My First Marathon!

(December 2009) I’ve been running long distance for the past year and a half. I originally did it because I played organized flag football and my conditioning was terrible. I wanted to improve my cardio as well as lose weight and get faster. Running a marathon was also one of those things I’d always wanted to do anyways

I did 3 half marathons and some 5ks before I finally set my sights on a full marathon which is 26.2 miles. The marathon I picked to do as my first was the inaugural Rock n Roll Marathon in Las Vegas on December 6, 2009.

I was pretty nervous on race day considering the most I’d ran up to that point was just 18 miles and I didn’t know what to expect. I’d been fine up until I’d seen a video of the entire course at the expo the day before. I remember watching it with my friend, Andrew Galvin, and telling him, “I can’t wait! It needs to be tomorrow already!” But I started to get tired just watching as the video went on and on and on! My coach, Jim O’Hara, told me to just pace myself the first 18 miles and keep myself hydrated as well as energized with my gels and after I hit mile 18, just kick it into high gear.

I put on my favorite race outfit: my white long sleeve, white shorts, red top, and my lucky red bandanna. I lightly jogged from my hotel to the starting line and then stretched out and waited for the race to begin with the other 7000+ in the 28 degree weather. I’ve lived in San Diego my whole life and have grown used to our perfect weather so this particular cold morning was the coldest I’d ever felt all my life!

The starting line had Vegas showgirls and tigers in cages. I jokingly thought to myself that everyone could PR at this race if they released the tigers from the cage to chase us haha. But realistically, the last thing a first year race would want would be another Siegfried and Roy incident hahaha. After the national anthem, fireworks were shot into the cold morning sky and the race began!

It was still so freakin’ cold at the start, I actually ran the first half mile with my hands in my pockets

The Rock n Roll marathons are known for people running in Elvis Presley costumes so that took my mind off the nervousness and possibility of going out too fast. There was one particular Running Elvi that cracked me up at around mile 8. He was dressed as Elvis in his latter days with a fat gut and had a little stereo that was playing Elvis’ music. I told him as I ran by, “Hey man! Love the get up! You’re doing awesome!” He replied in a perfect Elvis accent, “That’s right bebe! I’ve got a date with that peanut butter sandwich waiting fo’ me at the end!” The costumes were great with 3 guys running in mariachi suits as ‘Los 3 amigos’ and another guy as Batman’s sidekick, Robin.

The first 10 miles went really well. I was having fun and embracing the feeling of being out here. All the people in costumes with lots of laughter and jokes helped me finally ease into the race. At mile 10 though, the road split and the marathoners broke off from the Vegas strip onto the neighborhoods. The second we broke off, it went completely silent as everyone was so focused and/or tired already.

I kept my pace but I got a little cocky because I was running so well and went slightly faster at mile 15. When I finally got to mile 18, I knew I was already starting to feel it!  I was feeling tired but my body was still holding up well as I wandered into the unknown territory: Miles 19-26. I turned it up and totally went into a zone just so I could take my mind off being tired.

At mile 21, I remembered that I had my iPod in my pocket so I took it out and put on one of my favorite running jamz, ‘They Don’t Care About Us’ by Michael Jackson and got a big jolt of energy and started running really hard. Too hard though! I should have waited till about mile 23 before I turned on the jets so I ended up hitting the wall at mile 24 and my legs were beginning to cramp!

The last 2 miles were pure hell. My quadriceps were cramping up even more. I’d never felt this feeling before so I stopped to walk a bit and drink fluids because I assumed it was just from dehydration. I would stop and walk then started running again before cramping. Stop to walk and run again before cramping again. I was getting irritated trying to think if I was so caught up in the excitement that maybe I didn’t drink enough fluids as I should have. I kept up this battle in my head for half a mile until I stopped to take another gel. I took the gel and started running again and again my legs cramped up! I realized at that moment that it wasn’t that I was lacking fluids, my legs were just telling me, “STOP TORTURING US YOU ASSHOLE!” hahahahahaha. I stopped and stretched basically all of mile 24 before I said “Fuck it, I’m gonna finish this last mile, balls to the wall!”

I ignored my cramping and tightness as I tried to get through mile 25 to the finish. Just when I thought things couldn’t get worse, my legs hit a point where they hurt so much that when I stopped to walk, my hamstrings cramped up as well as my quads. In this ironic turn of events it actually hurt so much more to walk then it did to run!

I kept going/limping until I saw the crowd of people and knew that I was close to the finish line! As soon as I knew I was in sight, I ignored my cramping and did my best to look like I wasn’t in any pain. Just to look good in case there were some really cute single girls watching you know?

I crossed the finish line with a time of 4 hours and 33 mins. I was originally upset that I didn’t hit my goal of finishing under 4 hours but after the hell I’d just gone through, I was glad I was FINALLY finished! I had a few tiny tears in my eyes not because I finished my first marathon but because I was so damn happy to finally be finished and not suffer hahahahaha! I think I was still a bit teary eyed in this finisher’s photo lol.

After grabbing my metal, I ended up passing out for a few minutes on a bench at the first hotel I came across on the way back to my hotel. I was tired as hell but afterwards felt great walking around with my friends David and Jose rocking the giant fat medal I’d just received.

