The Missoula Marathon - RunMarathon

I really hadn't trained for this marathon. I ran my first marathon on April 4, 2009. Since then, the longest run I had done was 13.1 at Boise 70.3 and a lot of that was walking. I knew going into this race that I wasn't prepared and just wanted to keep it as comfortable as possible and finish.

It felt pretty good, and I ran until the bottom of the hill at mile 14. I decided to go ahead and walk up the hill to conserve energy and practice for those ultras I want to do in the future. I'm not sure if that was a good idea or not because walking felt really good, and I think knowing how good it felt made it easier to give in to the siren's call later in the race.

At the top of the hill I started running again and noticed the stiffness in my legs. It took awhile to find my stride again, but I did until mile 16 when I stopped at an aid station to fill my amphipod bottle and use the POP. Getting started again was tough and my legs were feeling really fatigued. I took walk breaks from there on out.

Around mile 18, I thought, "with 8 miles to go I could walk the entire rest of the race and still make it before the cutoff". It was tempting. Then I approached an intersection and the volunteer on the corner said, "looking good". I thanked her and was thinking about walking again. Then she said, "GAWD! DO YOU LOOK GOOD!". It made me feel about a foot taller and I kept running for quite awhile after that. I LOVE volunteers, even if they are liars! ;)

At mile 21, I saw a friend I hadn't seen for a long time. She was on her bike riding the course. She had escorted the first runner through the course, very cool! She rode with me for about three miles, which made those tough miles go by much faster. THANK YOU, CARLY!!! By mile 24, my legs were just done. I thought I'd walk until the last mile and then run it in... well how about the last 1/2 mile. A volunteer told me 1/2 mile to go and I started running again. I even picked it up a bit coming over the bridge to the finish line. Crossed the finish line, got my medal and picture, YAY!!! :)

Some long runs leading up to the race.

Grabbed some food and water at the finish. Walked back to the car and headed to the park for a post race massage. The massage felt awesome!


Lack of training.

Considering how unprepared I was for this race, I feel really good about my performance. I've built a good base from all my previous training, and can now finish a marathon without too much difficulty. Those last few miles were tough, and my time definitely would have been better with specific training, but I never doubted my ability to finish. That is something I would never have dreamed possible a year ago. Yay me!!! :)


I would definitely do this one again. Very well organized, awesome volunteers, beautiful course!