BMW Dallas Full Marathon Journey
Wow 2022 was a crazy year. I ran a marathon on December 11th, 2022. I know totally crazy and sooooo far out of my comfort zone. I had to ask myself, what the hell were you thinking about 1/2 way through the year. Well, it all started….
I think it was 2021 towards the end when my friend Liz said you should run the BMW in Dallas with me next year. Well, if you know me, i just jump right in and said OK. Now, I have only ran 1 other half marathon before and about crashed at mile 10. Yup my right knee said, we are done.
The pain was so bad, it brought tears to my eyes. Now, I am not a wuss. I have had 2 babies natural and with no medications, because I figured since I am Native American i can do this, no worries. Well, my babies come fast. 30 mins in labor and poof they are out of there. The pain does not last that long, well for me anyways and there is no crying, ok well a little screaming cause it freakin hurts but no crying. So, the knee pain was awful. (I can’t think of the word) I still had another 2 miles to go.
Ok, back on track or fast forward to 2022. I decided to hire a running coach in January. I had a year to plan. A whole year. I found a half marathon to run at the end of April. Holy crap, in Texas it was already scorching hot. We started at 9 in the darn morning.
92 degrees and i had a plan on how to run it. Well, crap that flew out the window after mile 4. So much for that idea. Luckily my husband decided to come and track me down in his truck. He was worried. Oh, sooo sweet.
If you knew my husband, i am sure he was hoping i would kill off. HA! Not today buddy. Now remember I told you that I am a Native American so yeah I love the heat, ummm just not when I have to run up and down hills. Hey where the hell did these hills come from. Most of west Texas is flat so I thought. No texas is not all flat, coming from someone who really does not like to run. There are hills, well ok, very long inclines. It was brutal. After mile 8 there were no more water stations. Luckily again, so glad my hubby was following on the side of the road with water and yes of course I had my liquid IV in my backpack. I had salt tablets, but the whole thing was just bad. I thought to myself, this was a bad idea. Ok, just move your ass, you have to finish. 13.1 miles, you are at mile 9. I started to jog again, nope this time I started cramping so I guess I will walk it out. I walked the rest of the way. OMG! well, i finished and I finished last. I just hate that, but there were plenty of other runners who decided it was too hot and they made a left turn back into town. I was left all by myself in the heat with my own thoughts and just praying that I would make it. I received a nice tan that day. HA. I was miserable all the way home. I thought to myself, I would have been better off to just keep walking all the way back home, so I would not feel the pain of the non stop cramping. Well, my husband drove what felt like 100mph to get me home. Oh, so sweet.
I totally was not ready for that half marathon. Back to the training plan. I told my coach, the most awful half marathon ever. Ok so many lessons learned that day. I kept on training because I did not want to let my friend down, I told her i would run with her. Now, she has been running a lot longer than myself. I do so many other things too to keep myself in shape. I teach spin classes, I lift, and of course do my little 4-5 3x a week.
I am going to stop here so that I have something to write about next week. The journey continues.
Come back next week, so you can read about my journey to the BMW Dallas Marathon.
