Red Shoe Print.: I am a Marathoner.

Three years ago, I ran my first 5K in 41:18. When I say "ran" I really mean, ran/walked. The next day I watched my one of my friends run the Twin Cities Marathon. We waited for her at mile 23 cheering runners on and cheering especially loud when we saw her. I remember thinking "this is crazy, I could never do that" but at the same time in the back of my head thinking "what if I could". I began running more, slowly building up the ability to run one mile without walking, and eventually two miles. I signed up for an indoor triathlon (400 meter swim, 12 mile bike, 2 mile run) and finished second to last in my heat, but I finished. I then signed up to run Grandma's half marathon, and was committed to doing it until I hurt my knee in a soccer game a month before the race. I think I was sort of looking for a reason not to run and used the injury as a good reason to back out. I was dead set on running a mid distance race because I signed up for the Twin Cities 10 mile and the Nike + 1/2 marathon in October 2007, just one year after my 5K debut. I again backed out of the 10 mile due to another knee injury from soccer and decided to walk the Nike + 1/2 marathon completely untrained. It took me 4 hours and it was sort of unpleasant, but I wanted to finish so I wasn't going to give up.

During grad school I ran off and on, but I still had some residual knee injuries. This last winter, despite grad school, I decided that I needed to take time for myself again and started running more frequently. But, I was still only running 3-4 miles regularly. In April 2009, I signed up for the Urban Wildland 1/2 marathon and the Twin Cities Marathon in the same week. With my track record of signing up for races, I had no idea if I would complete either race. I finished the Urban Wildland 1/2 marathon in 2:16:52 and ran the whole time. Yesterday, I ran the Twin Cities Marathon and finished in 5:14:36.

The marathon- It was a physical and mental journey, harder than I anticipated. I knew it was going to be tough, but there's something about being so close, yet still so far that can cause some vicious mind games. During my training long runs, I always felt good up until about 10-11 miles, and each mile after that was harder and harder. So, I knew after the half way point (13.1 miles) things would get harder, and they did. I was running with the 5 hour pace group thinking that we would be running 11:30 miles, but we were running at 10 minute mile pace for 10 minutes and would walk one minute and take 30-40 seconds at the water stops. This worked out for me for 17 miles but then, I just couldn't keep up the 10 minute/mile pace. I was getting light headed and feeling like I could pass out. I dropped back from the pace group and contemplated my marathon future.
Should I just stop right there? Should I keep going until I just pass out?

I slowed down to a walk and started to wonder if I would be able to finish at all. My head was whirling with worst case scenarios when I looked down at the pace bracelet on my wrist and saw I was only 2 minutes off my pace group. That suddenly jarred me back to reality and then I saw the 19 mile sign and I was back in the game. The last 6-7 miles were tough. A lot of the fans on summit had left and those that were there seemed to have minimal cheer left in them. Mile 25 felt like it was never going to end. And then the capital was in sight and I heard all the people cheering at the end. It was such a great feeling.

It still feels like a dream (except for all of my day after soreness) because I never thought I could say I ran a marathon. This was something that other people did, not me. I still don't feel like I'm a runner, despite the fact that I keep thinking about what races I wanted to do next. I used to be nervous to run 6 miles, now I'm not afraid anymore and know that I have the endurance and strength to handle just about anything I try. I am a Marathoner.

Pictures of the big day:

Mile 15 with the pace group. Still going strong. (Me in the purple)