Here it is! The Portland Marathon 2012. It's been my year long goal, and I started my training in January of this year. I still get butterflies looking at the course. It was a huge challenge and a huge accomplishment, and I am so happy to have completed this goal.
In 2009 I ran my first marathon with my friend Anna while we were in nursing school. I wanted a personal goal that I could focus on while I was really wanting to get married, and Brian wasn't quite ready. So I made it my year goal to run a marathon. It was a great race and for this race we had so much time in our schedules to train with free afternoons, and not much to get in our way. Such a great experience! AND... Brian and I ended up getting engaged after one of my long runs :) Feel free to read that story here.
This year I have had a little something else on my mind, that we are not quite ready for in our life plan (I wonder what that could be), so I decided to run another marathon! This time training was a little more challenging. I have longer hours at work, an hour commute each way- meaning less days to train, additionally, I did my runs pretty much solo just because we live so far. My mile time was about a minute slower throughout my training, but that was something I was OK with being that there are so many differences in my life at this time. Regardless of the fact that I have done it before, it was a great challenge and I felt very supported on the day of my race! Here are Brian, Dale and I before the race:
Mid race at mile 11, I stopped to fill up my water bottles from Brian and he snapped a quick pic. My brother Ian ran with me from about mile 10 to mile 12:
Here is mile 16, my brother Max ran with me from mile 12 to mile 16 right before the St John's bridge:
No un-registered runners are allowed on the bridge so Max spilt off at mile 16. Up to this bridge is 1/2 a mile of the Steepest. Hill. Ever. I ran all the way up :) Slow but Steady.
On the other side of the bridge my friend Wendy ran with me from mile 17-21. I was so happy to see her that I started crying while running. Maybe it had something to do with having just run 17 miles, but whatever :) She was a life saver. Totally brought up my morale and she talked the whole time to help take my mind off of the race. It was perfect, and exactly what I needed. Love that girl.
Mile 21 my friend Sarah jumped in and she and Wendy "passed the tourch." Again with the tears, but it was so great to have her with me the last 5+ miles. So necessary and so great. She split off right before the end, and she was so so so helpful. She's an amazing friend. Along the way I saw a few more friends from work and it was so heart warming. I felt so loved :)
Here I am after my finish! 26.2 miles in 5:07:07!! My summary of the race is: No walking, just a few tears.
I felt so happy, tired, supported, and loved... and I just kept crying. Don't ask me why!
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| Max, Windy, Ian, me, Brian, Dad and Mom |
After lunch in my new Finisher Shirt :)
Great race and a great day! My next one won't be for a few years :)
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