The Birch Bay Not Marathon 25k - Feb 21 2010

My first 25K. I was overly ambitious.

My mom and I both signed up for the marathon. I'd had a knee problem for the past month but I assumed it wouldn't bother me since I was fine when I ran the Surf City Half two weeks before. I was wrong!

The first 2 miles I was breathing hard because it was 29 outside, and I'm visiting from warm L.A., but my mom was sailing smooth. Mile 4 I started warming up and feeling pretty darn good, still convinced I was running a marathon. There was a big hill I'm guessing around mile 5, which we quickly walked up. By mile 9 I said "17 more miles? pftt, we got this!" and was maintaining a nice pace about 5mph (good for me!).


Somewhere around mile 10 my knee started to burn and ache, and I thought if I just kept on it'd go away *shakes head at self* and during a burst of energy it felt like an explosion behind my kneecap and up my thigh. I had to stop. My poor momma looked SO worried. I felt so bad for her. I walked it off but it was still sore. I kept saying "stupid knee. I'll be fine" but the farther I went, the sharper and hotter the knee.

When we hit the halfway point we had two options: Turn up the hill and start the second loop to complete the marathon, or go straight and call it a 25K. There was a water station and I was happy to stop. My mom asked how I felt and I said "well, I could probably walk the rest of the way." and the girl at the water station said "you probably shouldn't" and my mom and I nodded at each other, thanked the water gal, and went straight.

My little attempts at running went from minutes to seconds. I kept thinking it'd go away like it usually does, but it just got worse and worse. I walked the last mile with a hobbled jog through the finish.

It was dissapointing to see the finishers medals for the full marathon, but I know I did the right thing.

Aside from that, I'm still really happy I finished a 25K! The guy who set it up was really cool. There were 112 Marathon runners and 54 25K runners (well, switch two!). The organizer at one point drove the course and was driving next to us and said "hey, you only got like 30 miles to go!" and laughing and joking with us. He said "wanna jump in the back, I won't tell anyone!" Of course, that didn't happen.