A Big Check Mark for my Lifetime Goals List

I ran a marathon today! Yes, 26.2 miles, and I can still walk (well, kind of). It was in Lake Placid, NY, a lovely little town in the Adironacks. Gorgeous scenery, good hiking, and cute little shops downtown, but unfortunately I didn't have much time to explore. After the marathon this morning, I had to shower and jump in the car to drive five hours down to Groton, Massachusetts, where I am spending my last week at Nature's Classroom.

Well, how was it you are probably wondering. Completing a full marathon was quite gratifying. After training for so long, I was definitely ready to just run it. The weather was a cold, cheerless drizzle throughout the race, but I think I would take that over the 90 degree temps they had last year during the same weekend. The first half was exciting because the half-marathon started at the same time, but the second half felt lonely with 3/4 of the people already done, and I just concentrated the distant person in front of me and trying to catch up to that person to pass them slowly one by one. My roommate ran the half-marathon, and the courses overlapped, so we got to high-five each other twice as we passed. And her fiance came, so it was fun to have a supporter in the crowd. Not a bad course, despite two out and back loops, which I thought would be boring, but I think that was designed mostly to avoid the serious hills in the area. So the course consisted of very gentle hills with only two serious hills that weren't as big as the one I had to run on everyday in Andover.

A few people knew that I had been training since late January, but I tried not to spend more time talking about training than actually doing it, so perhaps the fact that I ran a marathon is unexpected news. I ran faster than my goal, but not fast enough to make me happy, so I'll have to do another one in the future. Mostly, I'm amazed by what my body can do if I push it. I came back from Senegal thinking 4 miles was a long run, and now anything under 20 seems short! I nearly cried at the end of the race, just so many emotions after finishing and perhaps I was a bit delirous. But that's one goal crossed off my list--what a feeling!