On Sunday June 1, 2008 I ran my first Half Marathon. As you all know by now, I have been training very hard for the past 5 months, and it was time to put myself through a test and see where I stand. Being a 21 Km race, the Half Marathon is considered a serious race, for those who take sports seriously, which is what I do. However to my bad luck, during my preparation for the race, i.e. in the last 5 weeks I had an overtraining injury "tendinite" or "inflamation du tendon" and it hurts like hell.
I went to see the physician 2 days before the race, and he said that I can run, however I should warm up for around 1 hour before racing! This came as a wonderful news, despite the fact that i wasn't able to train properly during the last 2 weeks! so I ended up logging half the distance that I should have done, and replaced running with cycling, since it is less demanding on the "tendon".
Anyway back to the race, it started at:
Biel ==> Corniche (manara)==> Tal3it el rawsheh (that one was a bitch)==> Ramlit al bayda ==> Tunel that leads to corniche al Mazra3a (another uphill killer) ==> Cola ==> Tayyouneh ==> 7eresh Beirut ==> Velodrome ==> Mat7af ==> Badaro ==> Furn el Cheback==> Abraj ==> Corniche al naher ==> Burj Hammoud ==> Gemayzeh ==> Downtown ==>Biel
Time: 2 h 12 minutes. As a first race, I am satisfied given the fact that up till Kilometer 16 I was aiming for 2 hours, but arriving to Gemayzeh my legs have betrayed me!
Lessons Learned:
- Buy a foot pod.
- Pace yourself!
- Marathon runners are Champions, real heroes! (probably the toughest physical achievement someone can do)!
Do it again? Definitely.
Next races on the list:
1) The 10 km race, held at the end of 2008 summer (I believe that between cycling and running I would not be able to be well prepared for the marathon, which requires at least 3 months of serious training).
2) The next Half Marathon, in 2009
3) Marathon 2009.
In my attempt to recover faster, i had a small 8 km run yesterday, however I realized that i still need some additional time for recovery, this is why I am spending my afternoon with Amy in Bickfaya!
3 comments:
3a salami :)
Go go go
I bet your girlfriend must be jealous of Amy ;)
Great work. I wish I could do all this. I've recently started returning into my sports routine. I don't know if I've ever mentioned this but I used to play squash semi-professionally until my car accident 4 years ago. From then on, my meniscus had been a great problem for me. I can barely do cycling with knee support! I have taken up swimming seriously along with resistance training.
But keep this up. The more I read this, the more I feel motivated.
Plus, well done. You know what, academic perseverance is amazing. But it is not quite the same as athletic perseverance. It's a different feeling and it's definitely more satisfying. I am supposing it's due to the endorphins related with exercise and what not. I think you'd be able to explain this better than myself.
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