I ran a marathon! — Vegan Xicana

Close to 2 months ago I ran my first marathon. It was an enlightening and challenging experience on so many levels and for me it is important to share about.

Preparation

I have been running long distances for several years. Training consisted of running long distances on the weekends at local parks and shorter distances during the week. I followed several programs while training. I used the Nike+ Application for a bit, however it was hard to track and didn’t work with my schedule. On some instances it deleted my progress or failed to track appropriately. I also searched online for plans other people have used. Below are some that worked for me. I read so many articles, looked on pinterest forever, and so much more but at some point I needed to just make sure I was staying consistent with my running. I wish that I would have done more uphill runs, incorporated more stretching exercises, and done more 18-20 mile runs, however when the time came to do the run I knew there was no turning back. I also went on vacation a couple of weeks during my training and while I still ran a bit, it meant that I missed a long weekend run for my training. All in all everything worked out.

Accountability and support

My partner was also doing the marathon and while he runs way faster than me, it was encouraging to know that someone else was holding me accountable to train and to finish the marathon. Initially, I was hesitant to tell people that I was running because I was afraid that I wouldn’t finish. Eventually I gave in and decided to share and it was great because people held me accountable and were really encouraging.

Spiritual and Emotional

The run was a truly emotional and spiritual experience for me. From the moment I was stretching with my partner to the moments when I felt like giving up, there were signs and messages reminding me that I wasn’t alone.

One highlight was when my partner guided me in deep breathing exercises and as we were wrapping up and heading to the corrals, he said something along the lines of ‘when you feel like giving up remember your ancestors are with you’ as soon as he said that I heard the healing sound of chachayotes and a man passed by. I almost burst into tears and knew that yeah, my ancestors were definitely with me and that they’re always around. The same could be said throughout the race as different drummers from varying communities of color offered their music to uplift us. I truly felt that.

Privilege

Another thing I reflected on as I ran was my privilege in being able to run. From an accessibility perspective,the monetary cost of the race, the physical strain, the countless hours of preparation and so much more. During one instance as I passed through Echo Park Lake all I could think of was of what a privilege it is to be able to run as a Xicana Mexicana muxer. I kept thinking about the women in my family and what they have had to sacrifice so that I could have the opportunity to run and do something for myself- and really all the opportunities and decisions I am able to make over my body. At my age, the previous generations of women in my family have had to be married, have families, haven’t been able to pursue an education and have not had an opportunity to do things for themselves such as traveling, taking on hobbies etc. This isn’t to say that people and women that are married and families can’t do all these things, rather that I had so much more flexibility to carve out time, money, energy to prepare for this run. So while this simple a run to some people, to me this symbolized so much more.

Healing Inner Child

Since I was a middle schooler, running has helped me cope and manage my anxiety and depression. It was the one thing I didn’t totally suck at even if I wasn’t the fastest. It pushed me to be outside, breathe the air and feel free. I definitely felt that my inner child was smiling from ear to ear during that run even in the moments when I was hot, sweaty, and my back and legs wanted to give up on me. I remember when two miles felt like such a long distance. During the marathon, On mile 19th I burst into tears. Deep, precious, heartfelt tears- and while my shy self was embarrassed that I was having such an intense experience in public I knew that it was a breakthrough moment for me and that I needed to ride it out. I’m sure baby me is somewhere smiling that I was able to finish something I started.

After care

I didn’t have the best aftercare. I stayed at my parent’s house and had a family celebration so I couldn’t nap or chill out.

Eating was so hard- what they don’t tell you is that if you breathe through your mouth for a long period of time the roof of your mouth will be swollen and eating will be painful. That went away about 3 days later. So I tried to eat soft food. My first meal was rice, beans, and nopales. It was nice to have a yummy home cooked meal. I also don’t plan on drinking gatorade in a while, I had too much of it and it tastes gross to me now.

I definitely recommend doing more aftercare like taking a salt bath, ice packs, more stretching etc. I got to take the day off after the race, so I got to sleep in and chill out a bit so that helped a bit but I definitely needed to ease back into running and lots of movement.

Things that worked for me:

These chia gel thingies were great for me. They gave me the energy I needed during my training. On one of my first long runs I didn’t eat anything during the run and then ate a banana after finishing and got a huge stomach ache and even threw up. I felt so bad I couldn’t even eat during the rest of the day. I quickly learned that I needed to have some calories during my running to hold me over.

A running belt was so helpful when I ran in tracks with little to no water and to keep my things secure. I didn't use it for the actual run as I knew there would be water along the way. I kept my ID and phone secure on my arm band.

I love these headphones, they don’t fall off and stay in place. I’ve been using them for years, the only thing is that the pods sometimes fall and then you have to replace them. Luckily, they come with spares.

A cap was important to protect my scalp and keep me somewhat cool. It also helped keep my hair in place.

A playlist- I made an upbeat playlist that included songs I listened to when I trained and some of my favorite upbeat songs. I tried to arrange them by order of when I thought I’d be at a certain mile. If I knew that I needed an uplifting song on mile 24- I tried to place uplifting songs around the time I thought I would be on that mile. I also had a couple of songs that reminded me of loved ones. In the future I would ask loved ones to offer songs they’d want me to listen to so that I could remember them while I was running.

Texting- I definitely appreciated all the texts of encouragement. I was able to see them on my fitbit watch. I would definitely ask loved ones to send more next time.

Thank you for reading! I hope this is helpful for you <3

Saludos,

Maribel