My First Marathon!

Before the race!

After a month of intense training (sarcasm to it's finest), the marathon was finally here! This morning I met up with the other girl who ran the marathon and the first-part-of-the-relay people. We all anxiously waited for the race to start and I couldn't stop moving; partly because I was nervous and partly because I was freezing! After talking with the other marathon girl, I noticed we had almost the same goals in mind. No matter how slow, we wanted to keep our pace and not walk. Also, we both had a time in mind.

Once the race started, everyone split up. I knew the first 5 miles are one of the hardest, so I guess I was mentally prepared for it. I did get to run with Yesenia some and it was comforting having someone there. Once I lost her I didn't see many AIB students after that.

I definitely think running a marathon is mentally challenging more than anything. You have to be prepared for how long it takes. The farthest I had ran was 20 miles, so between the 18-23 miles I was dying. Not necessarily because my body was tired, but because I was just tired of running. There's only so much you can think of for 4 hours and after awhile you start focusing only on running and how much you have left. This gets you frustrated and makes you want to just quit and go home. Thankfully, I didn't really stop but started running very slowly. Once I was around 23 miles I realized I was being retarded. I was almost done and I felt good. My knees weren't bothering me or anything and my breathing was good enough, so I sped up and started running on a decent speed.

Around the final 2 km, I ran into Lars! He was just walking and when I saw him I told him we were almost done and made him run with me. I'm glad I did because we both finished together and it gave me that extra boost of energy to see we were almost done. At this point all I could think about was FOOD!

Once we crossed that finish line I started eating and drinking everything I could see. We headed towards the old AIB and I ate a nice dinner there as well. This random and quick mix of food made my stomach queasy, but once I got home I felt good enough to take a shower and eat once more.

The most painful part of this whole marathon was definitely taking a shower. I discovered blisters I didn't know I had our could even get for that matter and it was just so painful! Now, I'm just excited and proud to be done. I am officially Hilde's hero. She saw how lazy I was during my "training" and honestly didn't think I would make it. I'm glad to prove her wrong. Haha!



Tschuss! Hope everyone feels better. :)