“Everything you wanted to know about yourself you can learn in 26.2 miles.”

If you’re looking to see how I started running, I’ve written about running a half marathon here : https://adithyaiyer1999.github.io/RunningBlog/

Taking a decision of running 26.2 miles or 42km is one taken in a random burst of inspiration, but being in a state to take that decision requires some months of running. I started running in the March of 2020, as the world went under lockdown, and running a full marathon has been on the bucketlist since. Running seems to be a boring activity on the face of it, but having milestones like a marathon make it more bearable. So I registered for the Jersey City Full Marathon on April 23 somewhere around Jan 23.

At the time of registration, I would consider myself to be a reasonably consistent and somewhat experienced runner. I’d just broken the 2 hour half marathon mark back in November in Brooklynn, and my cardio was on track. Either I tried to increase pace for future halfs, or try for a full marathon. I decided on the latter largely because of a relatively easier semester (very untrue in hindsight). I thought a full was just an extended half marathon at the time. Boy was I wrong.

Here’s how half marathons usually feel for the uninitiated- you run the first 5k cautiously so you don’t burn out, the next 10 with your body’s natural rhythm, and speed up the last 5 so you can hit a particular finish time. It doesn’t hurt your legs much say except for the last 5k, and you can go about running a half if you’ve run before but have been reasonbly lazy for the last month or so. If you do manage to stop running at 15k, you can easily walk the last 5k (which is a great mental cushion).

A full is an experience you have to work towards. If you stop at the 35k mark, there is no way you can walk the last 7.5k. Furthermore, there is the possibility of you hitting the wall - your body’s glycogen stores can only last you till 35k, the last quarter is derived from stuff you eat during the race. It is this last bit which makes full marathons challenging, you need some amount of discipline, and a serious amount of training just to make sure your body does not collapse under the load. Point being, you cannot half ass your way into full marathon training.

The Training

I had roughly 3.5 months to train, and was just coming off from running a half marathon, so I had sufficient time. Traditional training plans include 5 days of running (which includes 1 long run, 2 fast ones and 2 medium ones), 1 day in the gym and 1 day rest. I did not have any routine whatsoever. Academics and deadlines are so haphazard that you can never predict what day you’ll be free, so I decided to just run 1 long run every weekend (10,15,20,25,30 kms) and wing things in the middle based on my time. I started out strong, running somewhat consistently for 2 weeks, and hit the 10k and 15k benchmarks. I also managed to pull 2 gym sessions for strength.

The Injury

I had my first knee problem in week 3, when I tried to run 20k. I had minor knee pain midway, but I decided to walk (run?) it off. After the 20k mark, I felt good, and only next day did I realize that my right knee was barely bending withour pain under the knee cap. Prolonged sitting was imposible, and i had a limp for probably 5 days before it improved. I tried running again the next weekend but could barely do 5k before the knee pain took over. I decided to rest for a week on my trip to India, and thought it would get better with some rest, and it did. I could run 10ks without issues, but anything more and I would be limping for a week. It was too late to de-register from the marathon as it was a month away, so I decided to only run weekends and rest all weekdays. I’d run a small 5k on sarurday and try running 10ks on sunday for 2 weeks.

The Final long run

2 weeks before the marathon, I had to make a call. Either I run it and risk damaging my knee further, or I stop training and skip the marathon now. I decided that I’ll go on one final long run for about 30k, and see if can finish that. I also wanted to train my body to be glycogen deficient while running, so I decided to not take any electrolytes or water for this 30 km run. Things started out fine, till the 18km mark. My knee was mostly numb, but did not pain. By the time I hit the 25km mark, my body ran out of juice. I struggled to complete the last 5km and had to stop at 28 km. I don’t think I’ve had a worse running experience, but it taught me that fuelling during the race is just as crucial as pacing the race. The 5 days after the run, my knee was stiff, but it gradually improved. I knew now that I could run 42k without permanently damaging my knee, and decided to go ahead. Raceday was approaching now.

The Day

Jersey City marathon was a relatively flat track, passing through the Liberty State Park with views of Manhattan and the Statue of liberty. Race morning had the worst possible weather I could hope for, there were continuous showers, and my shoes were soaked even before the race started. The great thing though was the crowd, there were 6000 people running with me, and the excitement and support from the crowd was just inspiring.

Here’s the great thing about marathons compared to other sports- everyone is always rooting for you. You only compete against yourself, and if you ever start feeling tired, there will be this one 9 year old in the crowd with his dog shouting his lungs out cheering for you. There were about 1000+ people in the crowd with rather funny banners, “touch to power up” signs and food. The start of the marathon was surrounded by loud music, and shouting by the crowd, and honestly, the showers did not matter now. It was me vs the road.

The Run

I usually like to break marathons to 4 10k runs. The first 10k is easy, the next 2 are somewhat inconvenient and the last one is as hard as the first 3 combined. I started strong, and did not speed up, maintaining a consistent cadence. I was feeling good, and my legs were alright. The track moved south to the Liberty State Park, and the effect of the showers on the terrain were beginning to show up. The muddy park had massive puddles, and at one time there are 10 people taking turns crossing a narrow path between 2 massive puddles. Honestly, this was the worst part of the route, and I was surprised how bad the terrain in the park was.

