They say a marathon is 26.2 grueling miles of running. That's not really true. It's really about 20 miles of pretty normal running followed by about 6 miles of increasingly difficult running. And it's not necessarily grueling because you're short on breath, it's more because your legs start to get really sore and cramp up.
The weather was perfect for running: about 15 degrees C and partly cloudy. There was music blaring from from speakers placed along the course and live music at several other locations consisting of drums, cowbell, and acoustic whistle. At least that's all I remember. I will now make my obligatory "More Cowbell" quip auf Deutsch. "Ich brauche mehr Kuhglock!". I should also point out that the acoustic whistle is a vastly underrated musical instrument and is a key ingredient in any successful boy band. Also among my musical highlights were "Walk Like an Egyptian" and "Eye of the Tiger." Nothing like a little Rocky music to keep you going…
I was feeling pretty good through the first 31km before my legs started to pain me. More than 2 and a half hours of running had taken its toll. It was then that I started countdown mode. Or rather tried to calculate how much time I had left. This created such complicated equations as: If a marathon is 42.2 km and I'm at 36 km running 5 min. km, how much time do I have left to run? This is the kind of thing I would think about for about 2 minutes before I would ultimately give up and decide to try again on the next kilometer marker. I did this for 3 or 4 consecutive kilometers before I figured it wasn't worth the energy I was expending trying to figure it out in my head. In case you're worried about my mathematical abilities, please note that the brain consumes loads of carbs to function, and well, my carbs were being used to run. I never was good at multitasking anyway.
Kilometer 39 was a gut check. My hamstrings started to cramp and I had to shorten my stride in order to keep the cramping at bay. Fortunately there was a water table set up at the 40K mark, which is just what I needed to kick through the final 2km. Well, kick isn't probably the best word, more like slug through the final 2k. Along the way I tried to encourage myself with such thoughts as "Only 5k to go", but these thoughts didn't actually help at all. Turns out there really isn't much that's motivating after running for 3+ hours.
The only thing that really motivated me that last 10k (besides some friends of mine cheering me on) was the 42km marker. As soon as I saw that I really did kick all the way through the finish. Once over the finish line I resisted the urge to sit or lie down, consumed large quantities of water, and met up with my friends before hobbling home.
All in all a good experience. Would I do it again? Maybe, but not anytime soon.
Acoustic whistle is by far the most underrated instrument and it’s way cooler than the overhyped cowbell which is really only piggybacking on the popularity of Christopher Walken. Who was the acoustic whistle player in our band anyway? I don’t remember.
If memory serves, I was the acoustic whistle player in our boy band.