WHY?
Most people that don’t run, or only run a few miles a week
will always question the marathoner: why
do you run? Some say it’s boring, some
say it’s useless, and yet others will say it’s bad for the body (especially for
the knees). Regardless of what you
think, and regardless of what I think, if we ever get on the running topic, I
will always try to convince you that you are capable of doing it.
That is how it started.
In December 2011, my cousin, my sisters, and I were chatting away in our
vacation spot in Mexico. Somehow we got
on the running topic and I slowly started convincing that it was a plausible
goal to achieve. None of them were
runners. My cousin (age 19) played the occasional
soccer game and had played, my oldest sister (age 21) had taken a couple of
physical education classes in college which had required her to run up to 3
miles, and my youngest sister (age 16) had absolutely no experience in running.
At first, they were skeptical; thinking that running for
26.2 miles was an impossible task. I
slowly broke down the logistics of running the distance and preparing for it and
they started giving in to the idea.
There would be a marathon nearby in June 2012 and we all agreed to run
it. They would start training in early February
and 4 and a half months later they would go from non-runners to marathon
finishers. I made up a training plan in
which they would start off at 8 miles a week, and peak at 35 miles for a week. The training plans were devised to help them
get their bodies accustomed to the stress of long distance running and finish
the event without any major injuries, not to make them Olympic marathoners, so
really the goal here was to finish.
The state of S.L.P, the city is located in the mid-left section of the state. |
I myself decided to run because I would be acting as coach
and in my mind it would be awesome to become an “international marathoner.” By no means am I fast, certified to coach, or
have any medical training, but I do have experience in training for the
distance and knew what it took. They put
their trust in me, and we went at it.
THE TRAINING
I was still finishing my last semester of college, my two
sisters were at home, and my cousin was in Mexico, so to stay connected, I
started a facebook group to exchange information. I went covered everything from stretching, to
hydration, to nutrition. We would regularly
chat to see how training was going and I still remember how hard they thought it was: after all, the first miles are always the
hardest.
By early May, both my sisters were out of school and
traveled to Mexico and continued their training there. The town we stayed at had many trails and that is where the final miles of training took place. It was probably advantageous to them because
San Luis Potosi, San Luis Potosi, Mexico is located at 6,000 feet above sea
level. The Dallas area is only about 300
feet above sea level, so in a way we had a slight disadvantage.
Lucero, training near Pinos, Zacatecas |
Linda, training near Pinos, Zac. |
THE RACE
The race would start at 7:00AM and the weather was probably
in the low 70s (hot for a marathon). The
running field included about 800 marathoners, 700 half marathoners, and 1200
10K-ers. We all had the same starting
time, so it was quite crowed, especially having all the 10K-ers with us. After about 6Km, all the 10K-ers left our
field and it was just the marathoners and the halves left. At after 14Km, the half marathoners left and
then it was just a few of us left. I was
in front of the average runner, so I ended up running a lonely race, passing only
about a person per mile. It eventually
got to a point to where I couldn’t see anyone in front of me.
From left to right: Linda, Lucero, myself, and "Billy" before the race began. |
Temperatures reached the mid 80s, so it became quite warm,
but water stations provided us with water every 2Kms, along with some Gatorade here
and there. Traffic control was provided
by police officers (they did an amazing job).
For the most part the route was okay and there were little spectators. The course was flat and entirely on asphalt,
aside from short stretches of stone-constructed road, which was hard to run on
for fear of twisting an ankle.
My cousin who ended up deciding to run the half marathon
finished in exactly 2 hours. My oldest
sister finished in 5:41 and my youngest sister finished in 5:48. All non-runners had become marathoners, and
once a marathoner, always a marathoner.
Perhaps the best words that came out of their mouths were, “when is the
next race?”
As for myself, I finished in 3:29, not my best time, but
fairly decent for the amount of training I had.
Finishers, showing off our bling-bling. |
Finalista (finisher) shirt and finisher's medal. |
THE FINISH LINE WAS JUST THE STARTING LINE
“When is the next race?”
I was glad to hear those words, and maybe we will register for a
marathon at the end of the year, but if schedule permits, we will be back for
the same marathon.
You learn a lot by running this distance. You learn a lot during the training, but you
learn even more during the race. You learn
to fight through pain and exhaustion and learn to persevere through the finish
line. That is why I wanted them to run,
that is why I want you to run. I respect
the distance very much, mainly for its power to teach you something about
yourself: how much are you willing to commit, to sacrifice, to endure, to persevere,
to prove to yourself and others that you can.