My First Marathon

The first race I ever ran (excepting an exceedingly lackluster middle school track career) was the Bix 7 in 2009. At the time, I wasn't sure I was even able to run seven miles. It turns out I could, it took a little over 70 minutes but I finished. Since then, I've always known I wanted to run a marathon.

It took a little over three years to actually take the plunge, but I finished the Illinois Marathon today in 3:48:16. My goal was four hours, so I'm very satisfied. I took the PE on the 13th of April (which studying for ate up a large chunk of my time), as well as departing for vacation in Hawaii the day after that, arriving back in Illinois on the 27th. This, coupled with a nagging hip injury had me concerned about even finishing the race.

I woke up at 4:45 and my parents were nice enough to come up with to see me start as well as watch the whole thing. This shows a level of patience I don't think I have. The race itself was pretty great. There were showers and it was about 50 degrees this morning, but the rain stopped and it ended up great marathoning weather.

I started out slow, hitting an 8:45ish pace (my running watch broke, this was all based off my normal Timex). The volunteers were great, and the entertainment was solid. We had a bagpipe player, skinny Elvis singing Johnny B. Goode, and no fewer than two houses playing The Final Countdown. I also got to spread the Fivefingers gospel to a guy around Mile 14.

I held myself back some after last year's half marathon disaster of totally hitting the wall at Mile 10. Mom and dad met me at West Side Park around Mile 14 and provided some timely graham crackers. Around Mile 18 I think I lost just a little off my pace and the miles didn't seem to slide away as quickly as they had. Regardless, I stayed pretty consistent and could tell by Mile 21 or so that I was going to finish and could probably finish strong. By Mile 24, I was able to set a good pace and start passing some people. At Mile 25, I hopped into the next gear and likely ran my fastest mile of the race. By the time we were coming into Memorial Stadium, I was in a full-on sprint to cross the finish line at the 50. It's always great to really put the hammer down to finish a race and especially for this one.

I could barely walk afterward, but sushi and rest have me doing much better.