day 391: I RAN MY FIRST HALF MARATHON!!!

So, my time in Peru has been just a series of firsts and one of my personal goals for these two years has been taking more risks and trying new things.

I just ran my first half marathon. The International Marathon in Pacasmayo was held the 1st of July. I don't know if you recall, but my site is just about 10-15 minutes from Pacasmayo and I had been more or less training to run 21km for 2 or so months.

Here's the problem- I have no markers to indicate my distance so I've just been running based on time. By the time the marathon rolled around, I'd run a maximum of about 1.5 hours in total and I figured, hey- good enough for me!

Yea... here's a break down of what was going on in my head the day of the race:

5:00am: WAKE UP! Holy crap, I'm nervous. Shoot, I didn't get enough sleep. EHRMAGAWD I'm not hungry, god that was a lot of pasta last night. Should I eat something? So many butterflies in my tummy. No, calm down, eat something or you're not gonna have the energy to run later. EAT SOMETHING.

5:30am: Ok, good, bread with some tuna stuff. Maybe that tuna stuff wasn't a good idea. Isn't fish supposed to be good for you? What if I puke cause I ate tuna so early in the morning? My stomach does NOT feel good right now. Uh oh. Whatever, I'll be fine, time to get ready.

6:00am: Good job, you're dressed. Let's pack some stuff for showering after the race then. Let's see, clothes, shampoo, soap, uhm... what else? Do I need anything else? Oh god, I'm going to forget something and hate myself for not bringing it. I pinned my number on, I have my running shoes on, oh! Put on your contacts! Ok... now what.

6:10am: Let's watch some Mad Men, that'll calm me down.

6:45am: OH CRAP! Lost track of time, holy crap, drink some water and get to Pacasmayo!

7:00am: Yay! Look at all these volunteers, all set and ready to go for an awesome run! God, I'm so nervous. My tummy really doesn't feel good. That tuna was a seriously bad idea. Drink water.

7:15am: Omg Omg Omg Omg. At the starting line. Woooooooo so nervous. Wow, look at all these people dressed up and looking strong. Oh god, that woman looks like she's going to flllllly through this race. Oh gosh, I have to pee.

7:25am: I love Peace Corps.

7:26am: Have to pee have to pee have to pee have to pee have to pee have to pee have to pee. NO I DON'T!

7:34am: AAANNNNDDDD WE'RE OFF! Yea, yea, yea, go run ahead of me, I don't care. I'm here to finish, not place.

7:45am: The very first hill... god, this giant cement mountain is gonna suck.

7:48am: Woah, got up that thing, I'm breathing HARD. It's ok, so's everyone else, this is going to be an interesting race. Oh hey! Look at that, now we're running on the road. Coolsies.

8:10am: No, I don't need that water or powerade in a bag yet, thank you very much, here's a little finger wagging at you as I pass by- but thanks for the offer anyway!

8:30am: Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow, running down hills is not fun for my knees. Oh crap, I'm going to have to run UP this thing on the way back, huh? Arghhh.... but you know what? I'm not even sweating that much, my breathing is pretty solid, this is good!

8:45am: Hey! Is this the half way point? We're in Jequetepeque and aw, how adorable! So many people are out to cheer us on! Ah! I know all these people! Hello! Hello! Hola! Boost of energy! Awesome!

9:00am: I'm dying. This is the longest I've run during training. Why don't they put more distance markers?! How far have I been running? WHERE AM I!? WHY WON'T THEY PUT THE KILOMETER MAR- oh, 12km.

9:02am: .................

9:03am: I'VE ONLY RAN A MAX OF 12KM TO TRAIN FOR THIS!? OH GOD! HOW MANY KILOMETERS ARE LEFT???

9:10am: NINE. I'M GOING TO DIE.

9:15am: Alright, no, you'll be okay, you got through all those hills back up and now your legs feel like jelly. That's cool, you just gotta get over this wall, you'll be fine! and what? look at that, you're back where you started and there's only a few kilometers left! I don't think you have to go much further, just down that concrete hill you started at- owowowowowowoowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowow shit. That hurt.

9:20am: I have no idea where I'm going. I wonder how far I have left to go. Dear god, my legs are burning. Take a breather, Sue Song, just walk off some of this.

9:25am: ..... That there is Zack, returning and finishing his run. He was waaaayy ahead of me. If he's just coming back now... Holy crap, this is going to be further than I thought. Better start running again.

9:35am: This is what death feels like. My knees feel like jelly. I'm running on desert sand and crap tons of rocks. This is not fun. Why did I sign up for this? Why did this sound like a good idea? Oh god, another water station. I WANT ALL OF THE POWERADE.

9:40am: Why were those powerades given to me in plastic bags? I got half of it in my mouth and the other half is all over my face/hands. Sticky. So Sticky. I'm going to walk as I drink the next few of these.

9:41am: STOP WALKING. RUN.

9:42am: OOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWOWOWOOWOWOOOOWOWOOWOWOWOWOWOW FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU MY KNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ow ow ow ow ow, sht frack faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaadge! Aw crap, knee just gave out. What do I do? Well, brush off the dirt and rocks sticking from falling and limp on, I guess.

9:45am: What if I really jacked up my knee? Would this half be worth it?

9:45:30am: Yes.

9:47am: Alright, well you've only got like another 2 or 3 km left, you might as well just walk what you can and run when it feels better, but you're going to finish this thing!

10:00am: AWW! My friends who finished came back to find me! God, I love Peace Corps Volunteers! You can do this! Run!

10:05am: HOLY MOTHER OF CHRIST THIS IS PAINFUL. Wipe away the tears, keep going, both calves cramping? You can keep going. My knees are now cramping? That's just weird. I've never felt that before. What a seriously weird sensation. Almost there.

10:15am: CROSS THAT FINISH LINE. Oh god, I FINISHED. I'M AWESOME. YES GIVE ME THAT MEDAL. I AM AMAZING. I SERIOUSLY NEED MEDICAL ATTENTION. SOMEONE GIVE ME ICE AND MORE POWERADE.


That was more a less a breakdown of what was going on in my brains as I ran. I felt SO SORE the next day but thankfully a PCT who was in Pacasmayo shadowing a volunteer had a knee brace and lent it to me for the day so I felt a bit better. A couple friends from another department were visiting so I went to go see them in Trujillo the next day and we went and got these massages- shiatsu and normal- from a treatment center run by blind masseuses. Yea, it was really cool and oh so wonderful. I've never had a professional massage before and this was another first for me.

It will def not be my last. I came out of there purring.

We went and had some Papa John's pizza, which was a huge treat, and the first time I've taken advantage of their Buy One Get the Second for Only One Sole (like a quarter in the states)... I bought and ate an entire family sized pizza. Well, I managed to get half of it before I felt seriously ill, but I ate the rest of it later that night and more some this morning!

So all in all, a fantastic day of firsts. Sadly, I lost my voice from screaming on the day of the marathon (cheering on runners and later that night, being obnoxious while celebrating with my friends) but totally worth it. I have a million meetings happening tomorrow but today is the 4th of July and I'm going to be taking a mini reprieve to celebrate the day of independence of my wonderful country!

I hope all of you are doing amazing things in your life, and happy independence day to all friends and family back home! Love and miss you guys, always!!! Send letters or fun packages if you get the chance cause mail is worth its weight in gold to me, but otherwise I'll see you all in another year's time!

Peace, Love, and Liberty for all.
Sincerely,
Sue