Let the Countdown Begin…

Against All Odds

Despite my series of unfortunate events (dengue, penumonia, Typhoon Ondoy, Parma) and then arriving in Chicago where it hits record breaking cold for that time of the year… I actually did it!

I didn’t think  I was going to do it- but I did… I was only allowed to start training 3 weeks before the day and I did not feel that my full resistance was back – I was always out of breath and tired.  I had just told myself no pressure, just finish.

I did surprisingly well (at least for a beginner) the first 33k and actually hit that mark at 3:40.  There were some pros and cons with the weather:  

PRO:  it was so cold, I couldn’t do the run/walk I planned – I felt my toes were going to freeze if I slowed down so I kept my pace.  Which was surprisingly not as hard as I thought – it felt good.

CONS: it was so cold, I didn’t feel the need to drink – for some reason, I didn’t feel dehydrated so I didn’t drink at all!  Well, that caught up with me,both legs cramped after 35k – I never recovered from that and ended up walking/limping the rest of the way… but hey, I finished and I feel great!

My Garmin says 5:31:02  but the official time placed 5:36:04 which I thought was weird because I pressed start the second I crossed the starting line but it really doesn’t matter – I am just so happy to have done it despite all the setbacks – it really wasn’t easy… and the pain (and boy did I ache) after was something else but the pride I felt really made up for it