Priya Jassal

Austin Motorola Marathon

February 17, 2002

During the few days leading up to the marathon, I was really nervous.  I had never done one before and still wasn’t sure if I could run 26 miles.  Surprisingly, day of the marathon I felt great.  I had a yummy baked potato for dinner and a good night’s sleep.  I got to the start around 6:30 and met up with Laura and Bri.  I started out really slowly because I had messed up my IT band on the side of my knee 2 weeks prior. I knew running this marathon would mess it up 10 times worse but I didn’t care at this point. It started hurting right away and the pain was unbearable by mile 6 but I just kept going and tried to think positively.  Finally I was approaching campus and seeing the UT marathon team cheering for me was one of the highlights of the race.  It felt so great seeing all you guys out there cheering.  I thank all of you for coming out and being there because it really made a difference. 

After passing the half way point, the course was familiar territory for me. We were approaching Mopac towards Lake Austin Bld, a path I had run several times before with Austinfit.  It was neat seeing all of the runners ahead of me on the other side of the street, as I was heading down the Lake Austin Bld. Loop.  At about mile 18, the pain in my IT band numbed out. I was a little relieved, but now all the pain was centered in my quads. It felt like they weighed 1000 pounds each.  As I was approaching mile 20, I saw my family. They actually didn’t notice me at first and I had to yell to get their attention.  When they finally saw me, they ran ahead and took a couple of pictures.  At that point, my friend Lauren jumped in and ran the last 6 miles with me.  I’m so glad she did because I was ready to stop and walk at that point, but she kept me going. She told me jokes and kept my mind off the pain and the several miles I had left.  I was getting really hungry around mile 24 and was relieved to see Peter and Sachi passing out candy.  That was a great idea guys J. 

As I saw the finish line, I sprinted as fast as I could. Unfortunately there was no time listed on the clock so I didn’t actually know what time I finished but I was just glad it was over.  I felt like I was floating when I stopped because I couldn’t feel my legs. I was kind of in a daze. It didn’t hit me that I ran a marathon. It still hasn’t hit me yet. This is something I’ve been wanting to do for so long. I’m not sure what happens next but I can’t wait to start my recovery. This just goes to show, you can do anything you set your mind to. Have fun and never give up!