My First Marathon! Recap.

Hi All, I’m an Australian who has lost 80 lbs with MFP, and has been running for 23 months, and just achieved my major goal for this year, which was to celebrate turning 50 by running my first marathon.

I thought I’d share the recap I wrote in here in case it’s of interest to other MFP runners not participating in the MFP Monthly Running Challenge threads.

My First Marathon – Sunday August 27 2017

On Friday I rested while travelling 500 km in 9 hours to get to my Auntie’s house which was 2 km from the event. I slept really well on Friday night, and on Saturday I walked parkrun and met several people who were at the event on Sunday and we were able to cheer each other on.

Saturday night I got to sleep before 7 pm and woke at 4 am after a nightmare about not waking early for my marathon and not being able to find my favourite leggings with the pockets I needed. Once awake, I had my usual breakfast, and got ready in good time with no panicking.

I arrived at the event at 6:35 for a 7 am start. Quick loo stop, then I met 2 women I know from an Australian running Facebook group and they waited with me in the 4 degree Celsius breeze. J was doing the 10 km and the other was doing the half. The start was delayed 10 minutes while we waited for traffic lights to be sorted. There were 70 people running the marathon.

I was few seconds faster than my goal race pace (my aim was 6:42 per km (10:47 per mile)) for the first 7 km but I wasn’t checking my pace after the watch alert for each km, rather just what it looked like at the time I looked, so I thought I was on target. My 2 friends cheered me at 14 km, the end of the first lap (1 of 3). I noticed I kept speeding up when they, other runners, and volunteers cheered me on. That was fun, but had to watch out for that and rein back!

It was a nice course, round a lake and along concrete and bitumen paths beside the Goulburn and Broken Rivers. Lots of gum and wattle trees, so the scenery was nice to enjoy.








I’d made friends with 2 marshals along the way, and exchanged happy banter with them each time I passed them. It’s so nice to cheer others along and to be cheered, I was smiling a lot throughout the race.

My pace gradually slowed after I passed the half way mark. My left shoe felt too tight but my fingers were numb so I didn’t attempt to retie it. Got a lovely lump there now!

It was inspiring to see the front runner so far out in front, and even though he had headphones in, I cheered him on and gave him thumbs ups. He gave me a nice smile the last time he passed me, soon to win in 2:41:59.

My fueling strategy worked well. A Wiggle lemon & lime gel every 8 km up to 32 km, then one again at 37 km, 5 gels in total. I wore my Camelbak Ultra 4 hydration vest which held the water I needed to take with the gels, and had pockets for the gels, tissues, emergency supplies. I didn’t need to stop for any of the water, energy drink, or lollies kindly offered at the ample aid stations.

My wonderful friend J turned up at the 32 km point and videoed me and cheered me on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B20lj5kVBsw


33 km was my slowest split. My hip tendons (?) were starting to hurt, and my black toenail on my right foot was getting a matching blood blister. But I’d done 34 km in training, so passing that mark was a psychological boost and my times improved again.

I kept running the whole way, with the memory of the words of encouragement from all my running buddies and close friends reminding me I could do this. I also told myself I’d walked 50 km and been on my feet for over 10 hours in May, so FFS, woman, sort yourself out! Passing my marshal friends for the last time was a huge milestone too.

J turned up again at 40 km and ran with me for about half a km!

Then the final section near the lake, and crossing the finish line! J was there to cheer and video again!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4pkGpzGCWE


I was given a lovely medal specially for the marathon runners.




My Garmin still said 42.1 km so I had to do an extra 120 metres to get my marathon onto Garmin/Strava. That hurt!

TLDR: I ran my first marathon! I finished in under 5 hours! I ran all the way!
Official Time 4:54:43. Average pace 6:59 per km (11:14 per mile);
12th of 17 women who ran it; 8th of 12 in my age group 40-59.
Incredibly happy with myself and incredibly grateful to all my friends for supporting me.