Commitment! That is what it takes to run your first marathon. Personal commitment, time commitment, and most importantly my family's commitment for putting up with all the training. Most people who know me, would never expect that I'd be the one running a marathon!
Running a marathon was something I had thought about doing for many years. My goal was to finish one before my fortieth birthday. This was my last year to reach that goal and this happens to be the year I push my boundaries.
A few years ago, I ran a half-marathon...and then I stopped running! When I told my friend Brian that I was going to run the Chicago this year, he said I was crazy! He mentioned that a marathon is not like running 2 half marathons, it's more like running 10!! I am here today to tell you, Brian spoke the truth. My favorite shirt (that I saw a runner wearing) along the course said it best ... 13.1 is half of NOTHING!! 26.2 miles is a loong way! People are not built to run that far.
Due to the weather, it was a tough start (it was below freezing at the beginning of the race). But I was ready to do this thing! I was running (as was my nephew) with my closest 45,000 running friends. The crowd was awesome. It was estimated that there were over 1.5 million people lining the streets. The crowd really brings the energy out of you.
I had three personal goals in running this race: 1) Finish 2) finish under 4 hours 3) finish in 3:50. Check, check, and check! All of the past marathon runners I talked to warned me not to start the race too fast. I would end up hitting the wall between 20-24 miles and slow down to a stop. I didn't really listen. With so many runners, the first 2-3 miles are very slow. Mile1, I ran in 12 minutes, mile2 10 minutes, mile3 8:40, mile4 7:25. Not very consistent. My original plan was to run with the Nike 4:00 hour pace runners, but 5 miles in I found myself with the 3:40 people. I figured I will "hang" with these guys as long as I can. Much to my surprise, I hung with them the whole way! I finished in 3 hours 38 minutes! Finished in the 5600's which works out to the top 12% of marathoners! Much much faster than I ever thought I could do. My relentless training finally paid off. I started running on June 16th and ran 4 days a week (rain or shine) for a total of 396.51 miles of training(not like I kept track or anything). This marathon puts me firmly above 400 miles.
One day later, as I write this my ankles, knees, shoulder and legs ache. Stairs are still not my friend. The pain will go away soon, but my sense of accomplishment will be with me forever!
Pictures above: My nephew and I right before the race, crowd before race, Kenyans, and post race exhaustion
Videos: Me running past my brother and wife (I am the runner in all black). Don't worry about my brother on the audio, he didn't miss his son. He ran by about 15 minutes later.
Second video is post race slow walk.
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