I Ran a Marathon Today

Ok, before you get excited it was only 5km long and the word “ran” is a bit of an exageration, it was more like a fast walk. lol. 😀

I had been noticing a lot of the weight loss blogs I read the writer at some point runs a marathon – this has had the effect of making me feel like I am not trying as hard as others because (1) I’m not training to run a marathon, (2) I’ve never run an actual marathon and (3) I actually had no intention of running a marathon. lol. Well, when I was competing in my last Dragon Boat Race Festival there was a booth there for the CIBC Run For the Cure which is a marathon walk/run to raise money for finding a cure for breast cancer. I talked KL into signing up with me and all of a sudden, boom! I am going to be running a marathon!

This of course meant I had to (1) get people to give me money so I could reach my fundraising goal and  (2) prep for a frickin marathon…how the hell does a lazy arse like I do that?

I figured I’d just stick to what I was already doing, my almost daily hikes, my weekly dragon boating and my two to three boxerfit classes per week…I mean, what else was I supposed to squeeze in there?? and ok yes, I am sure other people would have found a way to fit more in there but remember I am lazy? It is vital you remember that! lol

I actually ended up doing way less active stuff then even I was happy with because of (1) weather – there were many days I couldn’t hike cause the trail was washed out and (2) I was so sick from my meds fiasco that I was having trouble standing upright let alone doing some sort of physical activity. sigh. I comforted myself with the knowledge that I hike almost 4km everytime I hike and after the hike I usually do weight work etc so even though that’s not a hiking motion it is still being active and well, I survive that right? Sooooo, what is one more km added on to that? Practically nuthing!…right? *scared face*

Now, I’ve never researched marathons, don’t really pay any attention to them so I thought 5km was maybe a normal length but I guess not since some people when they heard the length of the run made slightly dispariging comments about it…guess this is like a baby lengthed marathon. But that’s ok, I mean, it is my first after all!

I wanted to try maybe jogging for part of it but KL was very specific about she was only willing to walk and we were doing this together so walk it we did. And really, I’m cool with that cause she signed up to do the marathon with me so we’d have an activity to participate in together and have fun – and fun we had. 🙂 We’ve decided to participate again next year so perhaps we will run it then…we shall see!

So how did I go about prepping for the big day?

Last night, instead of stretching, or exercising or doing something that is meant to help me the next morning when this event started I was baking cookies. Coconut cookies. Yummy cookies. 😛 They were not for me, they were for my landlord and his family. Once those were done I sat down and watched a late night movie while over eating on those Royal Dansk cookies that come out this time of year – they are a major weakness of mine *groan* I ate too many of them and I was already having a bad tummy day, the ulcer was acting up a bit but not as badly as the previous week so it was manageable, well, manageable until I overdosed on cookies lol. Then it was just pain. sigh. Me being me I am incapable of going to bed at a decent hour so I got to bed about 1:30am or so then tossed and turned until about  3:30am or so then I had to get up at 5:50am in order to get ready, pick up KL and get to the start site in time for registration and t-shirt pick up. That puts me at about, oh, 3 hours of sleep or so…restless sleep I might add, oh, and I woke up with the stomach ache I went to bed with – not cool tummy!

Getting through the morning and the run and even the late breakfast KL and I went for after the run was ok cause I was running on ‘fun’ – it’s like adrenaline but not…you know how you can do all kinds of stuff cause of adrenaline? Well, I can do all kinds of things on little to no sleep as long as I am having fun – I think most people can? Anyways, it was exciting and fun and so I didn’t feel all that tired. That soooooo wore off tho lol. After the late breakfast I rushed home to wash up then went and met up with BW who is my new roomie and we went on a spree of apartment viewings, sigh, kinda fun but really tiring and sorta boring and I mean, come on, we looked at ten places, none of them were exactly what we needed/wanted, two were possibilities and many of them were “absolutely no way in hell!” (can you say spiders? mold? uh, more mold? water damage? no parking? no living room?…it keeps going, ugh)

I got home at 8:30pm and was exhausted *yawn* it was a looooong day! Me being me I didn’t go to bed, that would just be too practical lol. I talked to my parents for a bit, then watched the new episode of Pan Am (I am really enjoying this show!) and now I am blogging while watching a cheesy dance movie that I know is bad and yet, I can’t stop watching, lame. lol. I swear tho, as soon as it’s over I am going to bed cause I’m about to fall asleep while watching it and it’s not like I can sleep in till whenever tomorrow – there is another apartment to look at and things to be done *rolls eyes* Silly life getting in the way of my sleep! How rude! 😉

Oh! Real quick note about the marathon…yes, I know it was only 5km but that is 1 km more then I have ever walked/hiked/jogged/ran at one time so I was worried that by the end I’d be a nasty sweaty almost dead and panting mess…I was none of those! I didn’t really break a sweat at all, it was a good walk that I know I could have gone faster during and still maintained speed – in fact I made better time on this 5km then I usually make on my 4km hike – I am assuming because the trail and terrain on my hike is harder. I don’t really care why it was easier, I am just happy I was in shape enough to do this baby marathon and survive lol. 😛

Tags: CIBC Run For the Cure, exercise, fat, hike, marathon, points, weight loss, weight watchers