26.2

Today was the big day. Finally, my marathon. The weather was beautiful, just perfect really. Chilly at the 6:45 start and just starting to get warm by the finish. I ran with my partner Meisje for the first 18 miles, by which time she was running really strong and I was starting to get tired.
It was a double loop race, down by the river, over the causeway and then up on the barrier island before heading back over another causeway to do it all over again. The race was a combination full and half marathon with a separate 5K as well. The first loop was just packed with people, all running along at a good pace. We came up over the causeway at about mile 11 and the half peeled off for their finish. It must have been about a 100 to 1 ratio as almost everyone turned peeled off to the left. I looked ahead and saw one lonely little person going strait up ahead as we resisted the urge to turn and call it a day. The second half was a much lonelier loop, especially after I said good-bye to my partner. My other running partner Tom met up with me again at the last causeway and ran me in to the finish. I was not very talkative by then, but he kept my mind busy as we finished up the last few miles. Kurt was bringing the kids to see me cross the finish line, and when I got to the end, there they all there, waiting to cheer me on. The girls hopped up to run across the finish line with me and even got their own medals. I crossed over the line holding hands with Anna and I hope somebody got a good photo of us together, because it was a very cool moment. The announcer called our names and all three of us posed for a finish photo with our new medals on. I'll be curious to see me split times. I ran a good pace for the first half, but lost considerable steam as the race got closer to the end. I think my final time was about 4 hours and 35 minutes, although I forgot to stop my watch, so it's hard to be sure.

We got our post race massages and then I came home for a very long shower and a short nap. My feet are in pretty bad shape, and I'm not walking very fast, but I think I'm doing pretty well for someone who ran 26.2 miles this morning. I must say that I think this is my last marathon for a while. I'd like to focus on the halves next season and maybe (finally) break the two hour mark. It's good to have a goal, and I think I'd rather work on shorter distances for a while. Maybe it's one of those things, like childbirth, that you swear you will never do again. Then the memories fade and you think it wasn't so bad after all. We'll see how it goes I guess. This was one of the last Boston qualifiers of the season, and so marks the end of our running season around here. I'll see how often I get out and run without something specific to train for.