On Day 2 of the challenge, I awoke feeling excited, apprehensive, a little stiff (or maybe VERY stiff), pumped, and raring to go - all the 'normal' pre and post marathon feelings I suppose! Luckily the weather had vastly improved and there was even some morning sun shining through. My legs felt a bit strange and not fresh, obviously, but for some reason they didn't feel how they have usually felt the day after a race - perhaps because my body and mind knew that it had to pace itself and prepare for a 3 day challenge, so adjusted the soreness accordingly?
Anyway, after some essential coffee (I stuck to my usual pre-race routine - as they say, don't do anything differently on race day. Although I did force myself to wake up at 4:30 to eat a bit sweet carb-filled bread thing, then went back for a few more zzzzz's) I mosied down to check in for part 2 of this challenge. Apparently, we had to do a health check each morning consisting of your blood pressure check and a temperature check. Oops! Luckily, everyone seemed fine on Day 1 as think most people knew nothing about this. Anyway, all was fine and I headed off to the race starting line, to be greeted by hundreds of people dressed up in their traditional dress, soldiers looking stern and unsmiling (as they do), TV reporters and cameras, and my fellow excited runners.
Anyway, after some essential coffee (I stuck to my usual pre-race routine - as they say, don't do anything differently on race day. Although I did force myself to wake up at 4:30 to eat a bit sweet carb-filled bread thing, then went back for a few more zzzzz's) I mosied down to check in for part 2 of this challenge. Apparently, we had to do a health check each morning consisting of your blood pressure check and a temperature check. Oops! Luckily, everyone seemed fine on Day 1 as think most people knew nothing about this. Anyway, all was fine and I headed off to the race starting line, to be greeted by hundreds of people dressed up in their traditional dress, soldiers looking stern and unsmiling (as they do), TV reporters and cameras, and my fellow excited runners.
My legs were feeling a little bit strange, but not too bad considering I had just run a marathon the day before. It was mainly my right knee that was bothering me and felt sort of like it had been bruised or a bit like there was a metal clamp on it. Very strange. Anyhoo, on with the race! We took part in the fun aerobic warm-up courtesy of Linus and Neil from Heyrobics and Heyrunning (the organisers behind this amazing event for us), and then we were 'ready'. Come on!!!
Now, let me tell you: running on legs that have just run a marathon the day before is kind of hard. But we did it. Sure it felt very strange at first, but soon enough we got into a bit of a rhythm and pace, even if it was a shuffle compared to our usual running pace/style. It helped enormously having such a supportive crowd, and we even had some local students taking part in a 10km run alongside us (although perhaps this made us increase our pace a bit? Or try to anyway...).
Soon enough, we were through the town and into the beautiful countryside. This leg was so beautiful! This was a much more scenic route than the day before, and the weather was much better too. This route took us down a gently winding mountain road for most of the first half and then we came back up for the second half, with a couple of k's off on a stunning out and back section that was adjacent to a gorgeous stream and lush rice paddies. This beautiful scenery definitely helped to distract us from the pain!
Another pain distraction, the major one, was talking and running with others for the whole marathon! This was great. For about the first 20km or so we had our running team back, of about 4 of us today (sometimes it was 6 though). Then, the two guys from the day before powered on ahead, leaving just me and the guy who would be my running buddy for the rest of the marathon: Angel from Spain. Quite literally. I think his name is so appropriate - I'm sure without him there distracting me, chatting to me and taking short walk breaks through the aid stations with me, that I may not have made it. He said the same thing about me, about helping him getting through it, and whether or not he was just being polite? Who knows, but we made a great team for the next 22km or so, distracting each other from our respective leg pain (which was really quite painful at times).
Soon enough, we were through the town and into the beautiful countryside. This leg was so beautiful! This was a much more scenic route than the day before, and the weather was much better too. This route took us down a gently winding mountain road for most of the first half and then we came back up for the second half, with a couple of k's off on a stunning out and back section that was adjacent to a gorgeous stream and lush rice paddies. This beautiful scenery definitely helped to distract us from the pain!
Another pain distraction, the major one, was talking and running with others for the whole marathon! This was great. For about the first 20km or so we had our running team back, of about 4 of us today (sometimes it was 6 though). Then, the two guys from the day before powered on ahead, leaving just me and the guy who would be my running buddy for the rest of the marathon: Angel from Spain. Quite literally. I think his name is so appropriate - I'm sure without him there distracting me, chatting to me and taking short walk breaks through the aid stations with me, that I may not have made it. He said the same thing about me, about helping him getting through it, and whether or not he was just being polite? Who knows, but we made a great team for the next 22km or so, distracting each other from our respective leg pain (which was really quite painful at times).
As we got closer and closer to the end of the race, and the 39km marker came and went, and then the 40km marker, I knew we were going to make it. We crossed the finish line together (go team!) and I was feeling quite choked up and emotional. We had done it! Well on our way to our goal of completing this 3-day 100km+ challenge. Thank you, Angel - you really got me through and it was great running and talking with you! I had completed the second marathon in 4:57, so still well under the 6 hour cut-off time. Very happy with this.
RSS Feed
