I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday weekend! I know this is a little delayed, but I wanted to take a minute to post a quick entry as a follow-up to my last post about last Sunday's Philadelphia Marathon.
So... I did it! :) I successfully completed the race, and ran for all 26.2 miles, only slowing to a trot at each water station. I was fortunate the start off the race with many of my friends from the South Philly Striders and Fishtown Beer Runners, and to run almost the entire first half with one of the gals from the Striders, Ms. Kristin Harkins, who pushed my pace and was an awesome motivator (thanks, Kristin!!).
Extra special thanks have to go out to Ms. Darcy Borden and Ms. Dawn Mitchell for meeting up with my at Lloyd Hall (just after the half-way point), and running most of the rest of the way with me. This was obviously the tougher half of the race to get through, and from miles 20-24 or so, trust me when I tell you I was miserable, haha. I was not wanting to hear the positivity, nor did I feel like responding to anyone who was talking to me at that point, but I am proud to report I did not smack anyone. :)
Mile 25 was when I came alive again and decided to turn up the heat! The 4:15 pace person was now again within sight, and I realized at that moment that if I pushed myself I could still pass her, and finish the race in under four hours and 15 minutes. My initial goal was, aside from just finishing, to finish in 4:30, so I was already on track to beat that goal.... but if I could finish in under 4:15... wow! So I managed to use whatever energy I had left to actually race the last half-mile or so, blowing past the 4:15 pace person, with the cheers from the crowd carrying me.
Those who say finishing your first marathon is an emotional experience are right. Not that it takes much for me... haha. For me, it was the moment that I passed the 4:15 pace person, that I suddenly felt a rush of emotion. I almost burst into tears (tears of joy, people), but then realized that my chest was tightening up and it was becoming hard to breath -- if I started crying I would likely have an asthma attack, so I managed to reign it in!
Crossing the finish line was SO AWESOME. Just the fact that I had just run a marathon, and then looking up at the clock and seeing 4:26:00, and knowing my chip time was much less than that... wow, what a feeling!!
Post-Race Photo with Darcy
I'd also like to thank Ms. Kathy O'Neill for being the "marathon taxi," picking up me and others bright and early to take us to the marathon, and also for creating and posting along Front Street some awesome signs! Also, special Congratulations go out to Ms. Donna Searer for also completing her first marathon, despite fighting a knee injury! So awesome! Finally, thanks to Ms. Melissa Franklin for having Gatorade waiting for me at the finish line!!
Cheers!
Tina
P.S. If you'd like to see more photos from the day, click here.
It was an awesome day! Congrats a million times to you. I wish I could find time to write about the training process and day.
ReplyDelete~Donna
Thank you, Donna! I don't know if I could have done it without your motivation and positivity, and of course the long "fun runs"! Congratulations to you too!!
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