The TC Marathon has finally come and gone....26.2 miles complete....its really weird that its all over...as I was sitting on the couch on Sunday afternoon it just hit me that it was over....not the fact that I had just ran 26.2 miles a few hours earlier and was still physically not able to move normally....but just sitting there on the couch it hit me.....after a year of training and it was done!
The race itself had its highs and lows....and man those lows were hard....mostly mentally hard....trying to tell yourself you can do this when your body really just wants to be done....around mile 15/16 it got challenging for me....when you start thinking of the amount you have left it can be overwhelming to know that there is still 10-11 miles left....the way I handled the full marathon was to take it one water stop at a time...instead of thinking about 1 mile of 26 and so on.....also I was burning through my fuel a lot faster than I have planned.....running out of fuel or water is not something to play around with....once you let it go too far...its not something you can just play catch up on....thank god for the cliff shot area at mile 17....when I was at mile 21-23 they were rough too....you just hit "the wall" as its referred to.....you have run farther than you normally run in a training long run....and you just have to keep telling yourself there is only a few miles left and you've come this far....you can finish it now....
The highs were awesome....starting the race....the excitement and nervousness in the air....listening to the Star Spangled Banner right before the start is amazing....once you are start and seeing all the people there cheering anyone and everyone on is great!!!....I ran with a pace group....best thing decision ever....our pace leader was awesome....she instructed us that every water stop was a 30 sec walking break to make sure we got re-hydrated....there was also lots of funny stories that were told the entire time we were out there...she kept encouraging us the whole way....and especially towards the end when it got hard.....when we would come up to a larger cheer zone most everyone would shout...."here comes the 4:45 group...you're doing awesome".....also seeing people I knew out there on the course helped me immensely....not even knowing it they were at places along the course that I really needed it....seeing two neighbors at mile 16....helped me get out of my funk and push through those 5 miles....and then hearing my name at mile 22....seeing my kids, husband and another set of neighbors at mile 23 really turned it around for me....it gave me enough mentally to just run and get it over with....and finally seeing my parents about a half a mile from the finish.....and for all the people who followed me online and all the text and facebook messages that I received too....I can not say thank you enough for that....I am truly grateful for all your support!!!.....the finally high was crossing that finish line....knowing that I accomplished what I set out to do a year ago.....
My ultimate goal was the just finish this one....but I really wanted to be under 5 hrs....my official finish time was 4:42:10....I am so happy with my time....yes do I wish I was faster of course I do....but I was 18 minutes faster than 5 hrs....I finished it with only walking at the water stops.....overall it was a great experience!....I am happy I did it!
Pre-Race the kids saying good-bye
The starting line
The finish line....the Capital never looked so good
My finisher metal
I haven't fully decided if I am one and out....or if I will do another one in the future...I know I will not be doing one next year....I want a summer that I can enjoy a bit more than I did this past year....the husband has also expressed interest in possibly wanting to do the TC Marathon next year and both of us can not train for one at the same time until the kids are older....I know next year I want to do a couple halfs....halfs seem like a cake walk compared to a full.....so I honestly don't know yet if I will run another full....we will just have to see!
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