NC marathon recap

I did it! I completed my 3rd marathon. I was the 7th overall female, and I ran a PR by 4 minutes. My official time was 3:33:48.

A lot of people have been asking me how it was...well, quite frankly, it was hell. Why? because I ran 26.2 miles...it's no easy feat.

Ok, but really it wasn't that bad. I had a good time. There were less than 260 people in the marathon, and the spectators along the course were almost nonexistent. It was, for the most part, a very lonely course if you didn't talk to people.

I did meet and talk to some cool people along the way. For about 11 miles, I ran with a guy from Asheville who had only done 1 marathon. Then he slowed down and I kept trucking and some foreign guy started talking to me. I'm not sure where he was from, but just 4 weeks before the NC Marathon he had done a marathon in Beijing. I knew he was foreign because of his accent and he told me that he did his training and everything in kilometers. He, also, told me about how he vomited from drinking too much fluid during the marathon.

I met some other people along the way, like a guy from Maryland who was wearing shorts that were pretty much the Maryland flag (I thought they were awesome and I wish I had a picture). He was from Maryland, had attended the University of Maryland, and was a Terp fan through and through. And I met some older man who I met in the last 3 miles that told me where the rest of the hills were along the course. Those hills were really tough, especially the ones in the last 5 miles. I'm pretty sure there was a hill every mile. Oh the joys of the rolling hills of the piedmont.

If you click here you can type in my bib number (17) and check out pictures of me during the marathon. It was pretty chilly when we started. I wore gloves, home-made arm sleeves, and ear warmer headband all of which I threw off later in the race when I got hot. The home-made arm sleeves were just some knee-high socks that I cut the toe off and wore on my arms (Shout out to Alyssa Halter who gave me the idea).

Josh ran around and saw me 4 times along the course and coached me a little bit. The first time I saw him I was running with the guy from Asheville, and Josh was telling me that I was running a great pace. The guy from Asheville asked me if Josh was my manager. haha.

From the start to halfway, I was running 8 minute pace. My plan was to pick it up after halfway to try to run 3:25. I picked it up (a lot, probably too much), and was doing great until mile 19. I hit the wall hard....I ended up running 9 min pace for the last 7-8 miles. There was a hill every mile from 18 to the finish. It was awful. The last 3 miles were the absolute worst...because you're body hates you and you want it to be over, but you still have 3 miles left. It's the longest 3 miles ever.

I ended up with 3 blisters, and trying to walk after finishing was probably funny to watch. Maybe I'll do another one in the spring to try to get that 3:25.....i don't know. we'll see.