All in all, it was one of the most memorable experiences of my entire life. It was painful and difficult but if I can get through this, I can’t wait to see what else I’m capable of in the future!

‘Carlos

The Sixth Aha: Changing Your Reality is a Snap!

Do you ever talk to yourself?

Many people have a postive internal voice that encourages them-especially when they’ve done something good. It’s like their own personal cheerleader: “Go for it!” “Good for you!” “You did it!”

Do you have a voice like that?

Some people have a voice that is more skeptical: “You can’t do that.” “What an idiot.” “You can’t do anything right.” “You’re so clumsy.”

Sometimes, without being aware of it, this skeptical voice talks us out of our dreams. You have a great idea and immediately the voice fires off in your head, “Yeah, but…” followed by a string of reasons why it won’t work.

We call that voice “Mr. Yabut” (or Ms. Yabut, depending on your gender), because he or she is always trying to talk you out of something. Frankly, there are some things that you ought to be talked out of. The Yabuts can serve a useful function-trying to protect you, to keep you out of trouble, but more often than not, the voices react too quickly to stifle your creativity. Instead of a voice of reason, they try to kill the deal before it has a chance to grow. If you let the Yabuts go unchecked they can cause unnecessary anxiety, muddled thinking, poor health-even ruin your life. If that is the case, you need to learn how to silence them and take control of your thought process.

How?

Notice your positive internal voice right now. Where is it? Is it loud or soft? Imagine there is a sound dial that controls the volume of your internal dialogue. Turn up the volume of your positive voice. How does that make you feel? Try finding a volume level that motivates you-that encourages you to be your best.

There is something else you can do to silence the Yabuts for good. You can probably find a thick rubber band in your home or office. When you put this rubber band on your left wrist, it suddenly transforms into a Millionaire Maker. How? Every time you catch yourself thinking a negative or counter productive thouhgt, you snap the rubber band. Yes, it cause pain. The pain cases a “pattern interruption.” Mentally, and perhaps vocally you say “OWW!”

Catch yourself every time you find yourself saying…

“I can’t afford it. That’s out of my league. I’m not good enough. I’m not worthy. I can’t do it. I’m not smart enough. I don’t know where to start. I’m not well enough connected.”

Replace your internal dialogue with words like these:

“I’ll find out how to get connected. I’ll start right now with what I have. I’m smart enough to figure this out. I can do it. I AM worthy. I AM good enough. That IS in my league. I CAN afford it if I really want it.”

Your thoughts have the power to curse or bless. They can lead you to plenty, abundance, surplus, and “have-ness”..or to lack, limitation, deprivation, scarcity, and “have-not-ness.” the choice is yours. You control your thinking. Your thinking controls your behavior. Your behavior controls your results.

The race began Saturday the 31st at 9am and would end Sunday January the 1st at 9am.  The course was a 1.05 mile loop around the beautiful Camelback Park which was basically all flat so I was very confident I could get 100 miles as long as my body held up.

When the race began at 9am I was off at a fast pace but slowed myself down. In addition to getting 100 miles, I wanted to correct the mistakes that had made my past three ultras a disaster. The past three ultra races I went in with the mentality that I had a 50k, 50 mile, and 100 mile race under my belt so I no longer needed to worry about salt tablets, running conservatively, and pacing myself. Some of us have to learn the hard way and I did so when I noticed myself running too fast at the start, I slowed down and took myself back to February when I was doing my first 100 mile race and how cautious I was with my pace and tried to capture that mindset so I could stay in that cautious mentality.

The first 5 hours of the race were great as I was getting my body in a groove and picking spots I would stop to momentarily walk just to preserve my body and legs for later in the day around hour 15 and after. I’d done the calculation and all I needed to do was average 4 laps an hour to hit 100 miles in 24 hours. Those first 5 hours I was doing around an 11-12 minute pace which put me at 5 miles/hr with about a min or two to get in a quick stretch and take my salt tablets all within an hour. At 5 hours I hit 25.25 miles. Things were looking good and I was ahead of schedule.

I started to slow down however and didn’t hit the 50km distance until 6.5 hours into the race. Granted, I’d stopped at mile 15 for a bit for a true break but now the urgency to keep up with the mileage was starting to creep into my mind.

I was feeling fine and with urgency in my mind, I wanted to go into beast mode but I kept telling myself I needed to save myself for the night portion of the race so I continued my routine of walking about 1/4 of each lap and running 3/4 of it.

Around 5:30pm (hour 8.5) my family that lived in Arizona came to visit me so I stopped to talk to them for a bit. After they’d left, I started running again and after finishing that lap, I couldn’t stop thinking about lots of lost time I’d wasted. Although my body felt completely fine, I was beating myself up mentally and having negative thoughts about not being able to hit 100 miles in 24 hours. I went into the coulda, woulda, shoulda mentality and was thinking how dumb I was to sit around for so long during my breaks and why was I walking so much? I kept beating myself up until I stopped and walked a bit with my friend Ed Ettinghausen who told me I really had to pick my battles with the speed and walking but that it was still possible to reach 100 in 24 hours. That simple reassurance was all I needed to change my mentality back to positiveness.

