now i'm a marathoner

Yesterday, I finished my first (and probably only) marathon. It was far and away the hardest thing I've ever done. It was wildly painful and not at all fun. But, I finished and I'm so proud of myself. I definitely wanted to quit before mile 5- that's when I knew it would be a loooong morning. Two weeks ago I had a PR at the Indy Half Marathon, but yesterday was nowhere near record pace. I was feeling it before mile 5, my calves and hips started to hurt before mile 9, and by mile 15 I had blisters in some painful places.

My spirits were buoyed by my family and friends who came out to support me: my sister came home a day early to surprise me; a former running buddy flew home from California to surprise our running group; my co-workers made a sign and cheered me on in Broad Ripple; another running buddy who jogged with us at different points in the race; a friend, her husband and new baby on Meridian Street; another co-worker and his son near Crown Hill; and my mom, dad, and sister at 38th Street.

Now I can mark another item off my 101 Things List. It was my original goal to run a marathon by the time I was 25, but three years ago I had some back injuries and a big weight gain to overcome. Thanks to a lot of miles, several massages, no small amount of anti-inflammatories, ice packs, an AWESOME running group, and two cortisone shots later, I achieved my goal. I certainly was not the fastest out there. I was actually among the slowest, but I finished with a respectable average of a 12-minute-mile.