As we crossed the Liberty state park and entered the old district, I was feeling good. There were people outside their homes with chairs cheering for all of us, and I found a group running with a pace that matched mine, so I tried to follow them. This was going well atleast till the 18k mark, half marathon distance was approaching.

I was particularly happy with my nutrition during the race, the biggest reason people don’t finish marathons is when they don’t eat gels every 45 min, and don’t take in electrolytes. There were gatorade and water stands every 2 miles, and I didn’t miss one. Not till the 28 km mark did I ever feel hazy, so the intake really made a massive difference.

The half marathon distance concluded with me giving my coat to someone waiting for me at the start point- the marathon was basically 2 loops. Having no raincoat weighing me down meant that I could run freer, and the 25 km mark was reached surprisingly quickly.

The Mind

The marathon is a very mental game, and my first mental block started at the 28k mark. Strava said that I had covered 28kms, and I was feeling happy that I only had 15 to go. The markers on the track had other ideas, apparently I had only run 26 km. 2 km might seem a small distance, but its gutwrenching when you’ve just run 25 km. All my planning I had about having 90 min left to run were thrown out. You start worrying about whether your tracker is correct, and whether you’re running too fast now. You start thinking about the distance you’re covering every minute, and every mile seems longer. The worst part of runs is usually when you’re thinking about the run, and I was doing exactly that.

At 30k, my legs started struggling a little. I stopped for a minute to take in electrolytes and water, and upon restrarting, my legs refused to move without pain. My thighs were jammed, and my knees were sore enough that I could barely feel the injury I had (good thing maybe?). This is where it starts getting lonely, because you see more and more people stopping, and bigger strtetches of the path have fewer people.

The climb

The toughest climb in the marathon came at the 32 k mark. It was basicaly an incline for the next 2 miles, and boy did that hurt. 300m into the inclide, I had to stop because of the pain in my feet. I stopped, with a few runners, stretched up my legs and re-started the climb. 100m later, I stopped again. Honestly, I’d not accounted for such a climb at the end of the race, and this was the first major physical challenge this marathon had put towards me. I actually thought I’d walk the rest of the race (I still had 10k to go), but the thought of walking for 2 more hours seemed impossible.

The pain

I got a text message from someone cheering me on to finish the race and honestly that’s sometimes all you need. I decided that irrespective of the pain, I had to reach home, and it was gonna pain irrespective of if I ran slow or fast. So I decided to run the last 10k, without stopping again. The remaining 10 was now basically 50 checkpoints of 500 m each. I set small targets- reach this wierd looking tree I see, reach that turning, reach the next fuelling station etc. You reach each destination and pat yourself on the back, and realize your body can give you more. At the 36k mark, the body runs out of the pre-race glycogen, now it’s mostly your will. And your will depends on knowing that you can finish the race. Your legs are burning in the last 7k of a marathon even if you’re Eliud Kipchogge, and they won’t stop burning unless you pull yourself up and get to the finish line. You take one rather painful step after another at a time, with each time hope rising now that you have less steps to take. And you do this again, and again for around an hour.

The end

I was entering back into the city, as I reached the 38k mark, which meant I could see the crowd of people cheering for their friends. This part was honestly exhilarating, every single person in the crowd is cheering everyone on the track. Each time I passed someone they’d should out “you’re nearly there!!”, and that would keep me going. At this point in time I was running purely on adrenaline, and I overtook quite a few people. The marathon finally culminated into a narrow channel with rails on either side- a ramp walk till the finish line. I was now 1 km away, and I was feeling good. Then 900m, 500m, 400m away. Then you see the finish line, the most beautiful words to any marathon runner. I actually sped up all the way till the finish line. I mean, why not end the run in a cool way? And then I was done, I crossed.

The aftermath

As I crossed, I think I was mostly blank. I remember hugging 2 of my friends who were waiting for me at the finish line and then finding a perch where I sat, with a towel on my face. It can get emotional at the end, and it took me a while before I could digest the fact that I had a medal on my chest. I gulped down some protein and electrolyte, failed in my attempt to get up, and VC’d a few friends from India, glowing with my medal. I could barely walk after (and for the next 2 days) but I think it was worth it.

The next thing?

Running half marathons requires good routine, while running full marathons requires a change of lifestyle. The long runs take up your weekend, and the month leading up to, and 2 weeks after the race are directly affected by the event. I don’t see myself running a full marathon unless it’s one of the big 6 full marathons (getting in is difficult though). I’m moving focus to tennis now, and will run a few halfs at faster paces- I want to so a 90 minute half. A full marathon is one of the few events which humans were never meant to do, and that’s why it pushes you over your physical limits. And that’s why you learn so much about yourself when you do one of them. Give it a shot, you’ll maybe learn something about yourself. See ya.