So after the Deadwood/Mickelson Half Marathon last weekend, I had serious doubts about my ability to run a full marathon. I mean, I was TIRED after my half and doing a full would be twice that long! The thought of still having to train after my half was not something that sounded like fun to me. And boy was I sore on Monday and Tuesday. But on Wednesday, I stopped feeling sore and told my self that the pity party was over and that I was going to accomplish this goal of mine come August! I ran an awesome 4 mile run on Wednesday and talked some a few others who have run marathons who gave me some great advice so I felt much better about the situation. So, today was the big run - I had to run 14 miles which is farther than I have ever run before. I had a lot of questions going through my head: Where should I run? How many gels should I take? How am I going to take a water bottle with me for 14 miles? How many times will I have to stop to walk? How long is this going to take me, really? And WHY am I doing this again?? Oh, right...the feeling of accomplishment. So, I wake up at 6am and eat a small breakfast so I have some fuel for the long run. Chris has a water bottle with a strap that you can hold and I thought I would hate it, but you kinda forget about it after a while so that worked nicley. I took 2 gels and figured I would take them each after an hour of running. I take off at 7am and the first 3 miles fly by. I just run around town and enjoy the quiet of a Sunday morning. Before I know it, I am done with 5 miles and take my gel. It might just be in my head, but I really feel that this helps me keep going. And I'm keeping an 11 minutes per mile pace, which is just fine with me. After 5 more miles of pretty steady running, I am feeling good, but I still have 4 miles to go and I am feeling a little tired so I stop to walk a little and take my 2nd gel. BIG MISTAKE. It actually hurts more when I walk and my legs feel like lead. So, I take my gel quickly and take a big drink of powerade and start running again and tell myself that I am not stopping to walk again. After I get back into my groove, I feel really good and I look down at the Garmin and it says 12.75 miles...wow! I have almost run a half marathon! I just have 1.25 miles to complete my 14 miles. And really, I felt good the entire way. I think the combonation of having my gels, my gum, and my powerade, I was able to have a great run. I'm not saying that I would have wanted to run anymore today, but I probably could have if I had to (which I will come next week!) I finished in 2:33:30 which is a 10:58 per mile pace, which I was very happy with. Now, if I could just hold that pace for 12.2 more miles, I could run a marathon in under 5 hours! Yeah, we'll see! I really don't care about my time for this first marathon - I just want to cross the finish line and say that I have run a marathon before I turn 30! And after today, I feel like I can do it!
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