If you know us or met us, I don't think you'd ever believe we could or would run a marathon (though a nun I met recently said I have "a runner's body" -- she was being SO generous! I didn't think nuns were supposed to lie.
As I stood in my corral, waiting to start my very first marathon, I felt remarkably calm. My past race experiences have not been as good, leading me to say more than once that I love the training much more than the actual racing. I generally get too wound up during the pre-race wait in the corrals and want to bust a move and pass everyone once we start. Then I get annoyed when my husband insists on sticking to our 145-155 heart rate pace, and I spend a few miles feeling grumpily frustrated, like a dog straining at a leash. Because this was the longest distance I've ever run (ever!), I think I found it easier to sit back and pace myself and just enjoy the race as it progressed along. I was very aware of the possibility of running out of gas around mile 20, and wanted to save enough energy to make it across the finish line!
We had our ipods with us in case musical motivation was needed, but only listened to them for about a mile total -- the rest of the time we chatted with each other or looked at the scenery or the other racers or the supportive friends and family members along the sidelines (favorite signs I saw: "I thought you said 2.62 miles!" and "My feet hurt because I'm kicking so much ass!"). We were running at a slow pace, so we were able to enjoy the race more than some who are trying to finish in a certain time. That was a great way to experience our first marathon, and I would recommend it to all first-timers.
Overall, I found that the experience was somewhat emotional (though some would say I'm just an emotional person overall). Running a marathon is the only thing I've ever really worked hard for in my entire life, and as the miles passed easily beneath my feet, I began to realize how much all the work and time and planning and training was really paying off. It was the first time that I felt that I could see the effort = results equation in full-effect. By mile 21 (the longest distance we'd run prior to this was 20 miles, so getting past that point was a big deal!), I really had a feeling of accomplishment and awe. By that point it seemed real to me that we were actually going to complete a whole marathon. Us. Really.
We had started training in earnest with our great trainer Terry Coker at the end of May. Before that, we had honored our New Year's resolution to get in better shape and had been steadily training for April's Music City 1/2 Marathon on our own. We had gone from "couch-potato-ness" to being able to run five miles by the half marathon. Although we had made good progress on our own, training with Terry really made a huge difference for us because he kept us from overdoing it and helped us build our stamina slowly and carefully. During our training, we had the same challenges and difficulties that most runners face -- cold weather, hot weather, busy schedules, various body aches, illness, lack of energy, boredom, etc. -- but we managed to power through all of that and stay on track. Somehow we also managed to develop the mental stamina to settle down and just run till the race was done. As a person who loves to get something done quickly and move on to the next thing, the development of any kind of mental stamina still seems like something purely magical to me, but it was real and it was there when I needed it.
One of my favorite parts of any race is seeing all the encouragement that comes from the sidelines. It's a faith-restoring experience for me. You see spectators who are playing cow-bells, holding hand-made signs, crying, yelling, and jumping up and down as their runners go by. You'll see the same people in multiple locations along the course because they've moved from one spot to another to give maximum encouragement. Then there are the spectators who don't seem to know anyone in the race, but have just come out to cheer random people on (sometimes they even hand out treats at the end of their driveway or play music from their cars to encourage us all to keep up the pace). Those are my favorites! Being encouraged by someone you've never met, someone who just saw you running by and thought, "That girl needs a shout-out!" makes me feel that there is so much good in the world and in humanity. The opportunity to be a great cheerleader is the one thing that would keep me from being a runner! It just looks like so much fun and I know how much it's appreciated by the people running by.
Around mile 22, I began to feel that the whole thing was over too quickly. My husband lost his stamina around mile 23, so he walked the rest of the way and I jogged alongside him to the finish line (I tried to walk, but my muscles weren't able to adapt to the pace and workout change, so I had to keep on running). That helped stretch out the last few miles, but I still felt that the time went by too fast.
We don't have our next marathon scheduled yet, but there is definitely another marathon in our future! I think I've got the marathon bug!
