I have to say, that was the roughest marathon I have run so
far. It was worse than my first
marathon. First, I forgot my gum. I always run with gum. For whatever reason, it really helps me. The rhythm of the chew, maybe? Who can tell.
I’m a strange guy. Despite being
gumless, I started the run off pretty well.
Ran at a good pace and felt pretty good.
I had added some tunes to my running playlist and listened up until I
caught up with a friend. Turned off the
ipod and chatted. Awhile later, we
decided that music would be beneficial.
My ipod was not working anymore.
Boo. Around mile 18 I just couldn’t
do much running anymore. It was hot,
humid, and hilly. The lack of music kind
of deflated me. That and the fact that I
need new running shoes. (Owie,
feet!) I picked little landmarks to
start running at and other landmarks to take a walk break. The walk breaks got longer and longer. Then, at mile 22ish, my Garmin quit
working. Not knowing how close I was to
the next mile was horrible. The miles
just seemed to get longer and longer. I
did some crying. I swore I was going to
give up running, or at least never run another marathon. I was a baby.
Around mile 25, a new friend caught up to me. We walked that bad boy in. Until we saw the photographer at the
finish. That kind of demands a
run. Can’t have a non-running finish
line picture! Got my medal, got my beer,
and started thinking about when I could do it again. There is definitely something wrong with
me.
