On the marathon...
So I've been meaning to write this for a while now, but I just now am getting around to making time for it. So, as some of you know, two months ago now I accomplished one of my biggest goals - I ran the Houston marathon. I can honestly say it was a pretty incredible experience. I was very fortunate to have my parents fly out to Houston to support and watch me - seeing them in the crowd with their sign they made for me really was always a huge boost. I was also very lucky because my best friend Erin, who runs their registration and who was the reason I did Houston, was waiting for me at the finish line (and then stayed with me afterwards making sure I got a massage and food and everything). One of the things that will always stick in my mind was that when I finished and she saw me, she started to tear up. She's really not a very emotional girl for the most part, and so that really touched me. I actually had teared up a little bit down the home stretch when what I had just done started to sink in, but by the finish line I think I was just too happy not to be running anymore.
As for the race itself, I actually made a buddy Alex at the start line (his wife was originally from West Chester right by me), and we ran together at a pretty steady pace until he started having an issue with stitches around mile 19 (he did finish though!). I really started to hit the wall around mile 21/22 and had to walk about half the time for those miles, but then, as dorky as this sounds, around mile 25 I heard Eye of the Tiger from Rocky and saw my Dad, and it just snapped in me. I somehow managed to run the last 1.2 miles in the fastest pace of any mile the entire marathon. So at least I finished strong!
The other thing that really helped with the marathon is that the weather conditions were perfect - like 40 to 55 degrees from start to finish. When I did my long training run, it was the day after Christmas and about 35 pouring rain. What's worse is that it was after our first blizzard of the year, and so parts of the trail (I ran from Valley Forge to the Art Museum along the Schuylkill River trial) were flooded and I had no choice but to run through shin deep puddles of ice cold water. Plus, around Norristown the winds were straight in my face and like blowing the rain horizontally into me, so every inch of me was soaked. It was one of the most miserable experiences of my life, but it made the actual race that much better. (And thankfully, my awesome brother was there waiting for me with cookies at the art museum.)
I think what I am most proud of is the fact that I did this all myself - especially the training. There are a lot of times where I really wanted to just not run or take some time off or whatever, and I imagine that if I had someone to train with all the time like my brother did, it would have been a lot easier. Same with the miles where I really hit the wall - I really wish I had someone with me pushing me to keep going then too. But I dug within myself, decided this is something I really wanted to accomplish, something hard but something I could do, and I stuck with it. Part of me wishes I had done a better job sticking to the training, but I think given the circumstances I did pretty damn good.
Now I just need to get back into shape, as the post-marathon multiple-blizzard induced letting myself go has gone even better than my marathon training went.
As for the race itself, I actually made a buddy Alex at the start line (his wife was originally from West Chester right by me), and we ran together at a pretty steady pace until he started having an issue with stitches around mile 19 (he did finish though!). I really started to hit the wall around mile 21/22 and had to walk about half the time for those miles, but then, as dorky as this sounds, around mile 25 I heard Eye of the Tiger from Rocky and saw my Dad, and it just snapped in me. I somehow managed to run the last 1.2 miles in the fastest pace of any mile the entire marathon. So at least I finished strong!
The other thing that really helped with the marathon is that the weather conditions were perfect - like 40 to 55 degrees from start to finish. When I did my long training run, it was the day after Christmas and about 35 pouring rain. What's worse is that it was after our first blizzard of the year, and so parts of the trail (I ran from Valley Forge to the Art Museum along the Schuylkill River trial) were flooded and I had no choice but to run through shin deep puddles of ice cold water. Plus, around Norristown the winds were straight in my face and like blowing the rain horizontally into me, so every inch of me was soaked. It was one of the most miserable experiences of my life, but it made the actual race that much better. (And thankfully, my awesome brother was there waiting for me with cookies at the art museum.)
I think what I am most proud of is the fact that I did this all myself - especially the training. There are a lot of times where I really wanted to just not run or take some time off or whatever, and I imagine that if I had someone to train with all the time like my brother did, it would have been a lot easier. Same with the miles where I really hit the wall - I really wish I had someone with me pushing me to keep going then too. But I dug within myself, decided this is something I really wanted to accomplish, something hard but something I could do, and I stuck with it. Part of me wishes I had done a better job sticking to the training, but I think given the circumstances I did pretty damn good.
Now I just need to get back into shape, as the post-marathon multiple-blizzard induced letting myself go has gone even better than my marathon training went.