Monday, December 7, 2009

Marathon (Wo)man

Yesterday, I completed my first marathon! I covered those 26.2 miles in just under five hours, which, I'm proud to say, is slightly faster than my nine-month-old niece could have crawled it. A victory nonetheless! I am sure the course, which ran through lemon and avocado groves and within view of both the mountains and the Pacific ocean, was gorgeous, but I was pretty deep inside my own head, where the view was considerably less uplifting for most of the way. Still, I felt really lucky to have my family and friends (and some perfect strangers) cheering me on the whole way, and I'm pretty sure the dull ache in my entire lower-half will be gone in time for New Year's. This whole venture has only reinforced my immodest notion that I can do anything I set my mind to, so watch out for my next foolish escapades, of which there are certain to be many. Now, can you hand me that Icy Hot?










Looking happier than I felt at Mile 24

12 comments:

Unknown said...

Congratulations Lil! A tremendous accomplishment! I ran a marathon on my lips later that evening :)

Anonymous said...

And it is" deep inside" ones thoughts that such endeavours /challenges are decided. If one can manoeuvre the "Why bother" King into checkmate by the "Because one can" pieces in ones thoughts ,often somewhere between miles 10 and 19 , the issue is rarely in doubt.The faltering body obeys the "Chess Master's"ukase. A lovely mystery. And possible aches notwithstanding, a grand triumph.Huzzas!

Anonymous said...

Way to go!!

tiana16 said...

Congratulations Lil! I'm SOOO proud of you (even more so since you continued on after I had bowed out of the marathon training ; )) Perhaps next time? hahaha

Anonymous said...

Incredible!!!

Gecko said...

What an achievement Lily!

Lindsey Hartsough said...

I was there cheering a friend on... wish I had known you were running it too... way to go!!!

michaela said...

what a great achievment! congratulations!!!

Lily said...

Thanks, people! Feeling remarkably better already, and foolishly contemplating my "next" one. They say the human mind is incapable of fully remembering pain...

Unknown said...

I'd love to join you, if not on your next one, then sometime in the future! GOOD JOB.

Anonymous said...

I think a 5 hour finish is great. That's 9.25 minute mile, which is considerably faster than LOTS of people. I've always thought you were uplifting, but comparing your finish to a baby's crawl only served to make me (who finished in over 6 hours) feel like a fool!

So, be proud. The goal was to finish, and you did!

Lily said...

Dear Anonymous-
thanks for calling me out on that- in reality, I was just trying to be self-deprecating so I didn't sound too full of myself. But, in this case, I had every right to be proud of myself- and so do you! Congrats!