2011: Post Marathon

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Where to begin….Thank You, for all of you have helped me raised close to $7,000 towards the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.
This isn’t going to be the traditional post marathon email with the entire weekend broken down by the hour.  There is no need to.  I blew up during the marathon and the extremely disappointing and embarrassing 3 hours and 27 minutes which it took to run was only a small part of the amazing Marathon Weekend.
http://youtu.be/o5YJfPBqPNE
3 hours 27 minutes….
It was the 2 hours at the Pasta Dinner the night before the Marathon where I sat with 2 families who had both lost children to cancer.
It was the 2 seconds in which I hugged one of those mothers from the night before at Mile 25.
It was the 2 hours after the marathon where as teammates we shared our stories of victory and defeat on the infamous course where the world fastest marathon was run just hours before we each crossed the finish line and the fastest times by both American men and women were ran.
It was the 2 hours at the hotel bar where we drank away the sweat from our faces and the muscles which we destroyed.
It was the 3 hours in which we drank and danced in celebration of our accoplishment….raising close to $4 million for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.
What happened?  I was fighting as best as I could.  Probably up until mile 16-18 I was on course to break 3 hours.  I was just exhausted.  Up until that point I was working so hard to keep pace and I just couldn’t do it.  I had a teammate pulling me.  Jeff is a 2:40 marathon runner and he was pacing me most of the way.  By the time the Newton Hills devoured me my leg muscles were all shot.  I was out there for to long.  I have not cramped like that since NYC 2007.  Walk 15-20 seconds, run 2-4 minutes and repeat.  At mile 25 I almost fell off the course.  My muscles all went into contraction at once.  It was as if I was suspended in the air for 2 minutes being electrocuted as every muscle from my calves, hamstrings, quads, inner thighs, ass checks all contracting in a tearing sensation.  I tried to fall to the ground to make the pain stop but I had no control over my body.  But I knew if I went down I would not get up and finish.  A Dana Farber friend of mine reached over the barricade and grabbed me to the side.  It was just not my day.
Why?  The 2 months leading up to the marathon have been the most trying and fatiguing months of my life.  With the two jobs, the training, and personal things, the candle wasn’t burning at both ends, it was burnt out in the middle.  I can’t blame all the fatigue on the overnight trip to Dallas on Thursday and Friday before the marathon but I am sure it did not help.  And the trip turned out to be the greatest decision I have made in a long time.  But now I know that I do not want to continue living the path I have been on for so long.  And the future is extremely bright.
3 hours 27 minutes and 6 months of training went wasted. A personal saying which I adopted shortly after my accident is simply “what are you going to do about it?”  I have been knocked down so many times in life, I have learned you just have to get up, find your swagger, and go at it.So what did I do?
http://youtu.be/sVzvRsl4rEM
I ran another marathon.
Last weekend, I spent an amazing weekend with Dri and others in Monterey California and I competed and finished the “Boston to Big Sur Challenge”.  2 Marathons, 2 Coasts, 2 Weeks….and get this…both marathons with times of 3:27/3:28.  And I had fun!  I ran Big Sur with no goal, no pace, and a smile.  Yeah I pressed the clock for awhile.  I was on pace for a 3:16 until about mile 18 but I got tired, shit happens.  And I cramped with a few hundred yards to go, but my “teammate” was there to pick me up.

So what is next for JohnnyMarathon?After Big Sur I told my “teammate” that I didn’t want to run anymore marathons for awhile.  They just were not fun anymore, I had lost my passion.  But I did tell my “teammate” that I would run her first with her..turns out that may be this fall.
After having dinner with Barbara last night, there are still some unanswered questions and plans.  She had a bit of a smirk when I told her that I ran the whole Marathon in CA.  She called me last Thursday night and I know she was trying to talk me into one of the shorter races but I politely let that call go to voicemail.  I could tell she was not happy but not surprised at the same time.  Bottom line Barbara knows there is sub 3 hours in me.  Shit, all the training had me at 2:50 and change.  And she wants us to get there.  For me?  I have no clue…I got my swagger back, I am back in the gym, I was on my bike tonight and my first Tri is less than a month away.  I registered for a few more west coast events today.  And for now I just have about half dozen events planned for the summer.  Time to focus on my bike and try to get into some water.
From the grateful keyboard of JohnnyMarathon, Thank You all for once again coming on this journey with me for a 4thyear.  Next year is #5!  So far we have raised I believe over $23,000 in the 4 years I have been involved with Dana Farber.  Thank You all so very much for being so generous.  Every donation carries a million wishes and chances of hope.  But we are never done, my teammates and I will still battle Mission Possible: A World Without Cancer.There is still plenty of time to donate and I am about $1200 short of my personal goal to Dana Farber.  Help me get there please.  Be a hero…it feels pretty damn good!www.JohnnyMarathon.com
And for John Markiewicz…I have my smile.