First Marathon Story: The Worst Day of My Life: Running a First Marathon That Didn’t Go to Plan w/ Ilana Dunn

Taylor Sayles
Apr 6
4 min read

Ilana played sports growing up, but never considered herself a runner. Running was punishment. When she tried out for tennis every year and had to run the mile, she was always dead last. Later in life, she signed up for ten boxing classes (half boxing and half strength), without realizing they had multiple formats, and she had actually signed up for half boxing, half treadmill runs.

She was terrified. But she couldn't see the pace. She couldn't see how fast anyone else was running. The music was jamming. And the intervals were fun. She kept up with it, and loved doing three-mile workouts (and she aspired to never want to do more than that).

Ilana increased her distance by accident. When visiting her parents, she set off for a three-mile run and was told there would be a shortcut to return back to their house. Well, there wasn't...and that three-mile run turned into six. It was the hardest thing she had done, but she did it.

"Challenge Accepted"

Just as she fell in love with running, she struggled with an IT band injury. The more she couldn't run, the more she wanted to run. So she and her friends signed up for the Central Park Half Marathon, convinced her injury would be resolved by the time of the race.

After she was told by a doctor that running might not be in her future, she was determined for that not to be the case. And she got out the door and ran, without pain. She started running three miles, four miles, five miles - up to eight miles. And her injury flared up again. She ended up missing the half marathon, and felt like she'd missed out on a goal that had been so close.

Ilana couldn't let go of the thought of running a half marathon, of doing this impossible feat. She trained again for another half, getting up to nine miles before the pain came back. Her physical therapist told her not to run again until the half marathon, and see if she could make it to the start line. With encouragement from a friend, she walked through pain to the start, but then ended up running the half without any pain at all.

Which was lucky, because she had already been accepted to run the New York City Marathon with a charity.

"You're Not Marathon Training"

When her pain returned as she geared up for marathon training, Ilana knew she needed extra support for her race. One of her best friends was friends with a running coach, and she reached out immediately, trying to figure out what training would look like for her.

Having a coach not only helped her manage her injury, but also provided additional accountability and support. Her coach was insistent that she wasn't helping her train for a marathon, she was helping her run pain free. Ilana also learned how to properly fuel, and found that when she fueled correctly, the pain went away.

She saw the mileage build, and felt her confidence rise. She felt like she had trained to the best of her ability, running the last 10 miles of the marathon countless times, and running the last 20 miles of the marathon on her longest training run.

"I Am Confident"

Getting to the marathon was a marathon in and of itself. She was excited by the time she got through the logistics and was starting across the start line. She went in expecting it to be the best day of her life, as so many people had told her it would be. But nobody told her that it might be anything but.

She started off strong, but as soon as she got off the first bridge, something changed. She started to wonder why she was doing this. Every step was worse. She went into a dark place where she didn't feel like she had control over her body. At mile four, she called her coach crying, telling her she wanted to stop. Her coach said get to mile seven and then call again. And then get to mile 10 and then call. And so on.

Ilana kept going, but it wasn't getting better. She couldn't breathe. She fell into a medical tent, telling them she thought she was having a panic attack. To this day, Ilana couldn't tell you why it happened, but after 25-30 minutes, she wanted to keep going. She knew she'd regret not stopping. And she kept going, for 20 more miles.

Lessons Learned

Start slow.
You don't have to earn the right to hire a coach (even for your first marathon!).
Pay attention to fueling.
Find your why, and think about all the reasons you run (from music to cute outfits to the runner's high).
If you can, familiarize yourself with the course before race day.
Forward is a pace. Just keep going.