I ran my first full marathon in June of 2014 in Anchorage, Alaska of all places. 26.2 miles is a distance to be respected whether you are running, hiking, walking, or in some cases a painful variation of crawl/limp.
History (and some legends) tell us that the first marathon was run by the Greek Soldier, Pheidippies from a battlefield at the site of the town of Marathon, Greece, to Athens circa 490BC. He was bringing news of a Greek victory over the Persians. Legend has it that upon completing the run he collapsed and died, setting a morbid standard for future marathon runs.
The actual distance run by Pheidippies was actually around 24miles. Centurys later, the British, in order to facilitate a finish in front of Windsor Castle during the Olympic games would add another 2.2 miles. This is why I like to shout "God save the Queen" at mile 24. This is also an inside joke for me praising one of my favorite UK Bands.
Once again (and thankfully for the last time- I was up at 3am). The crowds (about 25,000) were the same. The long walk to the start was also the same.
Even though I was a little bit sore from the previous races I felt like I could do this. Keep the pace slow, hydrate often, and smile.
The first 7 miles were in the dark and the the weather and temperatures were perfect! The magic kingdom was once again fun to visit and also a common set of bottlenecks were walking was only possible.
Mile 12 got us through Wild Kingdom. I was still feeling great at this point. At mile 14 I started hearing my first complainers ("X hurts" "too many miles to go"). I just smiled, laughed, and ignored that dangerous negativity. Here's the deal, everyone running a marathon hurts, it is a tough event (even for walkers). Most of the time I passed these poor souls never to see them again. This is why I spent the last 35 weeks of my life training. I was ready for this...I was owning this!
The last time I ran this distance I "hit the wall" at about mile 21. This time around there was no wall, except for the post finish waddle back across the Epcot Parking lot. I hit mile 24 outside Epcot, God Save the Queen!
I crossed the finish line after about 6 hours and 30 minutes (according to my watch) which by marathon standards is rather slow, but by my standards made my year. I don't know why we throw our arms in the air, but what the heck...I just finished 48.6 miles over 4 days.
Now, what should I do as my next event?
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