Never in a million years did I think I would run a marathon. But on Sunday I did! In the last 2 ½ years I’ve gone from running at most 3 miles to running 6 half marathons. I really like half marathons and I always said there was no way I would want to run a marathon. 13.1 was enough for me. I couldn’t imagine going one step further. My friend Meghan who I have run countless races with in New York convinced me that we had to run the New York City Marathon. I went back and forth on whether or not I wanted do it and most the time I thought I didn’t. But then I thought about all the things I’ve heard people say about it and thought what’s been the point of running NYRR races all year long to not do their premiere event, The ING New York City Marathon? I had run nine races and volunteered at one to grant me automatic entry so all I had to do was register. When I got my registration confirmation that I was “IN” I got butterflies in my stomach and thought what the hell am I thinking?! I can’t run 26.2 miles!
The first time I started thinking I actually could run a marathon was during a 16 mile training run over the George Washington Bridge and through Palisades Park in NJ. I was terrified to go on the run. Meghan had hooked up with a running group and asked me to join them at 7am at West 165th street to run 16. As I typed, “Sure, I will be there!” I kept thinking how is this not coming out as “Are you insane I don’t wake up before 8:30am to get to work! There is no way I’m waking up at 4:30 am to get to 165th Street from Brooklyn to run 16 miles! I will meet you for dinner and drinks after.” But I held my doubts back and just went for it. I was the proudest I have ever been of myself after I finished that run. It was the first time I ran more then 13.1 miles and the feeling of doing something you never thought you could do was amazing. I think I felt more pride after that run then I did after the marathon which is weird but it was the first test to see if I actually had it in me to run more then 13.1 miles. Each long run after that was better then the last. I don’t know how or why but I loved running the really long distances. I enjoyed training for the marathon more then any half marathon I have trained for. I did two 20 mile runs and after each one felt like I could go further. 6.2 miles further I wasn’t sure and wasn’t going to find out until the marathon.
Marathon morning all I was thinking about was staying calm and enjoying the run. I wanted to soak in all the excitement and all the sights. The crowd support was amazing! The best was having my mom, my two sisters and friends out there cheering me on. I had my name across my shirt and I can’t describe the feeling of having complete strangers shouting your name and telling you how awesome you are doing. Brooklyn was the best! The energy and excitement was like nothing I have ever experienced before.
The last 4 miles were rough. The last part of the marathon is pretty much uphill and I still don’t know how I managed to keep moving but the cheers from the crowd and the months spent preparing made it possible. I had three time goals in mind for the race. 1st was a far reaching one, then a reasonable one and then one I could live with. Everyone says the only goal for your first marathon should be to finish but I had trained too much and knew too well what I was capable of doing to settle for just finishing. My first goal was 4 hours 30 minutes, the second was 4 hours 44 minutes and the third was under 5 hours. I’m happy to say I came in at 4:52! I figured that at the end of the marathon I would either never ever want to run again or I would be ready to plan for the next one. I’m also happy to say that I’m planning for next year and hope to reach goal #1 of 4:30.
