The most beautiful urban marathon in America

And that it is. Or at least I think it is, I don’t know any different.

Running a marathon is crazy. You work so hard for so many months and you hope it all falls into place on that one day. And then you hope you are filling your body with the right things to keep it working right for the next 2 to 6 hours depending on how fast you are.

The following is a list of things and thoughts that went through my head as I ran my first marathon:

I was overcome with emotion as 10,500 of us sang the national anthem as we were about to endure whatever it was that race was going to throw at us.

I was so happy that Adam was there with me.

I couldn’t believe the support of all the friends and family and total strangers along the way, you couldn’t go 10 steps without someone being there to cheer you on. It was overwhelming to see that many people over that many miles.

I wish I had written my name on my shirt or my body so people would cheer for me by name. I hung out with a guy named FRANK for several miles just because they were yelling his name that was taped to his shirt.

I did everything my experienced marathon friend Laura told me not to do (1) Don’t go out to fast, the race starts at mile 20 (2) Don’t have a time goal, you will just be disappointed if you don’t make it. Of course she was right, on both counts.

I couldn’t believe I was feeling so tired at mile 10.

I thought my feet were bleeding at mile 13. I wouldn’t look at them in case they were.

I didn’t realize how important it would be to see my kids when I hurt so badly. We missed each other at mile 14 and I had to dig deep to wait to see them again at mile 23.

I started with the leg cramping at mile 18.

I had to pee at mile 20. I decided I better wait until I saw a port-a-potty because if I went in the bushes like everyone else I was never going to be able to stand back up.

I couldn’t believe the leg cramps. It got to the point were if I stopped to stretch one leg the other leg would just seize up and get stuck in place.

I saw a tall skinny guy fall over on the side of the road with his eyes rolling back in his head. Several runners stopped to help until EMTs showed up. By the time Adam ran by he was out cold.

I just kept singing to myself, “you can do this, you can do this, you can do this” whenever the pain became too great.

I couldn’t believe how it plays with your mind when the “pace team” you had been running with for 16 miles runs off without you. Then you see the next pace team at mile 21 and you can’t keep up with them. That blew my mind.

I was stretching and cramping and stretching and cramping and a spectator walked by me and asked if I needed a hand because I looked like I was going to fall over.

Once I made it up Summit to the crest of the hill that overlooked the finish line and the capitol, 4 hours and 11 minutes later, I finished just as I had started…in tears.

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