July 23, 2017. The day I ran my first marathon. The San Francisco Marathon. I trained for 12 weeks (using Hal Higdon’s program) to see if I could endure running a daunting 26.2 miles through the streets of San Francisco. My goal: finish the race within the allotted time of 6 hours. I knew that if I wanted to be ready for this race, and complete it, I had to prepare. That meant preparing my mind and body: to get used to being on its feet for at least 6 hours, knowing when I should hydrate, finding foods to refuel with that would agree with my stomach, timing my poops so I wouldn’t go during the race, learning how to pace myself so that I’d have enough juice to go the distance, and motivating myself to keep going even when my body gave up.
And why even go through all this? A little backstory. My wife was my motivation. She had just given birth to our baby girl a couple months prior, and I thought to myself, “If she has the strength and endurance to go through 9 months of pregnancy and give a natural birth to our baby (I was there for the whole thing!), then I should be able to have the strength and endurance to run a marathon.” Now, I know running a marathon is nowhere near being pregnant or giving birth, but I was so inspired by my wife that I wanted to do something that would test my body, too. And a full marathon, that’s 26.2 miles, would really be a test for me. So with that, I signed up.
The result: I finished the race in 5 hrs, 21 minutes, and 37 seconds. I didn’t think I would be so emotional finishing the race, but there I was balling my eyes out at the finish line. Because I had done it. Because I finished my first marathon.
Will I ever run another marathon again? Maybe. Who knows? In the meantime, at least I can look at these photos and say I did. 🌉🏃
