By Danielle L. Krautmann
I can’t take my medal off. It’s bronze colored with a plain navy blue ribbon to hold it on my neck. It’s the cheapest, worst quality completion medal I’ve ever received from a race, and I love it. This one says Lima 42K, 2010 on it…my first marathon. After the race I took a nap and woke up with the ribbon strangling me. I adjusted it rather than taking it off. I wonder how long I can get away with wearing this around the house.
Although I’ve done plenty of half marathons over the past five years, I was hesitant to commit to training for a full marathon. For me, running is something I do to keep fit and clear my head. If it’s a nice day, or I have excess energy, I like to go for a run. If I’m on a run and feel tired, I prefer to turn around and go home. If I’m feeling good, I’ll go further. When I need to “train” for a race, running quickly looses its appeal. Something about adding discipline to the sport makes it feel like more of a job than a pastime.
My first month here I joined a running group through Charlie’s work to meet people and make friends with similar interests. The friend-making mission was soon accomplished, but I kept showing up as the runs increased in length. I enjoyed the camaraderie of suffering through the last couple miles of a long run with friends. So really, my initial training for the marathon was an accident that happened secondary to my efforts to make friends. Although the thought had crossed my mind, it was not until about six weeks ago that I realized I was logging between 60 and 70 miles a week. So I signed up for the Lima 42K.
I’ve enjoyed running for about six years now. My prior race experience includes nine half marathons, and volunteering as a pacer in three ultra marathons (100 mile races…I didn’t do the races, just helped out). Through all of this, I have learned that there comes a point during which your body tells you not to go any further. Your joints hurt, your muscles hurt, your head hurts, body parts you never knew existed hurt! You feel like you’re running as fast as you can, but know you’re only jogging at best. From here, things can go one of two ways. You can acknowledge the pain and listen to your body, stop and stretch, or walk for a ways. OR, you can remind yourself that its in you to go further and keep running despite the pain. The little engine that could powered itself through positive thinking and I’m here to tell you, it really works!
For me, it was when I reached 28 kilometers and realized I still had 14 to go that I started to feel the pain. I knew completing the race would be more of a mental feat than physical. At that point, I began to fill my head with the most positive thoughts I could come up with to distract myself. Charlie suggested that if I got to that point, I find someone to talk to to keep myself distracted. Unfortunately, speaking Spanish still takes a lot of effort and energy so this didn’t seem like the best option. Instead, I noticed a Peruvian runner with a particularly cute butt going the same pace as me. I strategically paced myself behind him for 2 km until he slowed down and I passed him.
At 32 km, I saw my friend Vanesa and her dog Inca and was reminded of what great friends I’ve made here. At 34 km, our friend Brodie rode up on his bike and chatted with me for several minutes and told me how well my rock star husband was doing (he finished in 3 hours 33 minutes). At 38 km, I passed Charlie’s boss/fellow member of my running group, Jorge, and it occured to me that I was ahead of everyone in our running group except for Charlie.
Jorge seemed to think he was going to beat me in the race and thus made a bet with me that if I beat him, he would bring back a People magazine and US Weekly from every trip he takes to the States. The idea of settling down with a cocktail and trashy mag in English every month or so made me run faster. At 40 km I noticed many of the “runners” walking around me. They had hit their walls. I tried to calculate how much time I would lose if I walked rather than ran to the finish, but got distracted by someone with an enormous camera taking a picture of me. In hopes of becoming famous like my friend Gladys and getting in Cosas magazine, I flashed them a huge smile and decided if I had run this far, it would be a shame to slow down.
Just as the finish line came into sight in the distance, I saw my husband running towards me, already wearing his completion medal. “Yeah!” he exclaimed. “You did it! Four hours 35 minutes! You beat everyone from running group! And you look strong!” While I was still running towards the finish, he had a friend from work take a picture of us. He began to ask me questions about our friends. “When did you pass Jorge? How far behind you is Ricardo?” Even in my exhaustion, I adored his excitement for me. I had to remind him that I needed to cross the finish line.
“Charlie, we can talk later, please let me finish,” I huffed out. Then I looked up. There is was! The finish line! My body didn’t hurt anymore and I began sprinting. In the final stretch, I passed two people and completed my first marathon with a smile on my face.
Congrats! What an accomplishment!
Dang Danielle that is awesome! This was really fun to read (not that others haven’t been, but I haven’t been keeping up….)!
You, my dear, are absolutely fantastic!! Excellent job!!
WTF – I did 3:30:29, HUGE difference:)
ooops….sorry.
.-= Daniella´s last blog ..Lima 42 K =-.
WOW!!! Huge Congrats! Good job Danielle hope you got a well deserved massage from your husband.
ps- Charlie, I looked online and you finished 3:35:02
thats great hot stuff! Congrats! Do you think you will do another one?
hahaha I like the part where Charlie is chatting you up before you cross the finish line. I’m glad you wrote this blog today! During my 16-mile run today I was thinking about our runs last summer and how you were undecided about whether or not a marathon was something you’d want to complete. I’m training for the Seattle Rock n Roll marathon on June 26th and I’m starting to feel like, “Why am I even doing this? It’s not even fun anymore!” You’re lucky to have a running group. I’m doing all my long runs by myself. I think I’m going to take you up on the mental distractions technique. Nice job!! Totally worth beating Jorge for the celebrity gossip.
P.S. Have you read the book “Born to Run” by Christopher McDougall? I’m reading it now and it’s awesome- you would like it. Pick up a copy next time you visit, or I can mail you one if you want!
You go girl!
Danielle,
Congratulations! You look great. Thinking about the run makes my knees ache :).
Kick ass! I am out of breath just thinking about it. I think reading this email will count for my morning run. Way to beat through that wall, if you were sprinting at the end that means you have even more in you then this great accomplishment. Thank you for sharing your experience.
Congratulations on both the marathon and your writing! Isn’t it amazing that we can often accomplish so much more than we anticipate? I am inspired by your tenacity … on my wimpy four-mile jogs that just about kill me, I will remember your words.
Great job, Danielle! I’m so proud of you. Way to work through the pain and conquer the mental factors.
I haven’t been on my computer for a month, so it’s been fun catching up on all your blogs – my favorite reading material.
Hi Danielle
I really enjoy reading ur blog very funny 😉 im also living in lima since last year i really love this town.
saludos
Johanna
Thanks Johanna! Great to hear from you. I’ve been on a writing break for a little while as I recently took a trip back to the states, then had my parents here visiting me, but some exciting new writing opportunities have come my way so you can expect to hear more from me.
I didn’t write “The Night Porto Goes Wild.” Not sure why it linked back to that. Oops!
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Hi There – I enjoy reading your blog on running Lima marathon. I currently am living in the U.S and thinking of running this race next May. Although, I do not know Spanish so I will probably ask my friends to do some translation and need their help to sign up for me.
Did you think the race is well organize? Did you supply you with enough water/sport drinks etc? Were there many spectators out cheering?
Btw, congrats on finished the race! 🙂
ET
Hi ET,
If you are used to running races in the States, you may not think this race is well organized, comparatively. I have run it the past 2 years. I was sad to see that last year there were less runners than the year before. Far less spectators than in races I’ve been to in the states, but it is cool to travel to run a marathon. I carried my own water because the first year I ran it (when I wrote this blog), I noticed they were out of water during the last 10k. This was fine for me. Have you run marathons before? If you t to Peru to run the Lima 42K, you should definitely travel to a couple other places in Peru while you’re here. Shoot me an email at Daniellelparker@gmail.com and I can tell you more and answer any of your questions about the race.
Thanks for reading!
Danielle