Unplanned debut marathon

So, Saturday I did a thing.  Totally unplanned, totally unprepared, but totally amazing.

I completed a 26.2 mi marathon.

Yep.  At 63 yrs old, overweight, with osteoporosis and at risk for fracture, a propensity for injury (both from overuse and plain ol' clumsiness), pre-diabetes, very high cholesterol, moderate arterial blockage, and never having done even a half-marathon distance before (even walking), I completed a marathon.  Oh, and I did it fueled only by a hard-boiled egg a couple hours before start, a handful of mixed nuts at about halfway, wearing $15 Walmart shoes with almost zero padding and support (and I even took out the insoles), and working on about 4 hours sleep. (Much more on the 'whys' of the nutrition and footwear another time).

So just how did this all come about?  Let me tell you the story ...

A few of us from Team RWB were going to get together to do a couple mile walk/slow run Saturday morning.  A fellow team member mentioned the night before that he might see us on the trail somewhere as he would be doing his virtual Marine Corps Marathon along that route.  He had been doing a half-marathon just about every weekend up until last year (sometimes a full marathon), but the whole COVID thing set him back (emotionally as well as physically), he had put on a few pounds, and hadn't been out and done ANYTHING since March.  Oh, and he had no crew along his route to support and check on him - he was flying solo.

Ummm, no.  Carrie (our Team Captain) and I decided that wasn't acceptable, so at 10pm Fri evening we agreed to meet up with him at zero-dark-thirty to at least start him off and maybe take turns doing a couple miles with him. Again, no real plan, we were flying by the seat of our pants.  I met her at the main gate on Camp Lejeune at 0545 where I left my car, and we drove to the designated starting point in town to meet up with Mac and help him do this thing.  Another member, Terri, jumped in and said she'd crew for us, and planned on driving to various points with snacks and water available should we need them.  (She also had the traditional motivational Eye of the Tiger blasting as we went by each station. She rocks!).  Terri had run the Marine Corps Marathon 50K (just over 31 mi) virtually the previous weekend, alone.  (Yes, she's a bad-a$$!).

Headlamps in place, Mac rucking 20+ lbs and carrying Old Glory, Carrie with the Team RWB banner, off we went.   I hadn't been doing more than a mile or two at a time for months, mostly at a walk barefoot, so the basic plan was that I'd stay with Carrie and Mac to the main gate (just over 6 miles), where I'd get my car and drive to the next stop, and maybe jump in with him there for a couple miles, and Carrie could drive my car to the next stop, and we'd leapfrog. Well I got to the gate and decided that as slow as we were going, I could definitely do more.  Terri was available to pick me up if needed, so I felt confident in continuing.

After a couple more miles, I decided that since we were so close, I'd at least stick with it to the halfway point so that I could scratch the half-marathon off my bucket list.  I guess 13.1 mi wasn't enough, so since Mac had slowed down even more, I waved Terri off and we kept going, sometimes at a walk, sometimes a slow trot.  We got back to the main gate (18ish mi) and Carrie needed to leave for other commitments, so Terri drove her back to the start to get her car.  That left me and Mac, and there was no way I was leaving him alone out there, so I shrugged my shoulders and we set off again.  

Mac has a number of previous injuries from his time on active duty, including nerve damage, so because he hadn't been training at all for months, and was carrying some extra poundage, he was hurting pretty bad.  The last 6 mi or so were seemingly at a crawl, and the muscles in my legs were tight and starting to seize up, so for a couple of miles I trotted loops back and forth around him, just to stretch a bit while still keeping him in sight.  I relieved him of Old Glory during that time, doing a hand-off later to allow him to finish with flag waving. 

We did it.  Super-slow and much of it at a walk, in well over the 8 hr cutoff had we done the in-person event, but we did it (there is no time limit on the virtual).  Could I have done it faster had I not stayed with Mac those last few miles?  I'm sure, but this was his day, his marathon, so it never entered my mind to leave him and do my own thing for a better finish time. 

Neither of us could have done it without Carrie along for support, and of course our super-crew, Terri, cheering us on and providing fuel at numerous points along the route.  They are both active duty Marines who are spread pretty thin already, and they willingly gave up their Saturday to help fellow Marines get 'er done.  (I think there's something wrong with  my eyes right now; they seem to be leaking for some reason).  And I wouldn't have even been out there at all had it not been for Mac's determination to complete his 8th consecutive Marine Corps Marathon.

It's a Marine thing, and also what Team RWB is all about.

So there you have it.  I crossed something off my bucket list that wasn't even ON my bucket list.  

Could I have done it (without feeling hungry or needing fuel for energy) without having made the nutritional changes I've made the last few months?  Nope. 

Could I have done it without injury had I not been doing the barefoot/minimalist footwear thing I've been working on the last few months?  Nope.  

I made those changes, not in preparation for any race (much less a marathon!), but for me.  The fact that they allowed me to go a distance that I never in my wildest dreams thought possible is a testament that you can make changes at any age that will allow you to do great things, and feel great doing them. 

~ Marie Anne

 (Part I of how I unknowingly trained my body for this event here).