I did it. I completed my one and only full marathon. 26.2 miles. Ouch. Why anyone does it more than once, on purpose, is still beyond me. I'm glad I did it though. What an accomplishment. It takes dedication, determination, and a lot from within to complete such a feat. A good coach comes in handy too. I'm extremely glad I signed up for the training program with Kevin Collins. I had no idea what I was doing, what I was about to get myself into, or how to properly train for something so big. Thankfully, I trained for and ran the marathon injury free, and I attribute it to the training program I followed. Not to say there weren't any hardships along the way. At one point, I seriously thought I might drop down to the half. I wasn't sure I had it in my to keep going with the training. I was getting burnt out and started to dislike running. I missed running "just for fun." Running did stop being fun for me, and now that the race is over, I'm excited to get back into running just because I like it. That won't be for a few days though...I am still sore as hell from the race! I learned a lot from the training program. I learned how to speed train, what a tempo run should feel like, and how to push yourself to that point just beyond what you thought you could actually do. I learned I had more in me than I gave myself credit for. I made some wonderful friends, whom I plan to continue running with. I also learned my peak "feel good" distance, and that I absolutely adore the half marathon distance. My long run group ran a half race during our training and I loved it. I do see more of those races in my future.
So race day--I wasn't really nervous about the race because my main goal was to just finish it. I estimated a 5ish hour finish time based on our training runs and I did just that with my 5:02. I ran the first half and then walk/ran the 2nd half. I saw Pete around mile 16, gave him a hug, told him I was dying and kept on running. I was pretty spent by mile 17. I remember crying around mile 18. It was a bit surreal. At first I thought it was the wind making my eyes water. It was a bit windy on race day. Or maybe I was crying because my hamstrings were not pleased from the hills. No, it wasn't that either. They were adrenaline, endorphin infused tears. I was going to do it. I was going to finish this damn run, even if I had to walk the end. I cried and ran for the next mile or so. I saw my mom and niece, Amelia, around mile 22 and 23. They ran with me for a few seconds. My mom took a photo, and from my smile, you'd almost think I was still having fun at that point, but really, I was one hurtin' unit. Around that same time, a 30 year old man from the Rochester area was running his first marathon. His wife was having a baby in December, and he was running the marathon because he had never been a very disciplined person, and well, he had a baby on the way. He was hurting just as much as I was, we had spent that last few miles, taking turns passing each other in our walk/run intervals. As we were headed out of the park and onto the last miles of the race, I turned to him and said, "Come on. We'll interval our way to the finish." We held on for a couple of miles and then he fell a bit behind and I kept going. I walked/ran my way to the final stretch and then ran the last half mile. I think it nearly killed me. There was no finish in sight. Where was the huge banner that had Start on the front and Finish on the back? I KNOW I saw it this morning!! Later I learned that the winds that seemed to pick up midway through the race, actually knocking the sign down, twice. It hit a finisher the second time it fell, so they just kept it down. Makes perfect sense, but sorta killed my spectacular finish. My finish was redeemed when I suddenly saw my husband and two kids, waiting on the side to run with me to the finish. Now that was AWESOME and better than any banner that said Finish.
 |
| Hey, how do we attach these chips to our sneakers? |
 |
| Hmmm, I think we got it. |
|
|
 |
| Cheese! Marathon crew! |
 |
| It's almost start time! |
 |
| A few photos first... |
 |
| The sun is coming up! |
 |
| And we're off! We start and finish at the same place. Boo, on the missing finish at the end. | |
 |
| There I am crossing the start line! |
 |
| And we're off! Is she running with her coffee? |
 |
| Wheeee! This is fun. (right now. ask me again at mile 17.) |
 |
| Fresh legs. |
 |
| Mile 4ish. | | |
|
|
 |
| I think this is mile 6ish when I saw a bunch of my crazy co-workers, snapping photos. |
 |
| Woo hoo! Paparazzi. | |
 |
| This is my marathon coach, Kevin Collins, in the Y-runners shirt. He
placed third in the half marathon. His brother, Brian, was the one who
organized this awesome inaugural event. | |
 |
| I think this is near the spot that my coach whizzed past me. The half started 30 minutes after the full. |
 |
| My mama came to see me with my niece. I think this is mile 22ish. Even though there is a smile on my face, I was not having fun. |
 |
| Mile 22ish. | |
 |
| Mile 23ish. | | | |
 |
| David, one of my long run warriors. |
 |
| Erika, my partner in crime. |
|
|
 |
| Emily, another long run warrior. I couldn't have done it without these three peeps. Every weekend they kept me going, especially when I felt like giving up. | |
|
 |
| Almost to the finish! |
 |
I think a bus ran over me somewhere along the course.
At least it looks that way. |
 |
| My glutes and hamstrings were not pleased with me. I was hurtin'. |
 |
| I think I see the finish. Wait. Where is the finish sign? |
 |
| The finish is gone. Am I even going in the right direction? |
