LA Marathon – Christianna Who?

You never forget your first.

First date… Valentines day, Starbucks frappuccinos, and lots of balloons. It felt like the perfect movie scene of my 16 year old dreams.

First job… Bob’s Big Boy, hostess, it sucked.

First heartbreak… Lots of chocolate was involved and I watched About Time on repeat. Well, I still watch it on repeat.

First legal drink… San Francisco at Midnight. I believe I shamed myself by having a Shock Top on tap. Fortunately my tastes for beer have become more refined.

First Marathon. It was March 19, 2017 and the forecast was sunny with a high of 70 degrees. This is the race recap I’ve been meaning to write for two years now.

March 18, 2017
The traditional laying out your gear to post on Instagram shot.

Looking back now, sometimes it’s hard to believe that person was me. If you’ve read since the beginning, you’d know it took a lot of effort and time (Christianna is… Exhausted). Lots of Saturdays and weeknights went into being able to do this thing. It was a big commitment and undertaking. Something in fact, I did not do alone.

February 2017
Huddle Before 22 Mile Training Run

Learning to become independent and taking solace in the freedom of running on my own was what I needed in 2016. At first, I really did need those solitary runs, but to conquer something so massive? I needed the support from others around me. The next step to my changing process was to let people be apart of my life. Yes, I could of figured out how to run a marathon on my own, but with a group of friends, it became that much more worth it! With a side of enjoyable included. It becomes easy to tolerate the pain with good people making jokes along the way.

So, the LA Marathon was just like training; support and company all the way through.

You’d think that with a 26 mile course, 25,000 runners, and god knows how many spectators, it would be easy to be lost in the crowd. How lonely that would of been if that were the case. The thing that made this thing so incredible was how many people I ran into along the way.

March 19, 2017
We’re still smiling so this must be before mile 20

For the most part, I was able to stick with two good badass lady friends who carried me through from the beginning at Dodger Stadium to Rodeo Drive. The long sunny stretch of Century City had the heat bearing down on me. I slowed massively here, ready to burn out with the sun. If it weren’t for being spotted by a spectator friend who ran with me for a couple miles to mile 22, I’d still be out there crawling down Santa Monica Blvd. Okay, maybe two years later that might be a bit of an exaggerating, but she did help me find my pace again.

On this particular race, once you get past mile 22 it feels all down hill. Working your way through Brentwood, you’re met with more and more ocean air as you inch closer and closer to Santa Monica. San Vincente Boulevard is also lined with beautiful trees and shade, it was life giving. Lol, I’m talking about feeling alive during a marathon so I must be insane now.

However, by the time I turned the corner onto Ocean Avenue to head towards the Finish line, I was so done and aware of how much pain I was in.

March 19, 2017
The face you make when you just want to die but the finish line is there and you try to muster a smile for the camera

Just like that, five and a half hours of friends, runners, sweat and chaffing was over with. It did feel really good.

March 19, 2017
Santa Monica Pier and Disbelief

Of course what I haven’t had time to touch on, was the bit of post race depression that fell on me. It turns out after months of training was the fun part and it all ending was the sad part. But more on this later. For now, the agenda was celebrations. How did I celebrate this feat? Well, with my first beer in months of course!

Ice Cold Beer Cures Post Run Stiffness – True Story

Like I said, I’ve been meaning to do this for awhile now. “Why now?” You might ask. Well, I’m struggling to get committed again and now is the time to make these things happen. The Chicago Marathon will be here before I know it, and I need to find this Christianna again before I lose track of time. It’s definitely going to be very hard. I’ll struggle to get out of bed. There will be a lot of icing of the knees. I will have to give up beer and Friday late night’s out. But who knows, maybe it will be full of surprises. Maybe I’ll meet knew runner friends. Maybe I’ll find motivation to finish all the things for myself I want.

So, If you’re in the market for a long run buddy, consider this my post for hire.

In 490 B.C., legend has it that a messenger, this dude named Pheidippides, was tasked with the important duty of giving the word of ancient Greek’s victory over the Persians. Filled with excitement and adrenaline perhaps, this messenger ran from Marathon to Athens, delivered the message, collapsed and died… This was the inspiration at the first modern Olympics of 1896. They decided to have an epic long distance run, took the distance from this legend and called it the Marathon! (Cue the angels singing “ahhhhh” in an angelic voice.) I’ve actually gotten a couple different mileage from different sources, it wasn’t quite 26.2 miles in the beginning, but after a few years of inspired marathon races beginning to sweep the world, the 26.2 miles eventually became the official standard.

