Well, I did it. My first marathon. Though a couple good training runs this summer had me eyeing a 4-hour marathon goal, some injury setbacks had me go back to my original 4:30 goal. Race day came, and I aggressively decided to go for a 4:05. End result was 4:19:53, which I'm actually really happy with. So happy with my time that I'll take it as a PR, and now I never need to run a marathon again!
The marathon was really, really hard. I knew it was going to be hard, especially between 20 and 25, but I had no idea how hard. There were many times I just wanted to quit. My IT band was bothering me, my feet hurt and my legs felt like concrete. Continuing to put one step in front of another just felt impossible. Thankfully E joined me on the course at mile 17 and stayed with me until after 25, when she got shooed off. She was a rock star--encouraging me without being annoying about it, slowing down when I had to slow down and making me go a little faster when she knew I could. She was also my personal concierge, racing ahead in the aid stations and bringing me Gatorade and water. I am going back to marathon-as-spectator-sport, but I will also repay the favor by doing this for somebody someday.
I thought the marathon was incredibly well-organized. It was hot, but aid stations were plentiful, well-organized and fully equipped. And the people of the city were phenomenal. People lining the streets with water, Gatorade, bananas, pretzels, candy and ice, and turning on their garden houses to keep us cool, and just their overall support was amazing. I had never been to Pilsen, but even today, I can't stop thinking about the generous spirit there. That was definitely the coolest part of the marathon--being able to run through the city, many times to areas I had never even been despite living here my whole life, and enjoying the people.
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