I did it!

I did it! I ran a marathon. I still don't know why, because it was torture. It was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life, and yes I have given birth to two children, but with an epidural that is a piece of cake. I thought I was going to die when I got to mile 22. I literally hit a wall. I could not run anymore. I felt like I was going to throw up and pass out, and my legs would not let me run anymore. I hadn’t done any long runs for the last 1 ½ months, and my body was not prepared, but I still finished. I walked about the last 4 miles. I ended up finishing in 3 hours 48 minutes, which is 8:45 mile pace.

My oldest brother, Steve is a marathon runner, and he convinced 10 members of my family to run this marathon/half marathon with him. Those who did not run cheered us on. We had 47 people in my family here for the event, so we had quite a support group.

And because everything is bigger in Texas, instead of getting a plaque or a simple metal to hang around your neck we got a metal shaped like Texas, 1/2 inch thick, and weighing over 3 lbs. I could eat Thanksgiving dinner off this sucker, because it’s so big. It is a little ridiculous and nearly impossible to wear around your neck without falling over, but that’s how people do things in Texas.

Will I run another marathon?....hum right now I don’t know. I still remember how torturous it was, but with time life has a funny way of making you forget how dreadful things were sometimes. If I were to do it again I would try to qualify for the Boston Marathon. I was only a few minutes away from qualifying, and that was with walking the last 4 miles and not being totally prepared, so I am slightly, very slightly considering running the St. George Marathon in October to get my qualification time and then running the Boston Marathon next year. Again, there is a very slight chance of that happening, because this year is going to be full of all kinds of changes which might make that hard to accomplish, but I guess only time will tell.