As I stand at the start of Wineglass Marathon 2021, I have no usual jitters. I’m not nervous even one bit. The weather is perfect with low 50s and drizzling. It feels invigorating. I have no goals and no expectations, just happy to be there. I have a few minutes to wait and I stand there pondering with amazement that I am finally here. The national anthem is starting to be sung and the crowd is getting really pumped up. I look ahead, knowing that it’s going to be a long road but I am ready, I am here and I intend to enjoy every minute of it.
When I was retelling the story to someone and mentioned how happy I was to make it to the “START”, he said well the important thing is to make it to the “FINISH”. I laughed. No, the important thing for me was to make it to the “START”. Once there I knew I’d make it to the “FINISH”. The events leading up to this race were so ridiculously challenging that I decided to document the entire tale for future edification.
Summer training is always difficult due to the heat. Most runners choose to come out early in the day to avoid the worst of it. I can’t do that since I am not a morning person. I don’t enjoy it and I can’t run half asleep. It’s just not a happy run. So, instead, I run under the blazing noontime unforgiving fire. To add challenge to that, work was particularly busy since we lost a few staff members and had more responsibilities to handle. I was always stressed out, morning until night. Running usually presented with a relaxing de-stressor opportunity but with the sun trying to kill you it was hardly relaxing. Every day felt tougher than the last. I pushed through anyway but scaled back on my weekend long runs. The idea of running for 2-3 hours under the scorching sun was just something I knew I had to give up if I wanted to get through it all. I managed a few 12-14 mile runs but that was it. Hardly the type of marathon training I was used to. But something had to give and at that point this was it.
Then, we all got sick, my husband, me and both of my kids. Corona. Yes, it finally got us all. The kids were over it quickly but for me and my husband it took about two weeks. The kind of fatigue you could barely go from the kitchen to the living room before you’d fall, was strange and definitely an unchartered territory. Once we were over it, I cautiously stepped out for a 3 mile run and took it really easy. It felt weird. Like I had to rediscover how to run again. I felt unsteady and foggy. But I made it and I thought that was great. The next day I did a 7 mile run and almost fainted. I thought, ok, I need to ease into this so I kept my runs every other day and a short distance only. Eventually I felt good enough to run 10 miles but my pace was slower because breathing was still a residual issue. Progress was still progress and that was good but I thought it’s probably crazy to attempt a marathon with less than two months away.
Next we had to take my son to college for his freshman year. They wanted a negative covid test and we were pretty sure we’d get it because at that point he was completely past the required 10 day quarantine but one can never be too sure as false positives can still occur. We stressed about what would happen if he got tested positive and how would we need to adjust our travel plans. Thankfully we didn’t have to worry long as the nurse informed us on the next day that he was negative. Whew! Finally we can breathe a sigh of relief. We drove for 8 hours to college, helped settle him in, said our goodbyes and went on our way back home. As expected, these college related days, with driving and all, I couldn’t think about running much. Maybe I squeezed in a few 5 mile runs but that’s it.
Once home, I thought I could finally relax and resume training but then Hurricane Ida happened. My building has a car garage in the basement that houses about 300 vehicles. They were all completed destroyed (including mine) by the flood in a matter of a few hours. Finding a rental car the next day became a challenge as most of the rental places were flooded as well and faced the same problems. I managed to find a car near an airport and called myself lucky! We still had to buy a new car because my daughter attends a school that has no public transportation access and I need to drive her there. So, we started looking and literally running around frantically to buy a decent car. After visiting a few dealerships, we decided we don’t need anymore aggravation and ended up purchasing a car on Carvana where they literally bring it to you. Best decision ever! Highly recommend it.
Being cautiously optimistic, I thought I could once again relax and resume training. Well, not so fast. My husband ended up getting jury duty notification that indicated he has to show up to court because he’s postponed it a few times and now this is it, he has to go in. The case can take up to 30 days. At this point, I practically gave up on my marathon trip. With so much unknown I was thinking it’s not going to happen. The amount of stress was just overflowing. But then, just like that, after one day at court, the case was dismissed and it was counted as jury duty served.
Hope, once again surfaced. But not for long. Doubts of my running abilities were plaguing me like crazy. I haven’t run the mileage I needed and no long runs more than 14 miles so I told myself, there’s no way I am going to run this marathon unless I can do at least one proper long run. The weekend came and it was a do or die moment. I made it through the 18 miler and had to fight for every single mile. I made it but barely. Everything hurt, breathing was hard and I was exhausted way beyond what’s normal for me.
This wasn’t the last challenge we faced by no means. But at least we were on our way to Corning NY for the marathon. We decided to take the rental car with us on our trip and my mom would drive my daughter to school while we were gone. That was the plan. Well, after the first day, my mother, not having driven the new car for much of the time, got really nervous, started not feeling well and said she couldn’t drive my daughter. She was scared to drive the new car in heavy traffic and told me I had to come home right away. She wanted me to forget about my race and to drive home just like that. I couldn’t believe it. I started thinking of any other possibilities that could work and finally was able to secure a carpool with another parent from my daughter’s school. Being 350 miles away from home and not knowing how my child would get home was beyond what I could handle. I was tracking them the entire time and as soon as she got home I peppered her with a million questions. She assured me she liked the carpool lady and actually preferred being driven by her rather than my mother. Oh my God what a relief. I haven’t thanked the Almighty God like this in decades!
So, this issue being out of the way, I thought ok, I can do this. But wait, there was more. Apparently, the hotel, which advertised itself as the official hotel to house runners for this race, was also hosting a wedding and a reception. Do you think those guests went to bed early? Not a chance. They were drunk, noisy and rowdy. For two nights before the marathon I got maybe 3 hours of sleep. Sure I complained to the hotel but what did that do? Absolutely nothing. The damage was done. I was stressed out, undertrained, still not completely recovered health wise and now sleep deprived.
I figured even if I run this race, I will get wheeled out on a stretcher because there’s no way I can finish in one piece and certainly not even close to what I can normally run a marathon in terms of time. Which brings me to the beginning of this article. As I stood there, I was grateful and overcome with joy that I made it to the “START”. That feeling washed over me like a tidal wave and no negative thought could shake it. I ran happy and felt strong. How? I have no idea. God had mercy on me and gave me a gift. That’s the only possible explanation I could give. I felt amazingly good and even though I had to take too bathroom stops (possible accumulated stress), I still finished in a decent time of 3:28. My post race recovery was also quite miraculous. After taking only one day off to drive home, I jumped back into running my normal mileage. Feeling healthy and strong I am ready to tackle my next race. But this one will definitely be one in the books as “how many things can go wrong but still turn out great!”
