Daniel Nazareth's Blog

I ran/walked a marathon in 4:59:22, but my goal 5 months earlier was 3:15. What happened?

As I prepared to run my first marathon, I found myself caught in the perpetual state of wanting more. Not only did I want to complete the marathon, I wanted to do it in 3:15. I was riding the wave of smashing my half marathon goals. Below was my experience setting an audacious goal, failing, but still accomplishing a lot.

When I set stretch goals, I surprise myself. So, was I surprised when I felt severe ankle pain during my long run training? Not exactly, since my ankles are about as flexible as my hamstrings. As the pain persisted, I took time to rest and did research on the causes. I read that even neutral runners experience overpronation with longer distances, which throws off your gait and causes discomfort in several areas. 

I picked up a pair of stability shoes and ran relatively pain free for the rest of my training. P.s. if you read my post on minimalism, I gave away 3 pairs to buy this one, and I got them in black to make them multifunctional. 

After this slight hiccup, I adjusted my goal time to sub 4 hours. I quickly realized that even this requires you to run… a lot. It was hard to align running 6 times a week with my other commitments.

That said, I still showed up for the long runs, and they were humbling, to say the least. On three different occasions, I attempted to run for 3 hours, and each time, I ran too fast at the start, only to call an Uber back home or to the nearest pasta shop. My durations were: 2:12, 2:18 and 2:23. The max distance I ran was 24 km. I wanted to stop each time after 15 km, and I was in pain from 21 km onwards. 

Using this feedback, I adjusted my goal from sub 4 hours to just finish the race. When I showed up for race day, I was attempting 42.2 km with only a continuous max of 24 km under my belt. My mindset was: “Run with your legs and when they get tired, run with your mind. When your mind gets tired, run with your heart.” – Unknown

I’d crawl the rest of the way if I had to. 

During the marathon, I ran continuously for 32 km. When the split point for the half marathon came at 20 km, I recalled last year running the half and thinking that the marathon runners were crazy. Not sure if the rush I felt at that moment was from the caffeine gel I drank to get past my 2:15 wall, or the realization that something I thought was crazy was now within reach.

When I got to 24 km I told myself, let’s make it to 30 km. When I got to 30 km I said, let’s get to 31 km. After 32 km the pain and stiffness was a great signal to stop. I remember thinking, how am I supposed to finish the next 10 km?

When facing a large obstacle, breaking things down into clear and manageable tasks has worked for me in the past. Moving 10 km when your body is broken seems daunting, but how about the next 1 km? Well, how long does 1 km take? 5-7 minutes on a good day. Okay, then let’s run for 5 minutes. 

After 5 minutes, I walked, and then tried again for 2 minutes. Then 1 minute. During this process, I thought about my Grandfather, who used to compete in speed walking races. I channeled his energy and thought: okay, if I can’t give effort running, I’ll Shakira my way to the finish and move those hips by speed walking. 

I find it funny but exciting to say that I closed out the marathon by speed walking the rest of the way.

Official time – 4:59:22

If you haven’t already deduced that I’m not giving out marathon best practices, please do not follow what I did to prepare for a marathon. Doing it for the first time is no joke and to complete it without injuries is one of my greatest achievements. 

As I look forward to the future, here are my key takeaways:

• Set audacious goals, practice, collect feedback, adjust, and no matter your training, just show up
• Understand that not everything happens at once. Sometimes, the best way to move forward is through. “The obstacle is the way.”  When things aren’t going as planned, do things differently, but never stop giving effort
• Remember, when it’s time to run, run. When it’s time to walk, walk. When the race is over, reflect. There is no finish line when you’re competing with yourself

Time to put humpty dumpty together again.

With care,

Daniel Nazareth