I've always wanted to say that I've run a marathon, and now I can. I've run a marathon!?
Unfortunately the short sentence doesn't come close to summing up the experience of training and racing for 26.2 miles, so this is my attempt at putting the whole thing into words.
This past weekend, I was one of a handful of Hopkins students who participated in the Baltimore Marathon and Half Marathon. And I am, like I'm sure the rest of them are, more than happy to share my story - as long as I can sit down while I tell it.?
For me, the hardest part of this experience wasn't the race itself, but the training. Waking up three hours before I should every five days to run the same seven mile loop two or three times wasn't easy, and there definitely weren't any people cheering or handing me gummy bears along the way.
On top of class, work ... and writing for the News-Letter, finding time to train was difficult. But it paid off, because I didn't die during the race!?
Senior half-marathon runner Adam Attas also feels like the training he put into the race was what made the experience memorable.
"For me, participating in the half-marathon started as an off-hand suggestion by my friend Jonathan Charny and transformed into a reality through our hard work each week," he said.?
Though my experience was a good two hours longer than the half-marathon runners', a lot of the emotions described by the ones I've talked to have been similar to mine.
And since I've spent quite enough time thinking in my own head over the weekend, I would feel weird writing this without including anyone else's opinions.?
I suppose the best way to go about describing the physical and emotional journey is to just move along chronologically, starting at 5:30 a.m. on Saturday. This was when my alarm went off. I ate a bagel and peanut butter, and headed to Camden Yards with 20,000 other racers.
After a half hour of freaking out mixed with a few minutes of random stretching, the gun fired and I took the first of many, many steps.?
Miles 1-5: really bad. The course was mostly uphill, and I remember thinking that there was no way I could run the entire way. Then I just started thinking about how many more miles I had to run and got a little sad.
Sophomore half-marathoner Ben McGuiggan was experiencing similar thoughts.
"Even while I was running the half marathon I was telling myself, 'This is absurd that I will be running for nearly two hours,'" he said.?
Luckily, some more upbeat tracks came up on my iPod (I was listening to Jason Mraz at this point . . . yes, I know you might think he's too mellow but not to me!) and the course started going more downhill around the Druid Park area. So I tried to focus on the pretty fall leaves and thought about my favorite animals at the zoo.?
5-10: pretty fun. We were on the west side of campus and ran along San Martin drive, and it was cool to me because I'd trained on the streets and now I was running on them again . . . except this time it actually counted toward something.
Sometime along the way I switched over to John Mayer, another total energy jam.?
11-16: so-so. I took a bathroom break, ate an energy gel (caramel flavored). We'd run down toward the Harbor and were behind the Domino Sugar sign. It was kind of lonely back there, but then we ran into Fells Point and the fans there were really supportive.
At this point it was kind of drizzly, but I changed over to one of my favorite bands, Passion Pit, and jogged at a steady pace. When I passed 13.1 I remember thinking that I should have registered for the half, because then I could have stopped at that moment and drank the beer they give you at the end of the race.
Just when I was thinking this, one of the many inspirational T-shirts runners were wearing in the race really spoke to me. It said, "Suck it up and stop feeling sorry for yourself." So I did.?
16-22: ...?? I was going uphill. I wasn't thinking much. The map says I went through East Baltimore, around Lake Montebello, and down 33rd to Charles Village again, but I can't really recall any of this except seeing my friend cheering at the lake.
I ate another energy gel around 19, it was orange flavored. I was pretty thirsty even though I was drinking all the Gatorade and water offered every couple miles.?
Speaking of food and drink, let's pause to recap some of the goodies (and not-so-goodies) offered to me along the way. These included water, gatorade, lemonade, bananas, pretzels, Utz chips, gummi bears, Starbursts, Swedish fish, peanut M&Ms, oranges, granola bars and, finally, Vanilla Powerbar energy gels.
Luckily I'd experimented with energy gels during training and knew that these were some of the grossest ones on the market.
As junior half-marathoner Jonathan Charny put it, "That vanilla-gel crap tastes like a Boston creme donut. Who the heck eats a Boston creme donut when they're running?!"
That didn't stop Charny from crossing the finish with an impressive 1:50 finish.?
22-26.2: ...wow. It was the beginning of the end, and I was really excited. Furthermore I knew I was really close to reaching my four hour goal if I stayed on track.
Not to sound too cheesy, but running through Charles Village was really inspirational, and all the support really gave me energy to keep going.
I actually got pretty emotional around mile 24, right after the gummy bear stand on St. Paul street.
All the high fives, poster board signs, half-bananas and "good jobs," mixed with dehydration and physical exhaustion made for such a powerful mix that I decided to listen to the Spice Girls for the last two miles. Thanks guys!?
Interestingly, almost all the runners I interviewed about the race agreed that the support from Charles Village was far better than any other part of the race or even the hundreds of fans at the finish line.
"The best part was definitely seeing Hopkins kids cheering us on very enthusiastically at 33rd," senior half-marathoner Leah Robertson said.
Charny added, "The people that came out of their homes to cheer (especially in East Baltimore) really kept us motivated."
But Attas and I agreed, nothing kept us going more than having our friends out there on 33rd and Guilford.
For senior half-marathoner Alanna Klos, Charles Village was more than just a short burst of energy. "The gummi bears really fueled me back to Raven Stadium," she said.?
Crossing the finish at the stadium was pretty great. I was excited to see that I beat my four hour goal by 20 seconds, but mostly felt really thirsty. And my legs hurt. Actually they still do hurt. But at least I can sit down now, and simply say I've run a marathon.
