My very first blog after my very first marathon! The past couple of years I have sustained injuries too many times to count, so this was the first time I was really able to run a race I had planned.
Last December I decided to run the Tucson Half Marathon with a goal of qualifying for the NYC marathon and was confident I would have a year to get ready to race my first full. My best friend was getting married the week before the NYC marathon so I thought it would be an added bonus to stay back on the east coast and run the NYC marathon since it has always been a goal of mine. Injuries occurred along the way, so I made it my ultimate goal to make it to the line healthy in November 2014. It was such an amazing experience to thoroughly enjoy running and experience my first full marathon in my home state. I always find it funny when my friends and family had thought I had run multiple marathons before!
I was almost able to achieve my A, B, and C goals. My C goal was making it there healthy and to finish. My B goal was to qualify for Boston so I can run Boston 2016. My A goal I fell short of by 17 seconds and that was beating my boyfriends time he ran in Philly 4 years ago.
I know I have tons to learn about the marathon but I was pleasantly surprised of my lack of complaining. I couldn't have asked for a better first experience. I was able to stand by my best friends side at her beautiful wedding, spend time with my friends and family, watch my boyfriend coach his team to their first county title on halloween, then run in my first marathon and have all my friends and family come watch and celebrate!
Running my first marathon gave me a huge confidence boost that I can push through a block of training, even if it was just building a base. I am ready to finally start a training cycle and work on getting faster in the shorter races I love. Those long, hot, summer runs were definitely more enjoyable with my amazing SDP teammates who met me at all hours of the day, my coach who spends a ton of time tailoring my training schedule to my needs, and my boyfriend who trained with me on AZ visits and back in NY.
Happy running :)