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| LA marathon 2009 |
Hello, my name is Veronica Gonzalez; this is my second semester at Long Beach State. When I was younger I use to hate running or anything that involved exercising but, after joining Track and Cross Country in high school I fell in love with it. I signed up for my very first marathon when I was 16 years old and of course, I was completely terrified. Just knowing that in order to get a medal you have to complete the whole course under 7 or 8 hours(depending on the race) got me thinking, “Can I even finish it in that time limit?” But I knew that my best friend, Xenia, and her dad would stick with me till the last sprint. Since it wasn’t Xenias dad’s first race he pushed us and didn’t allow any walking. 26.2 miles with no walking, you could imagine the joy on our faces. At the starting line, I felt really nervous but also excited. At mile 10, I was confident and thought it wasn’t that bad. At mile 16, I was a little tired but overall okay. At mile 20, I thought my legs were going to fall off! At mile 25, I was in so much pain I wanted to fall over and just lay on the ground. Then finally, I hit MILE 26! The crowd cheered so loud that gave me the energy to sprint that last .2 mile to the finish line. It took me 5 hours and 40 minutes to finish. Even though I walked funny and wasn’t able to go down stairs for a week. It was totally worth it after getting that medal. It’s cool to say that I have 6 marathon medals (one being a half marathon) and that my time has improved to 4 hours and 38 minutes. My family completely supports me. They all go to every race, cheer me on, and make me signs. Each race is around $120 -$140 and it all goes to whatever charity they choose. So you know not only did you do it for yourself, you also did it for others.
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| Right after finishing So i'm posting this video because i thought it was pretty cool. It gives you a good idea on how the event looks like and how exciting it is. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg6hB02V8t8 |
I must say that I admire you for this. Completing six marathons is no mean feat. I look forward to reading your "war stories"...
ReplyDeleteyea marathons are tough. just setting time aside to train is hard. I wish I had 4 or 5 hours a day to set aside for training. When I first started running I ran for about 2 and a half hours and thought I'd run some huge distance. Got home and found I'd only gone a little over 13.5 miles =/
ReplyDeletePS I've found that walking backwards downstairs is less painful. =P
Thankyou William:)
ReplyDeleteHaha to me 13.5 miles is an accomplishment:) Not everyone has the endurance to do that.
Ohh that's interesting. Haha I don't think i should try that though. I'd probably fall down and make myself feel more pain:P
Congratulations girl! It sounds like you are doing a very good job. I've never run in a marathon in my life and for me even running a mile is an accomplishment. I'm really impressed by your story. When I was at school I didn't exercise that much either but since I started college I've been going to the gym, and lately my biggest accomplishment was to bike 10 miles. I guess you are in very good shape and have been working out very hard. I like the fact that the money goes to charity, I think that it makes it more worthwhile to run in the marathon. I look forward to continue reading about your working out experiences through your blogs.
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