Splat. The noise reverberated throughout the neighborhood, causing a stutter in the step of thousands of nearby runners, who even without witnessing the event, knew what had happened.
A fellow runner had hit the wall.
This is not the wall of Humpty Dumpty or the wall that Trump would build. This is the narrow, easy to navigate around, if you’re focused on good training and nutrition, wall of the marathon.
Course officials made this statement “we don’t place the wall there intentionally, in fact, we spend a lot of time in emails and during the expo handing out information to help prevent this from happening. But we simply can’t monitor each individual runner.”
And of course because we all sign a liability waiver filled with legal jargon we don’t understand, the race cannot be held liable for the the Splat.
Luckily, medical staff was on hand and as the runner weaved wearily past their aid station, they stepped out to offer a nice warm paper cup of Gatorade. As the runner gulped the orange liquid dripping from their chin, mixed with less salty than normal tears, they started to smile.
No strike that, they started to dry heave.
What is the wall?
The Marathon Wall stands about waist high, which is why it’s often such a punch in the gut. We can see over it to what lays beyond, but haven’t the energy to actually hurdle it while running.
Instead, we must slam in to it, pause, cry, regroup and haul our weary legs over as though we’ve encountered a Spartan obstacle. It might take three or four tries, but once over a startling wind rises up behind us and our feet begin to move.
Not like lightning, just like a turtle that finally wants to cross the road.
To better understand the wall, we reached out to numerous veteran runners and coaches. Nearly all said they’d had a run in with the wall that left them with emotional scars for a least a few weeks, but some for decades.
“After the Splat, I swore I’d never run another marathon. It was so painful, I mean why would I put myself through that.” Upon hearing this statement, we questioned in they’d read our story about runners spreading fake news. None the less, they stood by their statement, even though they have now completed 10 marathons.
This is not the wall of Humpty Dumpty or the wall that Trump would build. This is the marathon wall...splat. #running Click To TweetOther runners have stated they believe the wall is fake. It’s a figment of the runners imagination and that our bodies can do so much more than we believe. And to them we ask, have you ever run a marathon? 99.9% said no because it sounded awful.
The runner noted at the beginning of this story could not be found for comment, but we have it on good authority (our own) that she finished the race on her own two feet. It wasn’t pretty, she wasn’t really all that happy about it, but she achieved the 26. goal.
And then proceeded to register for next years race because it was only $25 at the finish line and that’s a price you just can’t beat.
How did you regroup after hitting the wall?
Other ways to connect with Amanda
Instagram Daily Fun: RunToTheFinish
Facebook Community Chatter: RunToTheFinish
Sign Up to Receive a Weekly Newsletter with Top Running Tips and Laughs
Fred says
I will be watching anxiously for replies on this one about what other runners have done to prevent or overcome. I am 52 and have run on and off since running cross country in high school and have trained with two people to help them prepare for half marathons but never ran one myself, running was something I enjoyed and never felt I needed to do a marathon. Last spring my daughter asked me to train and run a half with her, she has since faded away after our first 10K, but my first half is in March and my first full is April, so need all the advice I can get on the dreaded wall!
By the way I love your blogs Amanda, thank you!
amanda says
Hey Fred!! First, how exciting that you are still going! The two biggest things that I think can help are practicing drinking something with electrolytes on long runs so that you’ll do it on race day and figuring out a good race day breakfast, little bit of fuel for during the race. Keep playing with that on your long runs!
Laura says
Great, great story. The wall is painfully real! I’m prepping for my second full in April and ready to bust through that wall this time around.. we’ll see what race day brings!
Alexis says
I hit the wall pretty hard in my first half marathon at mile 10: https://runningmybestlife.com/first-half-marathon-race-day/. This might be because I had never ran farther than 10 miles before that day. I felt great in the race up until that point, and then I felt like I couldn’t drag my legs forward. For my next race, I’m focused on building up my stamina with longer runs leading up to the race, as well as refining my fueling strategy to make sure my body has the carbs it needs to keep going.
Dante says
I know the feeling. same happened with me few years back in my university marathon.