When I'm writing the memory of this race, it's already 1.5 half year later but the emotions are still vivid. By no means this was the most extreme thing we both did in our life. But let me write the whole story.
When we came back to Poland in 2015 we were pretty fit after weekly excursions to the mountains. And we also made a plan to climb Mont Blanc the next summer. We had never run before but we both decided it would be the best way to keep our fitness level and prepare to the climb which would be very dificult in terms of needed stamina. And so we started running. I kind of immediately knew I needed the aim and kind of immediately knew this aim would be the marathon. And we both kind of immediately started to like running. But the story ended very quickly as I got pregnant with Kamila. I guess Radek didn't have the motivation to train on his own and we both stopped our preparation. 3 months after giving birth to Kamila I did my first 4 km. My legs felt like concrete but I felt exhilirated like never. I was very happy to be able to train again. And so the training began. I think it was around march that we decided we would like to enroll for Szczecin Marathon which would take place 4 months later. I reached out to Ewa Huryń who is an acknowledged runner and writes running plans and I was very serious about the preparation. Of course, from the time perspective I know I wanted it too much and pushed it too hard but sometimes heart takes over the reason. Anyway, we didn't start in Szczecin Marathon. I got an injury after the halfmarathon I did in May and had to take a break from running. So we set up the new goal - Poznań Marathon.
My preparation to this race was very poor. Radek's not perfect either but still better. It was a difficult venture for us as Kamila was still too young to leave her in Szczecin, so we took her, my mum and my sister with us. I am very grateful for the support I got from both of them along the preparation and the run itself.
An so, we found ourselves on the starting line. Very insecure but also pretty excited. Radek was aiming for 4:00 and me for 4:30. And oh boy, how we missed those estimations :) Together with us was our friend Marcin, who is a very experienced runner and did countless marathons already.
Long story short - we both started way too fast for our possibilities and for both of us it was not a good day for running. I'll tell the story from my perspective but I know Radek's is very similar. I guess after 7 km I already knew this wouldn't be a walk in the park and that something was not OK with me. On 10th km I had my first crisis... Halfway through, after running for 2h 15 min and having 21 km behind I simply couldn't imagine continue running... I remember that moment very clearly. I stepped over the halfway point line and I was totally devastated and wanted to end my misery. Somewhere around ~30th km I encountered my friend Karot. This was the joliest moment of the whole run! Afterwards he told me I looked like in very bad shape... Somewhere around ~33rd km I started crying. The whole time I was thinking: I can't do it anymore and it's still so bloody far to the finish line. Yet again, I got a stomach upset which only made things worse. Radek told me he was thinking to withdraw during the course... The feelings and the misery was very intense. But we both made it finally. And on the finish line our first words were: never again!
Radek's time was 4h 15min 03s and mine was 4h 45min 31s. I don't exaggerate when I say I still have thrills when I recall that race. But who cares, I could cross out "marathon" from my life bucket list.
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