Marathon Reflections

Wow! I did it! I finished my first marathon!! I am a marathoner!!!

Our colorful shoes

The morning started off with a 5am wakeup call by Markus. The race didn’t start until 7:45, but we wanted to get up early to eat and all that other fun stuff.  Markus was so excited and hyper that he dove onto the bed, like he was diving into the pool.  He is funny!

We had to walk about 7 blocks to the starting line, so we left around 7:00 to start walking.  It was so cold and windy. We all wondered why we didn’t bring more clothing to shed!

Pre Race

 Regan, Markus & Jessica got in the starting line up closer, as they run a lot faster pace than we planned to run.  We (Kellie, Ansley, April and myself) made our way to the starting line.  We tried to get in the pace group for a 5 hour finish.  Which by the way, once the race started I never saw a single pace person the entire time.  Either way… It was GO time!! Our watches said 7:45, we heard the engines roaring of the Nascar Car and then the gun went off!  Here we go!

As we started the run, it was pretty chilly and windy.  But as the miles went by, the sun began peering through and things heated up quickly. There were still some shady chilly spots throughout the course where I had to put my toboggan and neck scarf back on.  When things started heating up, at that point runners were shedding their layers, just peeling the clothing off and dropping them where they landed. This taught me that when you are focused on a goal you shed whatever is weighing you down and keep on moving. Don't let baggage keep you from being able to withstand the heat, release it and keep pressing on with your eyes on the prize.

The course we ran took us through some neighborhoods and all along the way, strangers were out on their sidewalks & porches waving and cheering us on. Wow! the kindness of strangers. On the run the cheers of strangers who had no idea that this was my first marathon overwhelmed me, they did not mind the noise of the bands or inconvenience of their streets being blocked for hours on a Saturday morning. There are people who want to see you succeed just because. The sense of community is not lost.

Ansley, Kellie & I stayed together for the first half of the run. We ran the whole way as well, except stopping once for a fast potty break around mile 7ish.  This was an accomplishment for me, as during training I often stopped and walked, especially on long runs.  At this point, my Achilles started showing some pain, (which it had bothered me some during training as well) so I slowed down my pace and Kellie & Ansley went on. So from then to the finish it was just me, my music and my running!  This was hard to accept at first…. A thousand thoughts of why didn’t I take the half marathon course and this hurts, that hurts… But I kept pushing through thinking about my miles dedications.

When we got to mile 20-22 somewhere in there, not sure exactly where! That was some fun cheer crowds! They all had beer stations and cupcakes!! They knew exactly what we needed to finish out the race.  J

I got to mile 26 and turned the corner! I could see the finish line in the distance, only .2 miles to go!!!  Then I heard cheers for me and here comes Regan & Markus’ mother up to run with me some! Regan was crying and I was crying and saying “man this hurts so bad” but I knew I had to sprint it out to the finish line! Regan & Monica stopped running with me and it was just me to finish!  Here is comes… I crossed the finish line!!!!!!! I was so ecstatic!!  There guy in a dragon type costume at the finish line and I just ran through and jumped up to give him high 5!!  Ha, where did that energy come from?!  I got my medal and walked over to my friends who had just finished the full or half so we could take some group pictures. 

Regan is telling me how proud he is of me!

It was a great experience and I am glad that I had the opportunity to train and finish it!   Walking away from my first marathon I feel accomplished knowing that I decided to run a marathon, trained hard and finished it all in under my goal time of 5:59 J   I am so proud of Regan and my amazing friends who also finished!!  Now to my next bucket list item……..