On 12May2013, I was recovering from my worst half-marathon (Maryland Half). This one sucked, mainly because I just got back from China and gained a good 15 lbs and this course was hilly as shit. On a whim, and hating my own fat ass, I signed up for the Baltimore Marathon. I was going to do one eventually, but thought, what the hell! It's 5 months away, I can train hard and get it down. So I did.
It has been a challenging process both mentally and physically, with challenges runner don't or forget to tell you about. Here's somethings you can expect if you decide to train seriously for running:
1) Body Glide and/or Vaseline is your best friend. NEVER leave home without it. Where ever there is skin on skin touching... you will chaff... and it will suck for days on end. Yeah no one wants butt cheek chaff. And when it rains, like it did for part of my marathon, you BEST hope you cover yourself in Body Glide.
2) Pasta is a close second. At the end, you will hate it with a passion and never want to touch it again. Beans are good too. I also turned vegetarian during the week, which helped me lose a shit ton of weight, but fuck any low carb stupid diet.
3) You will need more exercise clothes, especially during summer training. It will all smell of BO, ALL OF IT. All of your shirts will, at some point, fail the smell test, most of them need to be soaked for hours in detergent. You will sweat... a lot.
4) Say goodbye to toenails. They start receding and don't come back. Goodbye left index toenail...I barely knew ye.
5) Injuries will happen. I've gotten: planar faciitis, shin splints, a pain that won't go away in my left pinky toe, IT band inflammation. And I consider myself luck as shit!
6) There is no greater feeling than finishing your race and meeting your goals. It makes you want to do it again, and again, and again.
6a) There is no WORSE feeling than 3 hours after finishing. Death could not come soon enough.
Of all the suck that has happened, I did lose a lot of weight. I will say, for the first time in a LONG ASS TIME, I'm ok with pictures without a shirt on, I don't disgust myself. I've also have a lot more mental fortitude to deal with shit, since at about mile 21 of my marathon, both knees with screaming in pain, and my calves where on strike, but I made it to the finish line.
Lastly, I want to thank Chris Keller for being the inspiration to all this. Without you, I wouldn't have done this. I want to thank Cais Rasouli for giving me a reason to running and set deadlines for myself. Thank you to Kevin Kempter for being there every step of the way and forcing me to run when all I wanted to do is eat shitty shrimp from bad Chinese buffets.
The next step for me is to jump in a pool, hop on a bike, and run some more. Triathlon here I come!!
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