Just a little background on my First Marathon:

My wife signed me up for this race as a Birthday present in September. My birthday was on the 19th but since I was out of town, I did not get the gift until the 24th. It was definitly a surprise birthday gift. I didn't know whether to stay as "Bruce Banner" or turn into the "Incredible Hulk". I know I have a good life insurance plan but come on this is just too obvious. I guess when you are training for your first marathon on 12/02/07 it doesn't matter if you find out on September 19 or the 24, it is all the same. To tell you the truth, I dont know what my wife is thinking sometimes. After awhile I just stop trying to fiqure it out. I have a few hunches that have some good resoning behind them but I will save all those for my novel someday called "What The Hell" :)

I make it a point to not race on Sundays. I believe in honoring the Sabbath Day. I don't have/hold anything against those that do participate in activities on Sundays, it is just something that I feel stongly about without going into too much detail. With that being said, there are always exceptions and this time I went with the spirit of the law as opposed to the letter.

First off this was a gift from my wife and I did not want to let her down. Secondly my father passed away last year from a motorcycle accident and I wanted to run in rememberance/tribute to him. (He had run a marathon in England years ago, I dont have the name of the race just off hand). Anyways, these were my two motivational reasons for continuing my "crash marathon training schedule".

Racing:

My goal was to just finish. I was really bummed when I found out the race had no early start time and that there was a cut off time of 6 hours. Those were the first two things I looked for when I found out out about the gift. My training runs had been around 10-11 min miles. So thats what I was shooting for even though I felt that 11-12 min miles was more realistic for my extended miles on this day.

I started off the race well by not getting caught up in the fast paced downhill start. I just tried to soak it all in and run my own race.It is fun to people watch (as they pass me by) even when I am running. By mile 6 I was at 1:05:56 and was feeling good. From then on I was keeping ten min mile pace because everytime I looked at my watch at the mile markers the last digit in the minute colum seem to consistantly read 5. But, I did slow down somewhere because at mile 13 I did force my speed up to make sure that my time was 2:20. By the time I reached this point I was feeling good. I did not have any stomach issues from eating before race. I had down 2 GUs and was feeling hydrated.

Just before mile 14, I stopped for a bathroom break and then broke out the Ipod. From mile 14 to 20 I was not really paying too much to time just listening to tunes. Thoughout the run I did have a few thoughts of my family and father then that would proceed with an emotional moment as I continued on my journy. At mile 19.3 my time was 3:32:43

The last six I just pushed through. I did not walk much during the run but the most walking I did do was between miles 22-25 (That 3 mile stretch) It was more of a mental thing then anything else. For some reson I did not take my last GU. There was one time in that 3 mile stretch that I even passed up a water station. Not sure what I was thinking on that one especially since I was thirsty.

Finally at the finish line, my wife handed my children over the rail to me and we crossed over the line together. I wanted my wife to join us as well but the railing was to high for her to climb over and their was no opening in the barracade.

Overall, Im glad I did it. Family had a great time getting out of town. I had fun spending a little bit of time with John, Dan and Commador. And now I can say that "I have completed a Marathon"





Nothing..... But if I think too hard, my critic would have to say push harder at the end to beat the under 5 hour mark....... But, I am not going to think that hard and say once again, that I would do nothing different.

Feet were starting to cramp up so I grabbed a few things to eat off the table and then hobbled off to the hot tub at the hotel.


Lack of experience, Not taking my last GU at mile 20/21


What I liked about the race is they had the mile makers posted throughout the race. This may be the standard for marathons but I have been to a few half/marathons and 5K's where no mile markers were present.