So, to summarize! We took an inspired distance where the dude died. He f’ing collapsed in exhaustion and took no more breaths of life. Then someone felt inspired to make this a thing. This thing caught on in popularity so much since then that today in 2017, on March 19th, 25,000 crazy people (including myself) will take part in the Los Angeles Marathon, inspired by Mr. Pheidippides’ death.

Why would anyone want to put themselves through all of that pain, exhaustion, and torture? I’ve thought this many times during my long training runs as I’ve fought Negative Christianna from convincing me to stop and give up.

“Stop talking, let’s put it into context!” pipes in Positive Christianna. (Seriously I do have days where I just want to punch this Christianna in the face and go Netflix and pizza binge with my Negative friend.) But, I’ll listen to any glimmer of hope my Positive side can offer, even if it’s just delirium from the exhaustion at 17 miles of a 22-mile day setting in.

So! Context, here we go!

How old was Pheidippides? Did he run often? Did he run long distances often? How was his health? What was his diet? Did he have water with him? Maybe, but did he have electrolytes with him? Did he have food fuel with him? What was the weather like? What time of day was it? Was it a scorching hot sun the whole way? Maybe there was so much excitement in the last couple days that he hadn’t slept in the last 24-48 hours?

I’ve realized a couple things throughout the last 16 long weeks of training and having ran almost 400 miles in the past 4 months.

You can’t just decide to run a marathon and overnight transform into a marathoner just because you decided to do so.

I can attest to the fact that all of this takes a lot of work, time, energy and even money. Maybe even more so for those of us working on our first marathon. Maybe even more so so for those of us who are overweight and new to the athletic game. I could be wrong, but I think that makes us more exciting than those who have bodies built for running and incredible speed. It comes more natural to these people. Don’t get me wrong, these people are a complete inspiration for me. I strive to be you, so dude, don’t get offended. But we overweight runners carry more. We carry the actual weight of our bodies and we carry the emotional weight of our struggles and failures. Despite all this, we chose to keep our legs running.

The struggle has been real. At the beginning of training I reassured myself that it would be okay if I ended up walking more times than running, it’s my first one and at least that’s a start. That was back when I was struggling to finish an 8-mile run and the holidays eating had ate away at my spirit. After putting so much focused intensity over time, even on making sure I did all the small 3 mile runs on weekdays, has given me amazing momentum.

After long battles over mind and body, I’m feeling so much stronger. I finished an amazing 22 miles with an amazing group of runners, and even though I may be far slower and stronger than these people, I felt equal. So many years of self-doubt and telling myself I was lesser than, except for this brief moment after 25 long years that I actually felt on par for a second.

No one said it would be easy, but damn it’s been hard.

The exhaustion I’ve felt these last couple weeks has been real. I’ve been so severely tired. Falling asleep on my girlfriend while we Facetime at 9 pm (she’s the one 4 hours ahead and with the excuse to fall asleep yet I’m the one actually doing it), deep dark circles under my eyes, and barely making it up at 8 am to roll into work 30 minutes late past 9.

I’d feel bad for my poor grumpy behavior but then I remind myself, “Yo Christianna, you ran 22 miles last weekend, like give yourself a break yo.”

Sometimes the aches and pains bring about thoughts and feelings that I’m weak and not meant for all this.

A year ago 3 miles was my longest distance. A year later and it’s now 22 miles. I’m slow and I have a long way to go this next year, but I still finished 22 miles. LET THAT SINK IN NEGATIVE NANCY CHRISTIANNA.

My life has been consumed by running, it’s taken away all my free time after work and it’s taking me towards new adventures and opportunities.

I’ll close with this:

Starting to run is not easy. It takes a lot of time and dedication to stay consistent. When you put in the work, though, it’s full of moments that fill you with so much joy.

That time I ran my first mile. =) That time I ran my fastest 5k. : ) That time I finished a half marathon 30 minutes faster than I expected to. : ) The moment I finished 22 miles with a great group of runners waiting at the end. =) That time I’ll cross the finish line in Santa Monica with my hands up, my energy drained but my spirit full and not dropping dead like Pheidippides did. : )

The takeaway from this post?

Fight that negative side of you and go soar in the positive. Make that version of you, your bf for life.

❤ In Loving Memery of Pheidippides ❤

Tag: LA Marathon

Christianna Is… A Marathoner.

Christianna is… Exhausted