My First Marathon-Reflections
ZenInTexas
Posts: 781 Member
TL;DR I ran the perfect marathon.
So here goes my marathon report. Apologies in advance if it gets wordy. First of all we stayed downtown, which was the best idea ever. We were 2 blocks from the finish line. I slept terribly but not having to worry about finding parking and all that was awesome. The morning started off cool, I was pretty chilly once I ditched my throw away sweater but I warmed up quickly. Honestly the weather could not have been more perfect. It was a gorgeous day in Houston, cool, low humidity and sunny. Thank you to everyone who recommended going minimal on the clothing. I was very glad I hadn't worn long sleeves at the end.
I started out slow (Thank you Arc918) and kept the pace between 9:20 and 9:30 for the first 10 miles and then started to pick it up and kept it (mostly) under 9:20 for the rest of the race. There was a big hill at mile 12 that was no problem (manage the effort, not the pace-thank you Carson) and the rest of the first 20 was pretty flat. The hills came at about mile 22, but they didn't really faze me.
The crowd support was amazing on this race, thousands of people out, handing out oranges and candy and water and pretzels and vaseline! (that one surprised me) and who knows what else. I felt really good the whole time, except for probably the last 4 miles when the fatigue started to set in and my quads started to hurt. My only issue was sore toes at the end. And I have some massive blisters. I'm going to be losing a couple toenails. I had zero problems with my IT band. (yay!)
There was no wall for me, I smashed through mile 20 with no problem. (Thank you DaveMunger for the tips on carbo-loading) I executed my pacing plan pretty much perfectly and took it one mile at a time. I tried to stay in the moment and just enjoy the experience for what it was (Thank you Victoria for that tip) I had no issues with fueling, took my gels every five miles and Gatorade in between. I never reached a moment when I thought I couldn't go on. When I started to tire I stood tall and shortened my stride. (Thank you Mark) I ran negative splits, and I felt awesome passing hundreds of people in the last 6 miles. I actually couldn't believe how many people were walking.
In the end I finished in 4:05:48 which was my most optimistic but realistic finishing time. I feel like I ran the perfect marathon (for me) and I could not be more pleased. Thank you SO much to all of you in this Long Distance Runners forum for your fantastic advice and all you guys on my friends list who have high fived me for the last 4 months through all the ups and downs of training (and put up with all my anxious ramblings) I thank you. You guys and girls are the best and you inspire me everyday. For someone who was overweight for 25 years and had never run a day in her life until about 20 months ago today was an absolute triumph.
As a bonus my husband and I both made it on the TV for the local coverage. :laugh:
So here goes my marathon report. Apologies in advance if it gets wordy. First of all we stayed downtown, which was the best idea ever. We were 2 blocks from the finish line. I slept terribly but not having to worry about finding parking and all that was awesome. The morning started off cool, I was pretty chilly once I ditched my throw away sweater but I warmed up quickly. Honestly the weather could not have been more perfect. It was a gorgeous day in Houston, cool, low humidity and sunny. Thank you to everyone who recommended going minimal on the clothing. I was very glad I hadn't worn long sleeves at the end.
I started out slow (Thank you Arc918) and kept the pace between 9:20 and 9:30 for the first 10 miles and then started to pick it up and kept it (mostly) under 9:20 for the rest of the race. There was a big hill at mile 12 that was no problem (manage the effort, not the pace-thank you Carson) and the rest of the first 20 was pretty flat. The hills came at about mile 22, but they didn't really faze me.
The crowd support was amazing on this race, thousands of people out, handing out oranges and candy and water and pretzels and vaseline! (that one surprised me) and who knows what else. I felt really good the whole time, except for probably the last 4 miles when the fatigue started to set in and my quads started to hurt. My only issue was sore toes at the end. And I have some massive blisters. I'm going to be losing a couple toenails. I had zero problems with my IT band. (yay!)
There was no wall for me, I smashed through mile 20 with no problem. (Thank you DaveMunger for the tips on carbo-loading) I executed my pacing plan pretty much perfectly and took it one mile at a time. I tried to stay in the moment and just enjoy the experience for what it was (Thank you Victoria for that tip) I had no issues with fueling, took my gels every five miles and Gatorade in between. I never reached a moment when I thought I couldn't go on. When I started to tire I stood tall and shortened my stride. (Thank you Mark) I ran negative splits, and I felt awesome passing hundreds of people in the last 6 miles. I actually couldn't believe how many people were walking.
In the end I finished in 4:05:48 which was my most optimistic but realistic finishing time. I feel like I ran the perfect marathon (for me) and I could not be more pleased. Thank you SO much to all of you in this Long Distance Runners forum for your fantastic advice and all you guys on my friends list who have high fived me for the last 4 months through all the ups and downs of training (and put up with all my anxious ramblings) I thank you. You guys and girls are the best and you inspire me everyday. For someone who was overweight for 25 years and had never run a day in her life until about 20 months ago today was an absolute triumph.
As a bonus my husband and I both made it on the TV for the local coverage. :laugh:
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Replies
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Wonderful report! I am so happy for you!0
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I'm so happy for you!!!
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I a so happy for you! Congrats on your perfect race!0
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Perfect race & perfect report!0
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Absolutely wonderful! SO happy for you!0
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Awesome, awesome, awesome race. Did I mention awesome?0
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You killed it girl!!! I couldn't be happier for you right now...I know you must be walking on cloud 9 (if you can walk, that is ; ) )0
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This is perfect indeed 0
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Congrats!!! that is a great time!0
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Congrats....I am so happy for you. Awesome job. You are an inspiration. 0
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Fantastic!!! Congrats on a great race. Don't you love it when a plan comes together?!?0
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Congrats! I did the Aramco half today and I couldn't agree more about the conditions and the course (we had zero hills, though). Great job!0
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What a great day! This is absolutely fantastic.0
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Awesome report!!! you did a great job and should be damn proud!!0
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Congrats!!!, You reached an awesom accomplishment. Thanks for the great report.0
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It sounds like you had an amazing and perfect race! What an incredible accomplishment! :-)0
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Great Race! Congrats0
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So awesome! I'm incredibly happy for you.0
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Yep, you rocked that *****! :-) This is exactly how a perfect race should go, especially a first one. So so awesome that it was also such a good experience for you. Today was also just the perfect conditions, and all the stars and all your training and hard work aligned. CONGRATS!!!!0
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Congrats! I love this, especially your thanks to each individual person!0
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Congrats! That was really calming to read as I'm staring down my first full!!0
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Way to go! I was there too! I did the half so you are my hero for conquering the full Congrats! 0
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Just over 4 hours is an awesome time for your first marathon (and much faster than in any of my three attempts). Great job! How's the recovery going?0
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Congratulations! Sounds like you took on board all the great advice you got & had the race of your life! What a brilliant time to get at your first marathon & what an inspiration you are. Feeling so happy for you! Now look after yourself as you recover
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I'm over the moon for you, girl! You're amazing.0
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You sure as hell did run the perfect one. Isn't picking people off at the end fun? You're like a running sniper!0
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Awesome, awesome, awesome! You came, you saw, you kicked some serious Texas booty! Excellent race plan, executed to a tee. Wow!
Of course you realize next time you have to go faster 0 -
What an amazing effort! The first one is always a doozy for many of us. Once you start passing people late in a marathon and building momentum and confidence, it's difficult to stop-adrenaline & endorphins take over at that point. Those end up being your PR races. There's something about running marathons in Texas that results in PRs! Proud of you! You are a marathoner and no one can take that away from you! glasses:0
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Glad to hear that everything went so smoothly for you 0
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Very impressive!0
