Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Conquering the big 26.2 miles

As I write this, I am sitting up in bed, feet elevated and in complete pain. All this time I thought I had the whole blister thing figured out… nope. My left foot has a blister half the size of my cell phone and my right foot has a blister that is as big as a silver dollar. The right side started to bleed tonight and I had to “perform surgery” and cut some of the skin open in order for the blister to breathe. I know… too much information. However, I’m sitting here in agony and just need to let it out, okay? I hate blisters and am dreading the actual marathon in Maui because the idea of spending half my time in Hawai`i bedridden waiting for blisters to heal just isn’t appealing to me. I’m at a total loss because I have NO IDEA what to do to make them stop. Ugh! Calgon, take me away.

Blisters aside, I’m coming off a pretty decent weekend. Saturday was our trial marathon. I completed the 26.2 mile course in exactly eight hours. Don’t ask me how. I just did it. Unfortunately, I lost my teammate Tzel at mile 17 because her knee gave out. I ran the rest of the way with Coach Alex. I have to thank these two because without their company, the eight hour run would have been totally agonizing.

I want to say that at some point I wanted to give up, to throw in the towel. But to do so would be a big fat lie. I came that morning, thinking I would finish and I did. Slowly, but surely, I crossed the 26.2 mile mark. I wanted to cry at the end of it all, but the tears weren’t there. I wanted to be happy and ecstatic, but those feelings weren’t there either. In truth, the only thing going through my mind was, “This is the last marathon I am ever going to run!” Diana videotaped me saying that and the coaches said, “We have it on film so that after your third or fourth marathon, we have something to look back on.” Fat chance. If there’s one thing I know about me, it’s that when I declare something, I pretty much hold on to it. So again, I declare that this is the last marathon I ever plan on running. From here on out, I will do half marathons at best. The blisters are just a little too much for me. I am happy that my only injury is the blistering. Right now, everything except the sore feet is in perfect health. Even my knees are good.

Before each run we send out dedications. Who are the people and what are the things we are running for on that day? I usually send out a quiet dedication to help me think about who and what I’m running for. Last Saturday was the first time I shared my dedication. I dedicated that run to my brother, who was preparing for surgery. For those of you who have read my donation letter, you know that he’s having a tough time with knee injuries. This past Monday he had surgery on his left knee. His recovery seems to be okay right now. When I sent out my dedication, Coach Rex said, “I’m sure your brother will join our team next year.” When all is well, I think Gerry running a marathon is totally doable. It’s just a matter of him believing he can do it. Maybe this is why I wasn’t so emotional when I finished the run. Instead of it being about me, I felt like I had to complete the run to ensure that my brother’s surgery would be fine. For some reason, when you run for someone or something other than yourself, you take it as if failure is not a choice. You just do it. Maybe I finished hoping it would tell me that Maui would be fine and that every other chaotic thing in my life would be okay. Maybe it was that one thing I had to complete to remind me that we all have obstacles in our lives, but when push comes to shove, we can break through those challenges.

Okay… enough cheese.

On a lighter note, the International Hotel will have its grand opening THIS FRIDAY. The info is posted below. I hope to see some of you there for this historical occasion!

August 26
International Hotel Manilatown Center
Grand Opening Celebration
1pm-5pm
3rd floor community space
848 Kearny Street @ Jackson
San Francisco CA

For more information www.manilatown.org/events or call
415-777-1130. A project of the Manilatown Heritage Foundation

1 comment:

Gladys said...

Hope Gerry is doing OK, J.

So proud of you! I'm awed that you not once felt like stopping, which would suggest that you have more marathons in you.... But even if this will be the last marathon you run, it's for a great cause. (Perhaps that's what it'll take to get you to risk blistering again?)