I kept my normal routine except I was reducing the amount of walking I was doing and even ran a few miles without walking. My goal was to have at least 50 miles by the halfway point at the 12 hour mark. I felt myself slowing down again but luckily I talked to a fellow runner on the course and he basically told me that if I really wanted to hit my goal, I’d have to go into beast mode and go balls to the wall. I was still feeling really fresh and had been running fine but I’d just been running too conservative. That’s when I realized my conservative strategy was good for finishing 100 miles but it was too conservative for a 24 hr race so I took off running determined to only stop if I really felt I had to.

Miles 43-64 were probably the greatest of my entire running career because I was in a zone that I never thought would ever be possible. Not only was I at a high mileage point but I was actually running almost all of it! My confidence was back and I was on a high from this realization of the new level of fitness my body had reached.

Heading into the 58 mile mark, I was still on pace to hit 100 miles but I would have to have a pace no slower than 15 min miles because I was starting to slow down even more. I was at around a 13:50-14 minute miles and if I could get my pace back to sub 13 I had a chance of finishing around at 23.5 hours. I kept slowing down but surprisingly, my body was still holding up with just back soreness and I was still running with very little walking. The times I would stop, I would talk to other runners and getting words of encouragement from them and wishing them good luck on their goals as well.

At Miles 62 and 63 I got another jolt of energy  and hit a 12:40 and 13.30 mile and was feeling confident again that I might be able to start cranking out more miles to make up for lost time. However at mile 64, my body finally hit the wall and I was forced to walk the entire mile. I walked and talked to a runner who was running to raise money for a charity. Since I’m big on charity, we had a great conversation and it was the first time all day that I was feeling no pressure from reaching my overall goal of 100 miles. I told him I might stop at this next lap because I might not make it by 24 hours.

Sure enough, when I crossed the line to make it 65 miles, the screen said that my last lap had just taken me 25 minutes to do. I was crushed but at the same time, I was proud of how well my body had held up. I realized that all my strategies and training had prepared my body for 100 miles and if I’d had more than 24 hours, I easily would have finished 100 miles. Except maybe it would have taken me 26-27 hours at the rate I was going. At that point, I decided to stop and ring in the New Year because it was 11:55 ending my race with 65 miles in 15 hours.

So overall, I was proud of my performance and newfound level of endurance. Taking salt tablets did their job as I thought they would. I kept my core cool by putting water on my neck and ice in my bandanna. I ate plenty and found new race foods for future races such as pumpkin pie and pizza bagel bites. Although I didn’t reach my goal, I know my body was in excellent shape to have finished 100 miles if I’d been given more time and I was able to fix all the problems that had plagued me through the past three ultra races which will carry over to finishing future 50 and 100 mile races!

The book basically goes through Tebow’s life beginning with his birth in the Philippines, to his upbringing as a kid on the farm being homeschooled by his mother, to his football career in high school, college, and ending with his first season in the NFL.

It was a great read in which I saw how so many of the things Tebow has been known to draw attention for have been following him since he was a kid. For example, he’s been the victim of what he called “playing position by body stereotype.” In Pee Wee football he was moved to running back despite a year he was successful at quarterback. In high school, he was moved to linebacker. From the point of view of the coaches, it’s understandable because Tebow was more athletic and muscular than the typical quarterback body type.

Another thing I enjoyed about the book was seeing how human Tebow is. For example, he was diagnosed with dyslexia, a reading disorder, that would have prevented him from properly learning had he been at public school as a kid. However since he was homeschooled, his mom taught him at his pace and allowed him the extra time to properly absorb all the information. In addition he talks about the shoulder injury and lower back injury that he fought through during crucial games in college at Florida and also about the crucial losses and mistakes he made in games. These examples are great because it shows his flaws as a human being. I blame the media’s marketing for creating this image that Tim Tebow is some goody two shoes who is absolutely perfect and can do no wrong which is one of the reasons I believe that some people dislike him. But in reading the book, one can see how far from perfect Tebow really is.

The final thing that I enjoyed about the book was all the inspirational quotes and paragraphs that pertain to life itself and which can help with one’s own self improvement. Here are a few I really enjoyed.

“At some point, still in Little League, I believed and imagined that everyone around me was also trying to improve…And that’s when I adopted one of my mantras for getting stronger and better for all my workouts: Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.”

“All those drills, in addition to physical conditioning, were also great psychological and confidence conditioners for us as a team…Because for the next four years, whenever we took the field, we knew that our opponent hadn’t gone through anything similar to what we had. Coach Mick’s mind-set dovetailed perfectly with my mantra: Somewhere he is out there, training while I am not. One day, when we meet, he will win. We were the ones doing the extra work, and we knew it.”

“Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you“-EPHESIANS 4:32

“I’ve missed more than nine thousand shots in my career. I’ve lost almost three hundred games. Twenty-six times, I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeeded.” -Michael Jordan

“You adopt phrases like Best Ever, and yet it doesn’t work out with the fairytale ending. How you respond is important. Do you put your tail between your legs, or do you find the next challenge and press on?”