Our First Marathon
I want to start this post by saying this has absolutely nothing to do with sewing, but I am so proud of what my Dad and I accomplished this weekend, I want to share it! We ran our first full marathon!
In October, my dad and I ran our third half marathon. We had gotten to the point where we were comfortable with the distance, and knew we could handle 13.1 miles and at the end of the race, he said "you know what we have to do next". I knew what he was going to say because I was thinking the same thing. We had to try a full marathon.
I read a few articles online and all suggested training for about a year before attempting a marathon, so I didn't start thinking about training until my dad mentioned there was a marathon in April in New Jersey. APRIL?!? As in, 5 months, April!? So I started freaking out. (pictured below are some of our training runs)
I found a training schedule by Hal Higdon that fit into our time and experience level and we started to train. It was 18 weeks of cold, difficult running but yesterday, we finished our first marathon.
The race was down the shore, running through different towns and winding up on the boardwalk. It was a great course, and the spectators were FANTASTIC. The races that we have run in the past were no where near as intense or large as this race was so the whole day was an experience- we even had to get in a corral to start!
The first half went well and we stuck with about a 8:40 pace. We started slowing down at mile 17 and had to walk/run from mile 20 on. This was by far the hardest thing I have ever done. It took every single ounce of energy to cross the finish line. I'm not sure what our finishing time was but I think it was under 4 hours 10 minutes. (we started when the time was at about 8 minutes)
We crossed and I immediately started crying. To finish a goal so big was so emotional and I couldn't believe what we had just accomplished! My mom, sister, brother and law and my boyfriend Drew where there cheering us on, which made the day even better.
I never thought I would be a runner. I've never done track or cross country and didn't start running until about 4 years ago. My dad used to participate in triathlons when he was my age but stopped years ago (and never got to do a marathon) so this was something really special for us to do together.
We don't have any more marathons "planned" yet (although I think there will be more to come) but our next half marathon is in a few weeks. And yes, I will be one of those people with the 26.2 bumper sticker on the back of my car. I've earned it!!