KTW reporter Adam Williams.
Kamloops This Week reporter Adam Williams was in Orlando, Fla. earlier this month, running his first marathon at the 2015 Walt Disney World Marathon. Had he to do it all over again, there’s a few things he would tell himself.
Dear Adam;
So, you’re going to run a marathon, eh? Let me tell you, around mile 23 you’re going to think this was the stupidest idea you’ve ever had. But, we’ll talk more about that later.
It’s better we start from the beginning.
You’ll thank yourself for all the training you did before the race. Remember when you started running in February 2014 and could barely do three kilometres without keeling over?
Well, you did the right thing working your way up to the marathon distance, doing a 10-kilometre race at Boogie the Bridge and a half-marathon at the Kamloops Marathon. It’s amazing what a few months can do.
Don’t get me wrong, you’re still going to feel like you’re dying in the final stretch, and you’re definitely going to have a minor meltdown when you’re no longer able to keep up with your girlfriend at mile 24, but it could have been so much worse, right?
Speaking of training, don’t look too far ahead. Because, seriously, training for the marathon is a marathon in itself.
You’re going to be more familiar with the downtown YMCA-YWCA and the Rivers Trail than you are with ol’ what’s her name who sits at the desk across from you. You know, the girl who you spent all your weekends with back when you had a life and friends? Yeah, her.
But, the training will be worth it. You’re not able to fully comprehend it right now, but 26.2 miles (or 42 kilometres) is stupid far, especially when you’re running it.
Even though you started months in advance and you’re pretty committed to this idiotic long-distance running thing, you won’t truly be prepared for how mind-numbingly far 42 kilometres is.
You’ll do it, but you have no idea right now how hard it will be.
And, remember all those people you used to make fun of?
The ones you would see out for a jog on Saturday morning when you were hungover, bleary-eyed and maybe still a little bit drunk?
TALK TO THEM.
They’ve done races like this before and, despite their fondness for organic foods and their love of pants that are way too tight to be worn in public, they’re good people.
Depressing side note: A year from now, you’ll be one of them.
Back to how you’ll be feeling at mile 23 — I’m going to level with you: You’re going to hurt.
Despite having run 30 kilometres in training and despite thinking you have the whole mental aspect of the race figured, the last 10 kilometres are going to be rough. Your quads will be screaming, you’re going to want to give up, you’re going to realize that no matter how far you pushed yourself in training, running for five hours straight is lunacy.
But — and this is a big but — if you absorb no other part of this marathon of a letter, absorb this: You can do this.
The pain will be bad, but you can run through it. It will be mentally trying, but you’ll find your body can take you places your mind didn’t think it could.
It’s a seemingly insurmountable distance, but you can run one more step, you can always run one more step.
And, heck, you’re running a marathon in Disney World!
Fireworks are going off around you, the characters of your childhood are cheering you on, you get the VIP tour of the Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Epcot, the Animal Kingdom, ESPN’s Wide World of Sports and the Walt Disney World SPEEDWAY — it’s pretty much the most positive environment you could find to run 42 idiotic kilometres in.
It might seem daunting, you might be worried, you might think you have bitten off more than you can chew, but this race will show you how strong you really are. It will be the best thing you have ever done.
And, at the end of the day, when you cross that finish line — because you will cross that finish line — you’ll be a marathoner.
And no one can ever take that away from you.
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