First Marathon!

Running a marathon for the first time you quickly find out why they call it a “Marathon”. On May 27^th I lined up in Buffalo, NY to run my very first marathon.  I had a marathon training plan that was devised by Fleet Feet’s own Nathaniel Lowe and myself.  With 8 weeks to go before the marathon, I had a set back with a bad IT band that nearly sidelined me for 3 weeks. I thought I would have to cancel the race and postpone to a later race. But after extensive PT and rehab, I was able to post a 13 minute PR at the Flower City which gave me a confidence boost that I could still do the marathon in May. At the midpoint I was right on track to my time goal of 4 hours, coming in at 1:59 and feeling great, but that didn’t last for long. Many runners speak of the “wall” like it’s a mysterious feeling you get at random times. I found out what that was at mile 20..oh did I ever. I was entering Delaware Park and happy to be at mile 20, until I had this feeling of 100 lbs of bricks hit my chest and shoulders. Let’s just say that the last 6 miles was a true testament of the human spirit and truly breaks down the strongest willed. I did not stop fighting, and I was not going to call it quits. I finished the race at 4:24:03 and proud to say I am one of the few in this world to run a marathon.  Looking forward to my next hopefully in September!