My First Marathon

All the training seems to have paid off. About 6 months ago I decided that I wanted to run a marathon. I had several reasons for wanting to do it but mostly I wanted to see how far I could go(as most of you know I tend to go too far). Well, I didn't go too far yesterday, I went just far enough. The months of training paid off as I finished the New Orleans Mardi Gras Marathon in an official time of 4:58:35. My goal was to finish under 5 hours. Well, let me back up, my goal was to FINISH. My second goal was to finish under 5 hours. I finished with a minute and 25 seconds to spare. Yea Me!

I ran with the 5 hour pace group. Katherine our leader(the lady carrying the sign in the pictures) was great. She kept us motivated, entertained, and maintained an even pace. I don't think I would have been as successful without her, and her running skirt(inside joke).

I slept very little Saturday night. I was up at 4:45, made it downtown at 6:15. the race started at 7AM. My only warm up was some stretching. I knew my body would warm up over the first 2-3 miles, and it did. The 1st 2 miles hurt as my body woke up. As I passed mile 3(picture below) I starting feeling loose. I shed my long sleeve shirt and grabbed my 1st bottle of Gatorade from one of my support crew(newly dubbed "Team Pegasus"). Notice that I am smiling in this picture.

We made our way up St. Charles Ave to Audubon Park. I love Audubon park. It's a special place to me. As I ran around the park I couldn't help but think about the time Sadie jumped into the fountain there, makes me laugh every time. The picture below is at mile 8.5. I was feeling really good at this point, even high-fiving my peeps. Notice that I am running with a group of people. at this point there were probably 50 of us in the group(that's Katherine carrying the sign).I made it to the half way point in 2 hours 29 minutes. We were right on pace. We lost most of our group at the halfway point because most of the people were doing the half marathon. Our group shrank to about 15-20. Halfway through (13.1 miles)and I felt really good. This is where I made my one pit stop, a little to much Gatorade perhaps.

We then headed down towards City park, which again makes me think of the time Sadie jumped in the lagoon there, that makes me laugh too. I was feeling good when we reached the park. At about mile 16 I started to feel a little pain. Mile 18 I started to hurt. I carried that hurt with me the rest of the way. I stopped for a minute at mile 20 to stretch for a minute. It's OK, that was a planned stop. I got fluids and gel from Crawford and Bern and spent the next mile catching up to the ever shrinking 5 hour group. I caught them at mile 21.

The picture below is at mile 22. The group is much smaller now. Everyone was hurting here but everyone was being really positive. One of the things that I enjoyed was the camaraderie that developed. People who had never seen each other before were constantly encouraging new friends. It was great to see people supporting each other like this. It made a big difference in my day. Had I done this alone I may have finished, but there is no way I would have finished under 5 hours. At this point every part of my body was hurting but I had decided that there was no way in hell that i would stop. At mile 24 we were down to a group of 3. Our fearless leader, me, and the lady with the doo-rag(I don't remember her name). But doo-rag began to fade a bit. So, It was just the 2 of us as we reached mile 25. Katherine said she was gonna walk through the last water station to help doo-rag. She told me that if I was feeling good that I should just keep running to the finish. I said OK(that's all the words I had energy to muster). Below is me, alone, just after mile 25. Here I had one mile to go. I spent the last mile thinking about everything I have been through in the last couple months. I thought about the highs and lows. I thought about the brightness of the future and what it will bring. I thought about all of the hard work and training I put into this race. I thought about the commitment I made and how, even though every step hurt, I was glad that I was doing this.


Then, about a half mile from the finish, I didn't notice the pain anymore(but believe me, it was there). All I could think about was me and the rapidly approaching finish line. I knew I was going to finish. The thought of finishing what I started 6 months ago was almost overwhelming. From running 3 miles a few months ago, to 26.2 yesterday was an amazing thought. To know that the farthest I had ever run was 20 miles a few weeks ago to 6 more than that in the race was an awesome thought. I looked down at my watch, looked up to see how close I was to the Superdome, looked at my watch again then said to myself, "i got this". I knew I was getting close to going under 5 hours, I thought I needed to pick up my pace just a little to make sure. In my head I could feel that I was pushing harder but my body didn't seem to be moving any faster. About a quarter mile to the finish I could finally tell I was moving faster As I approached the finish The PA announcer announced my name, I wasn't expecting that, and that's when I knew I was there. I ran across the line and smiled for the first time in miles. I bowed my head and some guy put my finishers medal on me.

Then I stumbled around for a few minutes. I congratulated some of the people who I ran with, some finished ahead of me others behind, and thanked Katherine for her help.

I thought to myself how in many ways I was glad I crossed the line by myself. I thought how I was glad that my support team hadn't made it to the finish line in time to see me cross. I could not have made through the race with out them and it would have been great to have them there yelling for me at the end, but this race was a very personal quest and achievement. I did this for me and now I know what I can do. I know that I can handle the tough times. I know that i can continue on through the pain because there is joy at the end. I learned a lot yesterday.

So I finished my first marathon yesterday. 4 hours, 58minutes,35 seconds.
Maybe I'll do another one some time, we'll see .

THANK YOU
Thank you to my race day support team and to all of you who have been sending me emails and texts.

Special thanks to Crawford and Bern, Having you there was awesome. good work on the signs. my favorite was the one about Sadie chasing the Squirrel.

Uncle Brian- Thanks for coming in, I really appreciate it. You can run with me next year.

Aunt Wanda- It was a surprise to see you and it really picked up my spirits to see you.

Elizabeth- It always makes me smile to see you, I'm glad you came.

Steve- you might have been the loudest of the group, but that wouldn't surprise anyone who knows you. You are a great brother and I really appreciate you being there.

Tom- Thanks for not falling asleep during the race

Mom- Thanks for being there, as you always are. What else can I say

Special thanks to my training partners Sadie and Lily for getting me through those tough training runs.

And finally, Thanks K, for all the times you believed in me and told that I could do anything. Thank You!