Marathon Results

So, I finished. Yeah, me! 50 years, two days, 26.2 miles. That photo is right at the finish. I was smiling, happy and if I had hind legs, I would have been overtracking. The prior three miles or so had been a bit more tortured, but by those last couple hundred meters, I was prancing. 

Prance! Prance! Prance!

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My performance, when measured against expectation (4:30 minutes) did not hit the mark: 5:16. Way, way off the mark, as a matter of fact. There are a million reasons why this is so, but at the heart of it, I finished. Finished happy, strong, and fit enough that I headed home, took a nap, had a bath, took Hope out to a local barn where she has been taking a few lessons, lunged her on a horse, came home and made dinner. So, not dead. 

But also pretty happy to call it a day on marathons. 

At the end of the day, I like running half marathons. The distance just suits me. I can run it, finish, and walk away happy. For this race, I hit 13 miles happy as a clam, and managed the next five or so still thinking it was all down hill. By mile 20, though, I was over it. Boredom was a huge part of the problem.

The course was beautiful, as it ran along the Lehigh Valley River, mostly on rail trails far outside of traffic, but it took me five hours and 16 minutes. Even for a devoted introspect, that is a lot of time inside my own head. I think if I had had a regular running companion (or even someone to run with that day), and if I were to have managed the 4:30 minute estimate, it would have been a more pleasant experience. 

Not that it was unpleasant. But the amount of time it took to train for it, the amount of time it took to actually run, the twinges in my quads that I can still feel on Tuesday morning, plus the deadly smell of Arnica that lingers everywhere I go, suggest that I might well stick to what I like doing: 13 miles at a time. 

Now that's sad: I didn't use my beer ticket. 

 

 

 

Comments

[Susan / ChocoMare]

Proud of ya Ellen! Can't wait to see pics of no-longer-wee Hope on her pony!

[Suzanne]

Wow Ellen, what an impressive accomplishment! Not only did you manage your move back to the states but you kept up with your training enough to do a marathon on your return. Not sure which is the most amazing-many kudos to you.

[Rose]

You are amazing! I can't imagine doing a marathon.