Runners blog #9

I just copied and pasted from my Runner's World Blog...

So yesterday was the day, the day I've been training for the last 18 weeks, my very first marathon. I finished (Goal #1), I finished without walking, well except the water stations (Goal #2) and I had fun (Goal #3). I even finished under my wishful expectation of 4.5 hrs with a unofficial time of 4:26, I even managed to run a negative spilt.

The experience was so much more than I could have asked for, the weather was amazing, I was lucky enough to find a couple of running partners, my brother in law's sister and another first timer, to run almost the entire race with. Without them it would have been much, much harder to complete. I had a couple of scares right near the end, a tight hamstring around 22 miles, luckily a quick stretch and I was back, and a sudden drop in blood sugar at about mile 25, I totally forgot to fuel up for the final 6 miles and I nearly paid for it. Luckily when I was almost ready to hit the wall 2 things saved me, first a final water station, and the site of a man probably in his 60's with a neck brace and a cane making the turn for the down and back to complete the race trucking right along, I figured if he can keep going for another 3+ miles with all that, I could make it 1 more mile.

There were many moments of inspiration during the race, and they came from unusual and unexpected places at times, but they all seemed to come at just the right time. The one that stuck out the most was while on Arsenal Island all the service men and women cheering us on, it was hard not to stop and thank all of them for what they do everyday to give people like me the freedom to enjoy running, so to any Loopsters out there that have previously served or are currently serving, and all the other men and women around the world serving in any branch of the military "THANK YOU" for your service and sacrifice.

It's going to be hard to top my first marathon, it was an experience unlike anything else, and something I'll remember for the rest of my life