Marathon

On October 3rd I did one of the stupidest things I've done in some time: I attempted to run the marathon. Now this really wouldn't have been such a big deal minus the fact that I'm eighty pounds overweight and I didn't prepare at all for the event. I signed up back in March, hoping to motivate myself to train, but by september when I still couldn't run more than a mile without feeling lightheaded I decided I wouldn't try the marathon. However, when I went the night before to pick up my shirt, I felt I would be able to better appreciate my efforts at trying and failing, rather than just refusing to run. But I had taken a long nap on Friday, I got no sleep Saturday and by 3:45 A.M. I was on the bus on my way to the marathon. I had to stand around for two hours before the race began, and I was one of the last people over the start line out of 7400 individuals. I actually did alright, I surprised myself by running five of the first seven miles. But once I hit that cinder cone hill, I was ready to be done. By the 13th mile I was twenty minutes behind schedule of finishing within six hours, and I was ready to be done. But I kept pushing myself, even though I was only going about two miles an hour, until the twenty second mile mark, at which point race officials told me I either had to get in the car with them, or forfeit my chance at doing the race next year. Because I wanted another chance and because I was so tired, I agreed to their demands. I didn't finish the race, my name wasn't in the paper and I didn't get a medal. But I hope to run again next year, and this time I plan on finishing.