On Sunday I ran my first marathon. It took 4 hrs 24 minutes. This was slower than I had anticipated, but I am very happy with it. I'm mostly happy because I had a cold the 2 weeks leading up to the race and just about coughed up a lung the night before, but when race day came, my body called a cease fire and my lungs felt 100% all during the race. And the weather was perfect, too!
There was a big group of us that went up to Vancouver together for the race. John (first time marathoner), Ben (first time half marathoner), Shireesha (did the half), Peregrin (did the half), and the support crew Kathleen, Robin, Kim and Darius. John (who has a great blog entry for this event) and I were able to run the first part of the race together which was really cool to have a friend to hang with. Ben was supposed to to the full, but got a flu bug on the flight up from AZ and had a big ol' clearance sale in the first class bathroom on the plane, so he recovered for a few days and switched to the half.
We had the most amazing support crew. They all wore these huge bright blue afro wigs and made signs and had megaphones to yell thru. And they hoofed it all over the course to meet and cheer for us at different points of the race. It's funny - even tho they were all there cheering, I can only recall seeing Kathleen and her big sign that read "RUN MATTY RUN". It was a big help having them there.
Overall, the race was really fun. I was impressed with how many people were spectating and cheering for people they didn't know. I had my name on the front of my jersey, which was a big help. It always made me smile when people would shout "Go Matt!". I felt pretty good for most of the race... all up until about mile 20, then I started running out of steam. My knees were sore, so I'd slow down and then realize my legs were really tight, so I'd walk, but that made me realize how much my hips hurt, so I'd start running, but that hurt my foot and made my calves tight, so I'd slow down, but that would hurt my... It was really a good exercise in pain managment.
I did it though. I made it across the finish line. There were some rough moments on the Cascade Loop trip, but I think this run was the probably the hardest thing I've ever done. Will I do it again? I'm sure I will - I really want to break 4 hours, but first I gotta start training for STP.The full collection of pix can be seen here.
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5 comments:
Matt - congratulations to you for accomplishing this incredible feat! I am totally impressed!!! Secondly, I wanted to compliment you on your writing style. Your words did a great job of letting me feel what it must have felt like just by reading this blog post. Glad that was all I had to do. Now that I am done with these comments, I can get back to my couch and watch old episodes of Mannix.
Way to go big brother! Between you and Mom, well, you both help to create a new better image of the unemployed American! And you kick ass! (sorry mom)
Nicely done.
PS. It was closer to half the race that I kept up with you. I am glad I am not the only one who struggled hard there at the end.
yay, matty! p.s. I want my gps... can you stp without it!
Great Blog, Matt! I am so proud of all of you who ran- John, Shireesha, Ben, Peregrin, and you. Kathleen was awesome to cheer with too. Beautiful person, loads of energy, and looks great in blue afro chic! I shed a tear again as I watched the video of you crossing the finish line. What a triumph!
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