My First Marathon

This is going to be a long post, because my first marathon was nothing short of AMAZING. I want to write down every detail so that I can come back here years from now and remember what it was like. It was such an awesome experience and I don't know if any other race will ever compare!

A year ago, after running my first race (the Richmond half marathon), I decided to sign up for the Richmond Marathon. Honestly, the thing that tempted me most was the price! They were offering a special deal - $55 for the marathon if you signed up a year in advance. I signed up thinking that I could always transfer to the half marathon. I didn't tell anyone because I didn't want to fully commit - I wanted to be able to drop out of the marathon if I wanted to, and no one would know. But... there's something about signing up for a race that gives you motivation. When June rolled around, I signed up for the marathon training team, and once I committed to that, I was in it for the long haul!

Pre-Race
First of all, in the days leading up to the race, I was very nervous. I wasn't at all confident in my ability to run 26.2 miles. My biggest fears about the race were bathroom problems (ie having to poop or getting stomach cramps) or getting leg cramps or knee pain in the final miles and not being able to finish. I didn't know how those last 6 miles were going to go! I was ready to fight through fatigue but I didn't want to get injured or feel really sick.

Plus, I skipped a lot of my runs that last week of tapering. I was in the midst of my clinical rotation at UVA and with the time change the week before, it was getting dark really early, too dark to run. I was nervous about skipping runs in the last week of training, but I felt that I had to trust all my training and long runs prior to that and hope it would get me through. I usually like to rest up a lot before a big race anyway, but it still made me a little nervous.

The day before the race, I got off work and left Charlottesville to drive to Richmond. Here's another thing I was worried about: making it to Richmond in time to eat dinner early enough so that I could digest it before the race. I'm telling you, I was anxious about everything! I'd been training for this marathon for 6 months and I didn't want anything to ruin it!

I got to Richmond a little later than I wanted. My parents and Tristan were already there, so I met up with them and we went to the expo to pick up our race packets. Unfortunately, we didn't stay long at the expo because we wanted to get to dinner. But we did have time to snap a picture!

From there, we went to Olive Garden , but there was an hour wait, so we went to Red Lobster instead. Carb-loading is one of the best parts of race weekend! Bud started to get a stomachache after eating and my dad had gotten food poisoning the day before, so I was praying that I wouldn't be next (luckily I was fine!)

Next we stopped at the grocery store to get Gatorade and gummies for my parents to give us on the course. I kept going over the plans with my parents... wanting to know exactly where they were going to be waiting and letting them know what they needed to have ready for us. I'd never done a race where I tried to meet up with spectators. Usually the people I'm with are running the race with me! I was nervous we wouldn't spot them or that they'd have trouble parking and miss us.

(Are you getting the picture that I was nervous about everything?) But I was also SO EXCITED to be with my family and Tristan. We spent Friday evening laughing and joking, and that took away some of the stress.

We laid out all our race stuff Friday night and set our alarm clocks for 5:30am...

Race Day
On Saturday, I woke up feeling good. I was able to go to the bathroom right away, which was a HUGE deal to me. (It's amazing how excited runners get when they poop; it reminds me of my acute care patients, lol). I usually don't have GI problems if I can go before a run. Prayer #1 - answered!

My parents picked us up at 6:30 and drove us to the start. We were there in plenty of time and found parking right away; we just had to walk a couple blocks to the start. It was nice having my parents there to take our stuff. It was a little cold early on, so Tristan and I kept our zip-ups on until right before the start, then handed them off to my dad.

We were getting SUPER EXCITED. It wasn't until I got to the starting line that I believed this race was REALLY going to happen. No injury or sickness or cancellation was going to keep me from starting this race! Now all I had to do was run it and finish it. But I almost felt like I had made it already - getting through the training and putting in all the time beforehand was honestly the hardest part. The race was the cherry on top!

The gun went off and the race started. It was a rolling start; we got to the starting line about 4 minutes after the gun. I could already tell this would be different than the half marathon last year. Last year we were hemmed in by people going really slowly, but these marathoners were already jogging at a good pace by the time we crossed the starting line.

For the first few miles, I tried to wrap my mind around the fact that we were actually running a marathon! It's something that I never thought I would be able to do 2 years ago. Yet here we were, running, in this crowd of people. It was amazing and mind-boggling, and almost surreal!

We got into a good pace by mile 3 and I settled in to enjoy the ride. At mile 4, I saw one of my MTT coaches (Ed) and he jumped in and ran with us for a mile. That mile went by so fast, and it got me and Tristan talking a little more, so the next few miles all went by kind of fast. I had a few twinges of Achilles pain and knee pain in miles 5-8, but nothing serious and nothing that lasted long.

At mile 7 we got to the Huguenot Bridge. I'd never run that part of the course before, so it was really fun to see new scenery. After the bridge, we ran on a shady road by the James River for a while and it was absolutely beautiful! It was my favorite part of the course. Around this time I began to realize I was actually enjoying myself immensely! The weather was beautiful, the course was scenic, I had Tristan to talk to, and the race was going so smoothly. I was loving it!

