The Marathon

Today I successfully completed the Mohawk Hudson River Marathon, finishing in Albany, New York. This 26.2 miler was my first, and I finished with a time of 3:38:50 (unofficial). This time FAR exceeded even my wildest hopes, and I couldn't be more thrilled.

Trevor's cousin Leya and her husband Nate, who live in Albany, were kind enough to allow myself, Trevor, Bob, A-Low, and a new addition to the runners list, Kevin to crash the night before the marathon. Trevor, battling a bone bruise on his knee, was forced to drop down to the half marathon, and his friend from work, Kevin, decided to use Chris's registration and run the half with him.

So the marathon was down to myself, Bob, and A-Low. We got to the Crowne Plaza to pick up the bus around 6:30, and at 7:00 we were on our way to the start. The bus ride was among the more difficult of my pre-race moments, as I spent about 35 minutes thinking about all the things that could possibly go wrong over the next few hours. We got to the starting line with a little under an hour to spare, so we hit the bathrooms and sat in the sun, trying to stay warm. It didn't seem like long before the crowd was off, and the moment had finally arrived.

Bob had decided that he was going to run with me for "at least a third" of the race. A-Low quickly took off, and Bob and I were on our own.

I had told myself coming into the race that my first mile would be between 9:15 and 9:30. We ended up running an 8:50. That would be our slowest mile by a significant amount.

My memory of the race seems quite surreal at this point. Bob and I hit a rhythm, and we knocked off mile after mile. While our splits did fluctuate, we maintained a steady 8:15 - 8:20 pace. I started to get sore around mile 13 ... and I had to stop to adjust my shoe around 12.5, but the first 20 were smooth sailing.

The last six miles were both my least and most favorite. Heeding the advice of Bob, as my body started to break down, I poured all of my focus into maintaining the correct form. As runners wilted around us, we maintained the same pace. From mile 20-26.2, we probably passed 50 runners, and we didn't get passed at all.

At 25, I hit "the wall." I stayed strong through the end, and I give much of the credit for this to Bob, who convinced me that I could indeed run faster ... all I needed to do was imagine that I was being chased by a bear.

When we hit the finish, I felt an enormous wave of emotion. Maybe I was relieved I was done. Maybe I was thrilled that I completely destroyed any sort of time goal I was bold enough to have. Maybe I was overwhelmed by the fact that my training had paid off. Who knows. What I do know is that today I ran a marathon, and according to the standards I had set for myself, I absolutely killed it.

Thanks for reading, and thanks to all who have kept tabs on me and supported this endeavor. Bring on the next one.