My First Marathon!
Well I did it. I am officially a marathoner. I participated in the 3rd annual Tecumseh Trail Marathon on Saturday. Gary ran the whole thing with me, and we had a blast. I was pretty nervous before the race, especially on the bus on the way to the start. I was sitting in front of two girls that had run marathons before and one of them said "I hope this isn't anyone's first marathon...that would be awful!" That didn't settle my nerves at all.
There were over 400 runners, which I thought was a very good turn out. It was a little frustrating in the beginning when we got to the single track because we had not spread out enough and passing was next to impossible. After a few miles it was much easier. Maybe not exaclty easier, but less frustrating. The course was the most challenging I had ever run on. The uphills were very intense and there were countless stream crossings and down trees to jump over. Even the downhills were challenging to keep footing. I think I got dizzy from just having to look down all the time. Halfway through I looked at my watch and was surprised at how quickly we were moving. It also made me kind of nervous because I wanted to feel good at the finish, and I was afraid we were running too fast. I was feeling good, and decided not to look at my watch again until much later. Somehow the aid stations seemed to come quicker and quicker and we only had 8 miles to go.
Gary looked at his watch and said, we might make this in under 5 hours! I chose not to think about that, and just focus on finishing because if we didn't make it I didn't want to be disappointed. We had also said that if we finished near 6 hours we would be really really happy with that. I was still feeling really good, and getting more and more excited as we past the last few aid stations. When we came to the last one it was at mile 25, and I couldn't believe it! I was sure we had 2 to go. Making it in 5 hours seemed like more of a reality, and we took off. Well we took off but with a little too much enthusiasm so we slowed down a bit. I was still convinced that there was no way we were going to make it under 5 hours. but as soon as we saw the finish line with the clock, and Gary grabs my hand and goes, "we have 15 seconds, lets go!" so we gave it our all and came in at 5:00:04. We don't have the official time yet, but it was right around there.
I couldn't believe I had actually just run a marathon! And that I finished at 5 hours! It was such a great feeling. I haven't stopped smiling yet.
There were over 400 runners, which I thought was a very good turn out. It was a little frustrating in the beginning when we got to the single track because we had not spread out enough and passing was next to impossible. After a few miles it was much easier. Maybe not exaclty easier, but less frustrating. The course was the most challenging I had ever run on. The uphills were very intense and there were countless stream crossings and down trees to jump over. Even the downhills were challenging to keep footing. I think I got dizzy from just having to look down all the time. Halfway through I looked at my watch and was surprised at how quickly we were moving. It also made me kind of nervous because I wanted to feel good at the finish, and I was afraid we were running too fast. I was feeling good, and decided not to look at my watch again until much later. Somehow the aid stations seemed to come quicker and quicker and we only had 8 miles to go.
Gary looked at his watch and said, we might make this in under 5 hours! I chose not to think about that, and just focus on finishing because if we didn't make it I didn't want to be disappointed. We had also said that if we finished near 6 hours we would be really really happy with that. I was still feeling really good, and getting more and more excited as we past the last few aid stations. When we came to the last one it was at mile 25, and I couldn't believe it! I was sure we had 2 to go. Making it in 5 hours seemed like more of a reality, and we took off. Well we took off but with a little too much enthusiasm so we slowed down a bit. I was still convinced that there was no way we were going to make it under 5 hours. but as soon as we saw the finish line with the clock, and Gary grabs my hand and goes, "we have 15 seconds, lets go!" so we gave it our all and came in at 5:00:04. We don't have the official time yet, but it was right around there.
I couldn't believe I had actually just run a marathon! And that I finished at 5 hours! It was such a great feeling. I haven't stopped smiling yet.
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