Marathon Honesty

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I ran my first marathon on Sunday.  Forever ago I had decided the goal of this race would be to finish. There would be no time goal, especially since it was my first time to do this distance.  Especially after my long training runs became slower and slower.

Given the length of time of my training runs, I knew I would finish this race in the 6 hr mark, give or take 15 minutes. I shared this with only one person- my husband.  We rode together to the race, he needed to know when I thought I would cross the finish line.

But then FB got a hold of my race stats and it was plastered everywhere to see, whether I wanted it to be or not.

At first, I was embarrassed by my time.  I know, I want to slap myself silly just typing that.

Me, who preaches to all of you about how time doesn’t matter, to embrace your pace, to just get the job done any ole way you can, was almost ashamed to tell ya’ll my overall marathon pace and time.  I wanted to withhold that information and just share the fact I finished.  Even after all these years of running, I still have doubts.

It is hard to be honest with myself….even harder to tell you.

However, during the race, every single runner friend I began with, friends I ran into during the race, those I ran with during the race, strangers who cheered me, the Texas Wranglers who chanted my name…..not a single one of them cared about my pace.  My running friends did nothing but lift me up, tell me how awesome I am, how much I inspired them.

They did not give a lick how fast or how slow I was going.

They just encouraged and supported me to GO.

So, I went.

I finished the course with the biggest smile on my face.

I set a goal and I trained for that goal for 6 months, rarely missing a run.

I feel accomplished and deserving.  I am satisfied. I am content. I am PROUD.

26.2 miles on Sunday with an average pace of 14:21/mile.

I am a marathoner.

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