In 2005, my sister challenged me to a marathon. She had been training for her first marathon for months and wanted someone to run it with her. I had not been running at all – as rowing training kept me in the gym or on the water – yet I felt strong enough to do it. So I signed up, went for a solid 10 km run in the month leading up to it, and “ran” the full marathon without any real training.
The lack of training kicked in halfway when I started to pop painkillers and strap ice packs to my knee. My body had had enough of the whole running thing, yet my mind wasn’t willing to listen to it. I finished that race – mainly cause I wanted that darn “finisher” t-shirt that you only get if you cross the finish line! (I have no idea where that t-shirt is now…) That race will always be remembered as a true “I can do anything my mind thinks I can do” moment and also remain a testament that I can do some pretty ridiculous things given the chance to.
Now, 6 years later, me and that same marathon are meeting again. This time with a little more insight (and training!).
That being said, of my 15 weeks of training, I spent 4 of them nursing an IT band injury. Listening to my body, rather than just “pushing through it,” took me into multiple chiro and physio appointments and took my long runs from 16 km down to barely 5km during that 4 week period. I created a love-hate relationship with ice baths and foam rollers, which actually helped me stay focused on what I set out to accomplish. In these last 3 weeks, I was finally logging some solid mileage (23 km being my longest training run to date). Now to do that on May 1st – times two.
So, do I feel ready for this race?
You bet!
It’s gonna be a beautiful sunny day in Vancouver. My sis, Dad, and my best friend are going to be biking the course to give me salt pills and heavy doses of “you got this.” I’m gonna climb hills like it was my job and splash water on my face at the water stations just to make me feel hardcore. (haha) My closest friends will be at the finish line – waiting anxiously to go for brunch. And I will have carved 40 minutes off my first marathon time.
In 6 days, I’m re-writing history!
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3 comments
Lynda says:
April 25, 2011 at 12:03 pm (UTC -7)
YOU got this Matt…for sure!
Tyler says:
April 26, 2011 at 8:19 am (UTC -7)
Good luck!
dawn says:
April 28, 2011 at 11:34 am (UTC -7)
You are a “Super Star” Matt Corker (“Super Star” of course being said in the voice of and performed by in my head by the famous Molly Shannon) Go Matt Go!!