I knew a guy who ran a marathon once... He died

lots of people who have run marathons have died. millions even.
Similarly, I have survived every earthquake that has occured in my life span.

mmmm...Marathon...
≡ Click to see image ≡

mmmm... Marathon...
≡ Click to see image ≡

mmmm...Marathon...
≡ Click to see image ≡

mmmm...Marathon...
≡ Click to see image ≡

*limps into the thread*

Well, I survived. Actually, I did way better than I deserved to, given my woefull lack of preparation and I feel much better now than I deserve to - my calf muscles are killing me and my thighs are a bit sore, but not as bad as I expected.

I managed to get around in 25:40, which is not too bad and placed me around mid-field for my age group, which I am pretty pleased about. I had visions of collapsing in the first kilometre, frothing at the mouth and clutching my chest, but I actually felt pretty good for most of it. I started at a pace that I felt comfortable with, got passed by a lot of people on the way out, but passed most of them (and a few others as well) on the way back and was actually surprised when I started to see people coming back the other way, which meant I was almost half-way.

I screwed myself up a bit by mistakenly thinking I could see the grandstand that was beside the finish line, so I picked up the pace, only to realise after another 500m or so that it was the wrong grandstand and that I still had at least another kilometre to go. It was then that I "hit the wall" and shortly after, my body just said "that's it, we're walking from here". Just after I stopped runnning, a couple of other members of our team caught up with me and encouraged me to get running again, so I only ended up walking for about 20 m.

All in all, I was pretty pleased with my effort and am really glad I didn't chicken out.

dg, it sounds to me like you did a fantastic job! Especially considering how bad you thought it was going to be. Congrats!

nice one, dg! So when's the 10K?

Next year, maybe. I think I would have to prepare for that, though - 10k is more than just twice the distance of 5k, it is several orders of magnitude further in terms of the body's ability to cope. I have thought about having a serious go at the 5k next year, though - I reckon I could have a shot at winning it with the right preparation.