Last year I had set the goal of running my first marathon. And I completed (and checked it off my bucket list) last October at the ING Hartford Marathon. I completed the race within my goal time (although more on the longer side than the earlier side) but still completed it. It was one of the most amazing and painful experiences of my life, but I am so grateful that I finally, after years of saying I wanted to run one, I finally did it!
This year I have been training for the Army 10 Miler in Washington, DC and will be running that with my childhood best friend in 2 weeks. But as the Hartford Marathon quickly approached my husband had decided he would be running the Half again this year. I decided the day before Marathon day I would also be running the Half, I mean, why not? I’m trained for it, and it lets me get a good run in before the big day in DC.
I went into this race to do the best I could, however, I didn’t want to run it with my husband, he stresses me out on training runs and I just didn’t want that for this race. I went in feeling great and excited, not really nervous, it was just going to be a run. The whole environment of the day makes me happy.
As we started, I wanted to find my pace early on, last year for the marathon it took more than 3 miles for me to feel comfortable, I did not want this to be the case this time around. I told my husband, he did not have to run with me. And well I took off, weaving in and out of people and feeling great! We happen to be running with a friend who my husband planned to run with however, he lost him, found me and ran about 5-6 miles with me till he moved ahead.
The course was fantastic, people pretty much lining the streets the whole way. The course was rolling hills and flat, nice scenery for most of it and just amazing. I think I ran most of the race with a goofy smile on my face, just loving it! Seeing the streets with thousands of runners, sharing a common goal, who are friendly and supportive is just amazing! I did know that at mile 3 I was running an 8:40 pace…whoa! But I felt great so I kept it up. Everything about the race went well, my joints felt great, my feet felt great, everything was pretty amazing. Whenever I started to get distracted and wanted to slow down, I thought, “well the faster I go, the faster I’ll finish and I can stop” and it totally worked! I averages 8:57 mile for the whole race! I finished strong, with hands in the air clapping as I crossed the finish line so proud knowing I came in UNDER my set goal of 1:58 and finished at 1:57:16! Granted I was ready to throw up for a few minutes afterwards but it soon passed.
The best part after the race, happened when I was approached by a woman who I had seen the whole race, she was near me at the start and was right with me at the end. She came up to me and said “Great job! I was with you the whole time, you are a great pacer! I found you early on and said oh I’m staying with the pink shirt” I couldn’t believe it! We laughed and I thanked her and congratulated her too. I felt so honored! What a nice thing to say! In the middle of us chatting, another woman comes up to us and congratulates us and says “I was with you both the whole time! What a great race! (looking at me she says) You set a great pace!” What!? From 2 people! Amazing. Not only did I have a great race, and a great time and felt awesome the whole time, but I got, what I consider to be one of the best compliments ever!
The rest of the day was great. The weather was basically as perfect as you can get. We were there with good friends who also ran some of the various other races. We made it to the beer garden, got free massages, and had a great time! I have thought that I would run another marathon someday, but after completeing 13.1, it’s like the perfect race. A long endurance race, but not so long you finish in pain, it’s a fun race. I will certainly do more! I loved it!
My favorite part in participating in these big race events boils down to this: you feel like you are part of something bigger than yourself, bigger than your everyday life. It’s an individual event, and you set your own goals and success is great! But you also get to witness other peoples successes and you understand the look of pain as someone comes down the shoot just before they cross that finish line, and the feeling of excitment they have for themselves by accomplishing their goals. It’s just amazing. And people are so supportive of one another. My favorite was witnessing an 83 year old woman finish the Half with a smile and throwing her hands up as the whole crowd cheered for her. There is nothing better to be apart of something so wonderful.
