On Saturday I ran the St. George Marathon. It was my first marathon, and I entered the race lottery mostly because I didn't think I'd get in this year. I wasn't really convinced a marathon was something I wanted to do. I love half marathons, but pushing your body 26.2 miles is a whole different level of crazy. I did get in (obviously) and I spent the first two months of training looking for an excuse not to run it. But after running the TOU half in August, I got my race motivation back. I spent the next month worrying that I wouldn't be able to run. (And naturally, because I'm a hypochondriac I found 900 things wrong with myself. I was sure I had a stress fracture when my calf hurt during one run and that I was getting swine flu when my allergies flared up one day.)
I expected a marathon to be hard, but it was even tougher than I expected. I'm kind of proud of that, because I know part of what made it so much more difficult than my past races or training runs was that I pushed myself. So much so that when it was over I didn't have anything left - I just planted myself on a random patch of lawn until I could walk again. But I made my goal of running the whole time - no walking - and I shattered my "reasonable" goal of a 4:15 time. I even broke my "ultimate" goal of 4 hours and finished in 3:53! It was physically painful some of the time and I had to play mental games to keep myself motivated, but I did it. There's such a sense of satisfaction that come from conquering truly tough stuff.
I've had a couple people ask me if I was disappointed in having missed qualifying for Boston by mere minutes (well, 13...that's kind of a lot to shave off, but anyway...). I'm totally not. First of all, 3:53 is way better than I ever expected to do and you bet I'm proud of myself. But second, if you qualified for the Boston Marathon, wouldn't you feel like you should run it? I'm glad I ran this one, but I'm definitely not planning to make a habit of it. Now if you're looking for a half-marathon buddy on the other hand...give me a few weeks and let me know :)
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7 comments:
Wow! That's awesome Kate! That is such an accomplishment! It's funny because my sis in law, Melissa, ran it, too, and came in only a few minutes before you. I almost went to watch and would have seen you! Too bad. Anyway, that's really great, way to go!
You are amazing! Way to go. I ran a half marathon about 5 years ago and it about killed me, never again and that was only a half and I even trained for 8 months! Yes, I am that weak. Way to be awesome! Congratulations!
I'm so happy it went so well for you! Are you sure you don't have another one in you? I would love to run one with you one of these days.
Thanks guys! Sunny, it's not really at the top of my list this week, but maybe by the time we're back in the same country again I'll be ready :)
Wow, Kate, you're amazing. Running is way beyond my capabilities.
I am speechless. People who run marathons make me speechless. What a huge feat. Way to conquer!
I totally feel the same way after St. George - give me more halfs, but I feel no need to do the full thing again any time soon! Great to have done it though. Your time was awesome!
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