plus they gave out these great ice cold sponges that kept me pretty cool. Then at about 10k I started realizing my legs were far less strong than they needed to be to handle the rolling hills of Phuket. But I still mostly felt ok so I kept going and figured even if I only do a half marathon that's still pretty good all things considered.
Then around two hours and 22km in to it I was feeling mixed about my situation. On one hand I made it half way through a marathon but on the other hand I felt near death and realized I was in the middle of nowhere making my quiting option less feasible than I first thought.
So I ran a few more kilometers and then started half running half fast walking for the next 10km or so. I asked someone what time it was and they gave me a time I found out later was completely wrong and made me think I wasn't going to finish before the course closed. But since I didn't know this I started only running again.
At this point I was about 3/4's of the way done. I started realizing the wet sponges they gave me weren't so great. Between the sweat and the water from the sponges, the ibuprofen in my pocket dissolved and my feet were soaked. Wet unseasoned feet in brand new shoes is a very bad thing and having that bad of blisters made running pretty tough.
But despite all of this I did manage to finish in about 5 hours and my goal of getting in before the course closed after 6 hours was well completed. The rest of the day was spent limping around the beach and laying by the pool. While I really had a great time and running around an island is actually a lot of fun, I'd strongly suggest a few practice runs first. :)
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4 comments:
Are you nuts!?!?! How in the world did you a) decide to just run a marathon and b) actually get through it faster than I could if I actually trained for months!?!? This is one of the craziest stories I've ever heard. Can you still walk? Maybe you should actually train and do one of those 50-milers or something like that. Amazing. The beach in Phuket is beckoning, and you did a marathon instead!!! :)
It really wasn't a smart thing to do. I'm shocked I didn't hurt myself now that I'm thinking about it. Although I don't think I'll be walking right for another few days. My legs are ok but my feet are pretty messed up (as in I don't have much normal skin left on the bottoms of my feet and I think I killed a few toenails). Despite all that, I still say that overall I did have a lot of fun and it was completely worth it.
You are CRAZY! Holy cow! I was in so much pain during/after the marathon that I trained 6 months for! Props to you!
Wow, I can't believe you did that! That's amazing - only you would decide to sign up for a marathon without any preparation. :) Hope you're able to walk by now!
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