Second 26.2 – Shamrock Sportsfest Marathon第二個 26.2 – Shamrock Sportsfest Marathon 紀實

I enjoyed this marathon. It was like a festival which attracted almost two thousand marathon participants. We ran under the sunshine, towards the wind, with the seagulls, and along the beaches.

Most importantly, I finished it. I thought that I would have dropped out at some point, because one of my tendons or ligaments between my right hamstring and calf was over-stretched, and I had to cut down my training. But, I kept running; so many people were there running with me, I never had to feel lonely. So many spectators were lining up, waiting for me to pass them in order to give me an encouraging clap. So many volunteers were cheering me on, asking me to stay motivated. Therefore, I kept running and because I knew, at the finish line, somebody was waiting for me.

A marathon is hard and I am still a novice runner. Although I learned that pacing is extremely important for a distance race, I still ran faster in the first half than I wanted myself to. I am not a fast runner, and I hadn’t trained enough for this race. I told myself to stay at the pace of twelve minutes a mile; however, every time my ipod delivered me some song which I know how to sing, I ran faster. Every time a seagull opened its wings and glided above me, I ran faster. Every time I saw a mileage marker in the bright green St. Patrick color, I ran faster. For the first thirteen miles, I often ran between ten and eleven minutes a mile.

I felt great after finishing a half marathon, just like how I felt the first time in New York. Although my conscious mind had known that my pace was too fast, my body didn’t want to admit it until mile 15. When no more white angels kept telling me white lies, I started to feel very tired, and suddenly every condition seemed to work against me: the sun was too bright and warm, the wind was too strong, and the road was never-ending.

I had to use subtraction to keep myself motivated. “After another mile, you will only have 10 miles left.” “Once you pass the mile 20, it is just a 10K race.” “There are only four miles left. You can do it. Remember last time after you swam and biked you could still run at a pace of less than ten minutes?”

The subtraction trick kind of worked. I felt I was dying at mile 19, but I hang on for another mile just to turn the whole thing into a 10K. After that, every mileage marker was a relief. However, also after mile 20, I couldn’t manage my pace anymore. The only thing I could do was to run as fast as possible, and whatever pace I got was my pace. I couldn’t ask for more. Finishing the race was everything unless my body gave up first.

The last mile was extremely long, probably because I kept thinking “I am almost there,” therefore my mind was over excited. I kept wondering where the mile 26 marker was and where the finish line was. When I spotted them, they looked so remote, and I felt that I had to run so much harder to reach them.

I finished at 4 hours 45 minutes and 6 seconds based on the time chip. I can’t help but wonder “Oh, if I hadn’t had to go to the bathroom at mile 17, would that mean I could drop the damn extra 6 seconds?”


我挺中意這次的馬拉松比賽的。光只統計參加馬拉松單項的人，就將近有二千人，真好像一場嘉年華會一般。更別說，跑者乘著風、伴著海鳥、沐浴在陽光下、欣賞沿途的海灘風光。

最重要的是，我跑完了。本來因為右腿後方，大腿和小腿接壤處附近，似乎有一條筋過份延展了，所以這幾個月來，特意減少跑步的訓練量，換成從事他種的運動。也因此，在參賽之前，一直以為大概跑到半途，我就得被迫棄權了。沒想到，我持續地跑著。也許是因為參賽的人這麼多，所以沒有一刻感到寂寞；也許是因為許多觀賽者，排成一列一列，就等著你的到來，送你一個鼓勵的high five；也許是因為許多義工，不停地搖旗吶喊著，要求你要堅持下去。所以，我就這樣一直跑著，因為，在終點線，有個人正在等著我的歸來。

馬拉松不是件容易的事，而我認真開始跑步，也不過是近兩年的事。雖然我知道，參加長距離的賽事，配速是相當重要的，卻，前半段中，我還是跑出比想維持住的還要快的速度。我跑得不是挺快，之前也沒有針對此賽事好好訓練，於是，我告訴自己，前半段需得保持12分鐘完成1英里的速度。偏偏，每次ipod傳來熟悉的樂曲，我就忍不住跑得更快起來；每次海鷗展翅滑翔過頭頂的天空的時候，就忍不住跑得更快起來；每次看到因為St. Patrick Day而裝飾成亮綠色的距離標記，就忍不住跑得更快起來。結果，在前十三英里，得到的平均配速，界於十和十一分鐘之間。

完成半馬的距離的時候，身與心煥然一新，感覺是再好不過，這和第一次在紐約州跑馬拉松的經驗如出一轍。可我心頭清楚的知道，前半段是跑得嫌稍快了一些，只是身體等到跑了15英里之後，才願意承認這個事實。但身體和心靈意見歸於一致，就再也沒有美麗的天使，告訴我白色的謊言，我開始覺得疲累起來，似乎天地間所有的一切都開始和我做對：陽光太耀眼、太溫暖；風太強勁；路無限延伸。

不得不開始用減法的邏輯來鼓勵自己：「再跑一英里，就『只』剩下十英里了喔！」「只要過了二十英里地標，這場賽事就不過只是10K罷了。」「還有四英里就結束了，你辦得到的，上次不是游泳、騎車後、還可以跑進平均小於十分鐘的配速嗎？」

減法邏輯還真有些效果。在19英里的時候，我真覺得我快不行了，就是那個「將馬拉松轉換成10K」的念頭，幫助我又撐過了一英里。在那之後，每看到一個距離標記，就是安慰。也是在跑過二十英里之後，我再也沒有能力配速，只能盡力地跑，跑什麼速度是什麼速度，已經沒有辦法再多要求酸疼的雙腿了。心裡能夠想的就是完成它，除非身體先舉了白旗。

最後一英里，遠比我想像地還要漫長。大概是因為跑過25英里標記之後，我不斷地跟自己說「就快到了，就快到了」這樣鼓勵的結果，卻適得其反。我過份地期盼趕快看到26英里的標記，對於終點線太過於望穿秋水。等到我真的看到它們，它們卻顯得好遙遠，身體必須加倍的努力，才能更接近一點點。

最後，是以四小時四十五分又六秒完成了這次的馬拉松。腦袋不聽使喚地轉著：「如果不是在十七英里的時候，必須上那個該死的廁所，是不是就不會看到這個該死的多出的六秒鐘？」