Running a Full Marathon

Continued from "Inspiration Lead to Motivation..."

I manifested this result by asking myself repeatedly the quote that I read “whether I believe that I can or can’t either way I am correct”. I read that quote when I was thinking of quitting and when things got tough. I just kept working my butt off doing whatever I could. I ended up being injured 7 out of the 16 weeks of my training. When I was injured I kept up my positive attitude by asking myself “what is it that I could do today to bring me closer to my goal of finishing”. Sometimes the answer was resting, and sometimes it meant that I needed to swim at 6 o’clock in the morning before work instead of running.

A week and a half until the marathon, Brenda and I went out for our final 32 kilometer run to prepare. By the time we were half way done we were caught in a blizzard. My gluts were so sore heading back, and with 4 kms to go we both gave up on our run. We were freezing and almost hypothermic. I could barely walk and I felt like I was going to pass out. We managed to reach a taxi to take us back to our vehicle. When I got home I thought that I should just do the half-marathon as it would be easier. This was a familiar thought process, as I’ve always wanted to take the easier way. But I remembered something that I read.

“Belief is a process; it is a process of raising your desire while decreasing your resistance.” This was my last test and again, I made the choice to believe that I could run the full 42 kms.

The day before the marathon I had a sore back from walking all over town. Later that night I was in a lot of pain and that’s when I remembered the movie the Secret. Ask, Believe, Receive. That night I asked for a strong mind and a strong body when I woke up and I believed that I was going to get it. The morning of the marathon I couldn’t have felt better. I got exactly what I asked for.

During the run I was taking it really easy and at the 10km mark I was on pace for finishing in 5 hours. I was really worried about my gluts being sore again. I told myself at that point to forget about it and I promised myself two things; that I would finish the race and that I would leave everything on the course and do my best. At the 13 km mark I saw a lady with a tattoo that read, “whatever it takes” and I thought, dam rights. It was a good thing I saw this because at the 16 km mark I got the worst shin splints anyone could ever get. Most people wouldn’t even be able to walk it was so painful and for the next 5 kms I kept telling myself, “whatever it takes” nothing is going to stop me.

At the half way point with 21 kms left it was like my mind convinced my body that I wasn’t going to give up. It was like a blanket covered my legs and I no longer felt any pain. From there I picked up the pace. I was now passing people like crazy and the kms to the finish line seemed to be passing with easy and joy. I felt extremely good until I realized that I had just passed the 32 km mark, this was the furthest that I had ever run.

My plan for the race was to stop at every water station and walk for 30 seconds while I hydrated. Each station was 2 miles apart and it was getting harder and harder to start up running again. I skipped the second last water station but I could feel my body needing water and there was one last climb up a bridge that was a km long. I stopped at the last water station before the big climb and I got a sensation of the pain that I would feel in my legs once I crossed the finish line. I started up again without hesitating. I climbed that hill knowing that the crowd would take me to the finish line once I got to the top with 2 kms left. I felt the energy of the crowd and I knew that I was going to finish. I savored every minute of it but those last 2 kms but it felt like 10. I ran the first half in 2:14 and the second half in 2:04 for a total time of 4:18. Once I made the decision to give it my best at the 10 km mark, I managed to shave over 40 minutes of my time.

Faith is a process of asking for what you want and believing that you will get it. That was the first time in my life that I have ever experienced having faith and when I crossed that finish line, I knew that my spirit had grown and evolved.

Robert Gregoire

Director

Gurutropolis