I was about to run a 42k Marathon. I had raised over $10,000 for my charity and here I am at the starting line and my heart is pounding and all I keep thinking was, what if I don’t finish this? Am I going to be last?
The fear had set in!
Forty thousand runners from all over the world gathered in London to raise money for their chosen charity and I was one of them. I could hear my gate number being called and it was time to go into the pen and wait. I felt my feet pounded into the ground. Would anyone know if I didn’t do this? The grueling 3-month training through the winter months, raising money, and not wanting to disappoint anyone.
I was suddenly looking at others and comparing myself. My body type is not equipped to run a marathon. I am not the slender, toned, athletic body type, I am more the short, rounded, and certainly didn’t feel like I belonged here and running a marathon.
BANG!!!!
We were off! My feet had engaged with my legs and I started to jog otherwise I would be run over by 40,000 runners and I could end up as roadkill.
My legs had turned from jogging into running and the pace had started. I was running for Phabkids and families that needed new equipment to be able to play sport and enjoy some normality in their life.
I was going to do this.
I had heard of the wall! The wall is when you can’t run any further and your body just gives up! I had read alot about this through Hanny Allston. I got to 28k and I could feel something was hurting. There was a blister starting to happen on the inside of my foot.
Do I take my shoes off, Do I stop, but if I stop I may not be able to keep going.
I kept going
Ignoring the pain, then at 38k I knew I had a bit more to go, but I felt it; and I was hurting.
Five hours of running at this point and I was looking around and each runner had a story. We will all be going to finish the line and I felt part of the running community
I crossed the line. I haven’t stopped running marathons. Every marathon is different, there is a story and a community of ‘we will get through this’. So how do you run a marathon? Where do you start? You start right here with us. One marathon at a time!
My first marathon in 2007, London. Before the race started, photo taken by another runner
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Blog by Nakia Stevens is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
