Four months ago I could barely run 3 miles. After these months of focused training I finished my first marathon. I ran 26.2 miles!
During the first half I felt good, but then during mile 19-20 I hit the wall. This is the term for when your muscles simple run out of stored energy. It's a feeling I had felt twice during my training, but it always occurred very near the end of my run. During the marathon I still had over six miles to go and every one of those six miles was an agonizing struggle. After hitting the wall the absolute best I could do was a very slow jog. My muscles simply didn't have any way to go faster. It wouldn't have mattered if I had a gun pointed at my head, I just couldn't go faster. I have never felt so mentally, physically, and emotionally spent in my life.
That may sound like a whole lot of bad, but really for me it's good. When I pushed myself beyond what I thought was possible and succeed at completing my goal of finishing a marathon the joy was overwhelming. As I crossed the finish line I started crying. These were tears of joy, relief, and exhaustion. It's part of human nature to feel a greater sense of accomplishment from a difficult task than an easy one. Running this marathon as one of the most difficult things I've ever done and I'm certain it will be one of my most memorable events during the rest my life.
All I wanted to do was finish, but it is nice to see how I did in relation to others. I did see the results from the marathon, but I can't remember exactly what they were. I finished with a time of 4:35 and I think I placed around 450 our of about 900. The official results should get posted to
this page during the next few days.
Now for the pictures. These were all taken by Photographer Emily. Thanks Emily!
I'm getting ready for the marathon.
This is a picture of Martin and me. He's my friend and seeing him do a 7 mile race up Mt. Washington earlier this year is what convinced me to do this marathon. Martin is a great runner. In this marathon he placed 20th overall and 3rd in his age group. Great job Martin!
This is the beautiful finish line. All I did for the last quarter mile was focus on this sign and keep my feet moving.
Here I am approaching the finish.
I'm crossing the finish line. Now that's the face of exhaustion.
I'm not sure what I'm doing here. This part of my life is a little fuzzy. It sure looks like I'm tired though.
After the marathon I could barely walk. Today is more of the same. I think it will take a few more days before my leg muscles work normally again. That said the discomfort doesn't really bother me much. I'm still on my high from completing the marathon.
I WIN!!!