We went up a few small hills around miles 10 and 11 and passed a lot of people on the hills. We turned onto Forest Hill Ave at mile 11 and I started getting really excited because I knew my parents were waiting for us just past mile 13. It was getting a little warm at this point and I was really glad I had told my mom to bring short-sleeved shirts for us to change into. I spent the next two miles in eager anticipation of seeing my parents. We passed the mile 13 marker and I saw my friend Austin. We kept running and I was thinking "Where the heck is this CVS?" I kept expecting it to be around the next corner. Finally I saw it and started scanning the crowd for my dad's bright red shirt.

We saw my parents and immediately ran off to the side of the course and got Gatorade refills. I stuffed my face with two handfuls of Berry Sour Patch Kids. We both whipped off our shirts and changed into t-shirts ( I used to be modest, but running has a way of changing that).

Up to this point, Tristan and I hadn't stopped at all. We were carrying our own water bottles, so we just ran through all the water stops. It was nice to take a few minutes to re-fuel and change clothes. I felt amazingly refreshed after I changed into my short-sleeved running shirt!

Then we were off again! Soon after we left my parents, we saw the mile 14 marker. No wonder it seemed to take forever to get to them after mile 13! They were actually a lot closer to mile 14 due to some course changes this year. We ran along Semmes Ave and I was totally in the moment. I wasn't thinking about how many miles we had left or when we were going to finish. I was only thinking about this mile, taking each mile at a time and really enjoying myself.

I never run with an i-pod, but I always have a playlist running through my head. I have to say, Taylor Swift songs got me through a lot of the race. I was happily playing through all of her new songs in my head. I especially loved "Come Back, Be Here" during the marathon. Miley's "The Climb" also got me up a few small hills.

I started getting high on endorphins and adrenaline. At mile 15 when we were running downhill, I told Tristan that this is the closest I'd ever feel to flying. We crossed the Lee Bridge, which usually seems to last forever when I run it in a training run, but it passed by pretty quick. The miles just kept rolling and I was feeling great!

At mile 19, Tristan told me she wanted to walk through some water stops. We walked through the water stops at miles 19 and 20 for about 30-45 seconds each. As soon as we turned onto Boulevard, I felt like it was the home stretch, even though we were only on mile 20. I've run that part of the course so many times before, it feels like home territory. I was amazed that I was still feeling this good at mile 20! I actually started to get a little emotional because at this point I knew that I was going to finish this marathon.

My parents and brother were waiting for us at mile 21.5, so I had something else to look forward to after mile 20 (and something else to think about besides the finish). I tried to tell Tristan some funny stories to pass the time. Finally we rounded the corner onto Laburnam Ave and I saw them waiting. I don't think I could've had a bigger smile on my face! My mom said a lot of people were walking at this point, but we were still going!

We ran off to the side again and re-filled our water bottles with Gatorade and I stuffed my face with more gummies - they were so good! I actually never took a gel the whole race. I brought one just in case, but never felt like I needed it. Bud jumped in with us at this point and ran the rest of the way with us to the finish. I was so excited to have him run with us!

We took off again and I felt like it really wasn't that far now. Tristan was starting to fatigue a little bit and we walked through a few more water stops. Bud said he was getting shin splints and I started laughing because he was supposed to be the one to encourage us to the finish. I told him, "Bud, Tristan and I might be fine after 22 miles, but are you gonna make it just these last 5?" lol. But in reality he did a good job encouraging us and pacing us to the finish.

I saw Valerie, another one of the MTT coaches, at mile 23. She jumped in and ran next to me for a minute, but I told her I was feeling great, so she said she was going to go help someone who actually needed her. Amazingly, I was still feeling really good. I kept waiting for the wall to hit, but it never did. I was having a blast and getting emotional and feeling so pumped to be nearing the end of my first marathon!

Tristan was starting to struggle a little bit, so at mile 24, she told me to go on ahead. Bud said he would stay with her to the end and I had no doubt she would finish. My adrenaline was surging and I wanted to keep running, so I left them at mile 24 and ran the last 2 miles on my own. The whole time all I could think about was how incredible it was - I was running a MARATHON! Last year I felt like it was all I could do to run the last few miles of the half. Yet here I was, by the grace of God, at mile 25 out of 26.2, still running and wondering how in the world 25 miles could feel this good.

I had looked at my watch a few times during the race and was happy that we were managing to keep an even 10min pace the whole time. Near the end I looked at my watch and realized that I could finish in under 4:30. I made the last turn, ran down the big hill, and basically just tried not to fall on my face because it was really steep.

I was in disbelief when I crossed the finish line. I had done it! It was truly an incredible feeling, to know that I'd come this far in a year. I did what had once seemed impossible to me. And it wasn't even that hard! (Note: I don't expect every race to go this smoothly, but it was an awesome experience for my first marathon! There have been plently of times during training when I've hit the wall, become dehydrated, and had to walk. That's all a part of running. I'm not saying running a marathon is easy, because it took a lot of difficult runs for me to get here. But on this particular day, everything fell together just right for what I would call a "perfect" race.)

I felt amazing and full of energy and on top of the world! I couldn't wait for Tristan to finish so I could give her a big hug. I am so proud of both of us and so grateful to God for everything that went according to plan on race day. I absolutely loved every minute of the race. I thought this would be my only marathon, but now I can't wait to do another one!

Official Results

10K: 59:55

Half: 2:04:57

20 mile: 3:15:12

Final time: 4:21:46