It’s friday, march 27 – 5 days after completion of my first ever full marathon. I still catch myself recalling certain points in the race. it helps that everyone who knows i ran it wants to know all about it. i’m thankful to say that i really was able to focus on taking in the whole experience while running it. i remember the walk from the hotel and how it was much less crowded than i’d thought it would be. i remember getting to the end of atlantic ave. on the first trip out and the guy blasting contemporary Christian music and cheering us on. i remember a lot of stuff, but most specifically, i remember it was hard.
tweeting prerace
i got to the start line and decided i’d start between the 3:40 & 3:50 pacer. now i really didn’t think i’d finish in 3:40, but there was a good spot for me there, and the goal was under 4, so i knew i could cruise along somewhere in there. i rolled out at the start and really cruised through the first 7 miles, actually a bit fast. my 7 split was 59:50. My 13.1 split was 1:52.50. I felt great at that point and had really settled in to a pace I was happy with, although it was still faster than I had planned. Coming back through atlantic ave. was nice as there were people all along the road cheering us on. Shamrock prints your name on your race bib, which i thought was a nice touch. i realized once the race started that it gave spectators the ability to call you out by name. which is a bit strange. and then it just gets old.
so the north loop of the race gets lonely. it moves up past the atlantic ave. then loops up through a military base. I felt completely awesome right on up to mile 17. that is when i started to get a bit tired, and it happened to be at the furthest point out, and the most lonely. i could tell that the runners around me were starting to fade a bit too, as there was less chat, less positive vibe in general.
it was at mile 22 that i was beginning to think i was ready to be done. the good news was, by then i could see that i was certainly going to come in under 4 hours, which was the goal. the entire race, i’d been peaking back to see if i could see the 3:50 pacer, and not until this point did i see him creeping back up behind me. he was beginning to hoot and holler and had started his kick. i’ll admit i had these visions at a couple of points of finishing with the 3:40 pacer and owning it. i really wanted to keep him behind me, but at about 24 miles, i fell behind the 3:50 pacer. i was able to keep them in my sights though, and crossed the line within about 20 seconds of him.
i can see the finish line from here
immediately, at the finish line, the first thing i thought of was how much my back and legs hurt. the second thing i thought of was how awesome it was that i had just finished. once i made it down onto the beach to the after party, it all hit me and i did get a bit emotional, and shed a few tears. it was an amazing experience. yes it was hard. yes, i’ll do it again.
i’ve never thought of a bucket list for myself. but as i thought of it the other day, if i did have one, it would have “run a marathon” checked off. if you’ve ever considered it, do it. you can. there were thousands of stories at the race last weekend. mine was just one. yours could be there too.
why i run 