As many of you know today I ran my first marathon. I loved it! I ran it in 4:57, kept a consistant pace and finished strong. BOTH of my half marathon splits were faster than my PR, that was definitely an awesome feeling.
Once me and my Dad met up with Steve and Kelly at the start we sat down and relaxed for a while before checking our bags. It was 32 degrees at the start. Frickin freezing but PERFECT running weather. The startline was a madhouse with over 45,000 people lined up.
About 5 minutes into the race I knew that I was going to beat my goal of 5 Hours. I've only had that feeling once before and that was during the Somerset Stampeed Half Marathon. Kelly ran with me, my Dad and Steve for a while, but then she broke off and finished in 4:30. After about 14 miles Steve decided to slow down a bit and my Dad and I kept hammering towards my 5 hour goal.
I felt great through about mile 17 where I started to slow down a bit, miles 17-21 were tough mentally because there weren't many spectators. At about 21.5 miles we ran through Chinatown which was exactly the pickmeup I needed. There were thousands of people through this stretch and we actually ran into one of my Dad's running buddies from Jackson, what are the odds of that?!
The last 5 miles seemed to fly by, at mile 23 there were about 10 people handing out beer which was fun and since I still had a decent amount of energy I was passing people left and right. At mile 25 my Dad looked at me and said "Just enjoy this last mile." And that's exactly what I did. Coming up on the finishing stretch we hit the one hill on the entire course, but I barely noticed it because I could see the finish line and there were so many people cheering.
As I crossed the finish line I instantly broke down with tears of joy, as did my Dad when he said "You did that EASILY! I'm proud of you."
The race was amazing and I loved every minute of it. If I can do it anyone can do it! Just remember: "Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small people who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it."
CHI 2010 HERE I COME!
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