42195m by own feet

Last Friday I was closer to my dream than ever before, I was on the ferry trip to Stockholm Marathon with 17 friends and colleagues of mine. Although I have been waiting for that moment over 3 years - training a lot and dreaming of passing the finish line after 42195 meters but always had some injuries or illness - I wasn’t nervous about the day at all. The atmosphere in the ferry with my friends was really relaxing and full of laughing, we almost forgot we would run a marathon on the following day. The only thing that reminded us of the trial, was the pasta-dinner on Friday evening. We eat a proper dinner – and when I say “proper” I really mean it! After that I promised not to eat pasta for lo-oo-oo-ng lo-oo-oo-ng time, if ever again. When able to move – or basically roll forward - after stuffing ourselves with carbonated food, we went to the bar. It was pretty quiet evening in the club as everyone drunk only one pint or just water.

The marathon morning started again with proper breakfast, relaxing time in the cabin, drinking a lot of some “hokkuspokkus-drinks” and get mentally ready. And the main thing was to cool the siders and beers in the cold bath, though we might feel like having some chilly drinks in the evening after run. Professional preparing - have to take everything into account ;) Some of my friends was still taking a nap only 5 mins before leaving the ferry… they didn’t seem to panic at all. But yet everyone was ready to leave at the time we agreed.

The walking way to stadium was pretty short, but then we realized how crazy we all are. If it wasn’t the marathon day, I would have been really happy about the weather we had; sun shine from clear sky and temperature up to 30 degrees! But that wasn’t the moment to give up, only needed to forget the time target and aim to pass the finish line safe and sound. The last half an hour passed away quickly and was time to start.

I started running with one of my friend and we (as everybody else) started really carefully. I could say it was enjoyable at the beginning, if just remembered to drink and take some cooling showers on the way. Little troubles started after 16km when my stomach hurt after drinking energy drinks. I got rid of the pain after a while and running continued again… I just enjoyed the beautiful landscapes and happy atmosphere with 14318 other runners. After 30km my knee began to hurt a bit and I added some ice gel on the knee and continued running. The pain didn’t stop, so I had to stop. I tried to stretch my leg and walk a little bit, and the running after that was almost impossible. I was a masochist and run some points with feeling like someone turning knife in my knee. At the end I had to walk almost 7km overall, but luckily I walk fast – even my colleague couldn’t reach me when he run! I checked behind every now and then to make sure he won’t reach me, and just after 41,5km he got dangerously close to me, so I just decided to run out of my breath the last one kilometer. There was nothing to loose anymore, I had some energy left and passed two other of my friends (and several other runners) with clenched teeth in the stadium. Someone might think who is that crazy girl reaching the finish line like a devil. After that I couldn’t walk properly, but at least I could smile after running my marathon within time 5:07:46 ;)

In the evening I couldn’t bend my knee, but walked with straight leg – I looked like a duck when I walked and danced in the night club. Indeed, I still had energy to dance and have fun with all the others. We had a reason to celebrate as none of us 18 didn’t give up, but bravely struggled till the end. Our sponsor (my workplace) offered us some sparkling wine as a reward for a great achievement. Some guys asked me to dance with them and I went kindly, but wanted to hit one of them who just pulled me down the stairs to the dance floor… and I almost had to shout for the pain in my knee… So, that was enough for me and I went to cabin to sleep with my roommates already after 3am.

On the following morning we took back the missed parties and I went to the deck with some guys having some chilly pints and sunbathing from 10am, right after breakfast… AAAH, I had deserved that!