My Marathon Delivered

On October 17th, 2010 I ran the Duke City Marathon in Albuquerque in a very respectable 4 hours and 11 minutes exactly. I can now call myself a marathoner, I am a member of the club and it took me only about 12 hours after the race to put the sticker on my car. When you run that far (without stopping) you do get bragging rights. There is a saying that goes something like this...At mile 18 you wonder what the #%@# you were running for, but at mile 26.2 the answer is perfectly clear. That pretty much sums up my marathon experience.

I can't say that running a marathon had been a huge goal of mine for a long time since I only started running less than 2 years ago, but since i started running it has always been in the not so back of mind. I guess I kind of always thought that there is no possible way I could ever do something like that. Well after 6 half marathons, 3 10k, and probably about 20 5k's it became clear that I was ready to tackle the big one. It seemed fitting that the Duke City marathon would be the one, seeing as that is where my little family grew and since my first marathon was run for Jay and Alex the decision was clear.

I can't even begin to describe the overwhelming amount of emotions that I went through during those 26 miles. From tears of pain to tears of happiness sometimes all in a one mile distance. Despite running with thousands of people, it at times is an extremely lonely and quiet road. The first half everyone is talking and happy and some even singing, but when you reach that turn around and the pain starts to set in and the pace slows down...everyone's mood changes including mine...which is a big deal for me because everyone always comments on my smile when I run. I was not smiling after mile 18. Your body thinks you should be done but you know you still have over 8 miles to go. I just kept thinking one step in front of the other, one mile at a time, no walking, no walking, no walking. Although my mood did change I did manage to thank every single person that cheered me or gave me water. All the water stops were manned by military people, I told one young soldier that he rocked for giving me water and he replied "No, you rock mam".

Since it was an out and back course you could see the winners on their way back while I was still trudging to get to the turnaround. Yes, very impressive to see their pace, and stride etc. but what impressed me more was seeing the people who were obviously struggling for various reasons (some even puking on the side) but not giving up. Seeing people of all shapes, ages and sizes and running for ALL sorts of reasons. I was passed by people twice my age and conversely I passed people half my age. You just never know what someone is capable of. Sometimes I just wanted to ask them why they were running but they would probably think I was crazy.

I just looked at the marathon pictures took by the professional photographers on the courses and I look so happy, I always seek them out and pose, I think I actually stopped at one of the photography stops and asked him how the picture turned out. I wasn't going to run a mile and have a shitty picture to show for it. No, I am not vain at all :)