No. It is not a fail.
I went to the Marine Corps Marathon. I did not finish. There were just too many obstacles for me to overcome. Sickness, time change, long flights, unfamiliar with the area, on my own, flipping from night to day living, not enough outside running, & never run any race before, etc.... When I was running along and realized there was just no way I was going to be able to "beat the bridge" by the allotted time I changed my goal from finishing to getting to mile 17. I did make my goal of mile 17. I had to decide what was more important... my ego? or my health? The race would eventually be over and I would go home. It was not worth the possible damage to myself that became important. I was and am at peace with this finish. The experience was worth it and I met a lot of really cool people.
I had already decided that one marathon in a lifetime was enough for me. There is no burning desire to do another. Not even the MCM. I learned a lot this year and not just about running & marathon training. There is so much I would and will do differently when it comes to running AND training. I feel like a half marathon distance is as long as I'll be doing from this point on. I'm already planning on doing the Seattle Rock & Roll 1/2 Marathon in June. I nearly signed up for the one in Arizona for January! And I was STILL achy & sore from MCM! Craziness! If I can do 17 miles with all the BS I endured for MCM then I'm SURE I can do 13.1 miles in my own state across the mountain....
Im already thinking about next year. The MCM has a 10k the same day. So maybe I'll do the 10k and volunteer at the Expo & along the run for SemperFi Fund Charity... Sounds wayyyyy more fun then running 26.2 miles.
Really though.. Who knows.... I might just get to June and decide to try again.
I'm taking a break from running and I'm going to be doing kickboxing classes (out of my comfort zone)- ACTUAL classes.... Practicing my yoga which I missed dearly during MCM training. And definitely doing way more weight resistance. Im going to change it up and do much more cross training. I missed it.
You should always grow from an experience. I've come a very long way since starting this journey October 2013.
Ciao
USMCdaffy
Awesome! Glad that you learned from your experience. I trained for a marathon once and after running 17 miles, realized that I had no desire to run a marathon at all. Never trained again. I plan on doing a 10k in the future. Hopefully next year.
ReplyDeleteWith all of the obstacles you faced, I think 17 miles is AMAZING! You should be proud, not only of the run itself, but all the time, effort and sacrifice you put into the whole process. Best of luck on all your future endeavors! :)
ReplyDeleteYou did such an amazing job and I couldn't be more proud of your accomplishment. 17 miles is fantastic! I can't wait to see what your next goal is and watch you inspire others. I'd recommend the Seahawks 12K next year if you weren't a Patriots Fan ;) that's the race Chuck did CPR on the lady last year at. He has a big fundraiser he's doing with her after this years race. I'll tell you more later if your interested. Talk to you soon!
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