Tuesday, May 22, 2012

After 26.2 Miles Thoughts

The marathon on Sunday went quite well. As always, not being the recipient of "sudden death" is always the biggest reward. Also not having the unfortunate DNF (did not finish) next to my name is pretty huge. Actually, I ran 26.2 miles faster than I ever have at 4:02:34. It was just shy of my sub 4 wish, but 3.5 minutes faster than my previous PR, also here in Denver. Perhaps I just need to run one at sea level to crack that barrier. I can honestly say, I left everything I had out there though and was reduced to left, right, left, right, don't stop, left right… by the last quarter mile. It was cruel to use what I thought was my last kick when I thought I saw the Finish arch ahead finally only to get closer and discover it was actually the Start arch; Finish was still another 400 yards away from that point. None the less, I crossed the line at a cool 6:30 pace from the kick I didn't know I had.

What was truly gratifying was having my parents and Tiff find me 3 times on the course! This being the underdog marathon of Denver with corporate Rock n' Roll here, it was far and away a local race. It also resulted in very few people on or next to the marathon course. This was the most self motivating race I have done yet, but so many truly beautiful spots, it wasn't that bad. I still find the term "eclectic" a bit of a stretch when describing Colfax, but at 6:30am, it's not so bad.

All in all, I have to say I had a good time. Tiff had the chance to run with me for a block or two and they finally had the chance to see me cross a finish line. For those out there who have run one of those crazy distances, you know as well as I do how amazing it is to have people, friends, family, or spouses that will come out just to have a moment to shout "GO!" for you. It means the world.

For all the cyber support, I say from the bottom of my heart, thank you! To Tiff, Mom, and Dad… my deepest gratitude for watching me do another one of these crazy things. I know I will try a sixth one soon(ish). Hope any of you can come out and run too.

By the by, any suggestions?

1 comment:

mommasitta said...

Congratulations captain!