What's harder than a Semi-marathon?
Well, a marathon, I guess. But also the next day after the semi-marathon is another right answer. Based on a personal experience.
This Sunday I went to the Comar Marathon in Tunis. There were 3 circuits. A marathon for the elites and that is 42 Km long, A semi-marathon for fit people and that is 21 Km, and one they called "Race for all" and that is only 5 Km long.
Being the arrogant person that I am, I decided to run the semi-marathon. Even though I didn't do much to prepare for it.
Usually, I start the season with a 10 Km event (one they organise near the Lake of Tunis) then I move up to the 18 Km event (the one they organise near the historical city of Carthage) and only after that I would start running semi-marathons.
This year I missed all the previous events and I was left with three choices:
Keep missing the events and stay at home, run the 5 Km version of this one, or force my body and see what happens. The only preparations I did were the occasional biking and climbing I do for fun.
To make things even harder on myself, I decided to go to the start point by bike. Which was a distance of 8 Km.
The event was so impressive.
I didn't know it was that popular with people coming from all over the world to run in Tunis. I heard there were more than 10 thousand participants in the three categories combined.
It was so full of people that I couldn't find my friend Amin at the start point ( the one who pushed/encouraged me to come). I was ahead of him when we started running so we agreed that I would keep to the left to help him find me when he catches up. I mean of course, he's gonna catch up at some point. He already ran 4 or 5 semi-marathons this season.
I was holding back for the first 6 Km hoping he would catch up soon. Then I was in the zone and started keeping up with the people around me and enjoying the moment. After the 10th Km, the pain started creeping up in my ankles and knees. I slowed down a little but kept a reasonable pace. I found a fragile balance between keeping up with some of the people around me and numbing the pain in my legs.
Then something happened
A girl who looked European (probably French) was wearing a t-shirt with the phrase "catch up if you can" written on the back in the Tunisian dialect. I know I should have maintained the balance that I worked hard to achieve. But, for the fun of it, I decided to get triggered by the t-shirt and, as foolish as it sounds, I decided to catch up.
I improved my breathing and pushed myself harder to find a new balance. It wasn't so consistent because the pain made quite a few comeos, so my pace was going up and down. Bus so was hers.
We kept surpassing each other for the next 8 Km or so. Which made the time go fast.
My t-shirt wasn't so innocent either. It had a photo of Pickle Rick and the phrase "I'm Pickle Rick" written on it. I can only imagine the feeling of someone being surpassed by Pickle Rick in a semi-marathon haha.
Anyway, at that point I forgot all about my friend Amin who never caught up with me.
In the last 2 Km, I admitted my defeat to the French girl and barely managed to endure the pain and keep running. I only managed to do it by breathing hard and screaming sometimes using the "tshi" technique I learned from Karaté when I was young.
Then I heard my name from behind. My friends Ghada and Ala and some of their work colleagues were running together. We greeted each other and I decided to finish the last 500 m in style. I ignored the pain and joined them.
Unfortunately, my battery died around the 17th Km, so the Strava record was incomplete but I could recover these stats.
Not so bad for the most part, even compared to my pace when I'm fairly prepared.
After spending some time with my friends until the hype went off and the adrenaline level fell to normal, I took my bike and went home. After another 8 Km bike ride, I charged my phone and apologized to Amin for not meeting him as promised.
That was the #SublimeSunday
Now let's talk about the recovery.
The next day (yesterday) I did those 7k movements when I felt a needle sting with every movement. The pain in my knees and left foot became so bearable that I could almost enjoy it, because it was a sign that I'm getting stronger and that the next time won't hurt as much or at all.
The pain in my swollen right foot, though... made me think twice before making any step. Hopefully, I was stubborn enough to fight the allied forces of pain and laziness.
Today I'm walking faster and feeling less pain. At this rate, I'll be able to plan a climbing session or bike again before the end of this week.
This report was published via Actifit app (Android | iOS). Check out the original version here on actifit.io
