Marathon in Mesa, Arizona

First off, Happy Mardi Gras!

This past weekend I ran my first (and not last) marathon in Phoenix, technically Mesa. My roommate Chelsea and I went down on Friday and stayed with some family friends of hers. Saturday morning I woke up bright and early at 3:45 and left the house at 4. I got to the finish line and took a shuttle to the starting line at 5. It was forecasted to rain all day, but the typical hot Phoenix temperatures were supposed to be lower, in the 60/70s. After fireworks at 6:30, all 2700 runners headed to the start line where it proceeded to rain. It was chilly but not too cold. Once I started running I could barely feel the rain anymore and after three or so miles it stopped. I was feeling good and by the halfway mark I was only three minutes slower than my Half Marathon race time that I did in Sedona.

However, I did start running slower and by mile 17 I started stretching at the aid stations cause my body was hurting. I got a bit of a second wind with five miles to go and picked up my pace. Then the last .2 I started to sprint. I ended up passing everyone and racing alongside another woman to the finish line. I finished in 5 hours and 30 minutes, nothing spectacular, quite slow actually but I ran/jogged the whole time, only walking while refueling at aid stations.

I justify the slow time since it was probably 8 miles more than I have ever ran and I only really trained for 8 weeks (compared to the 16 week training schedule I tried to follow). I did find it difficult to walk afterwards and kept stumbling around like a zombie. I am also very grateful to have a friend waiting for me at the finish line, thanks Chelsea!

I set the goal of running my first marathon (26 miles) while I was 26 years old and I did it!

I can also check off #2 on my life to-do list now. I have always wanted to be a long distance runner and I hope to run more marathons (I have this crazy idea of running a half or full in every state) and ultramarathons in the future. This is the person I want to be and I look forward to seeing what she can do!