First Marathon

After I ran my first 5k, my love for the sport has only grown. In 2015 I ran my first half marathon, and in 2016 I ran my first 10k and full marathon.

One of my best… or worst ideas, was signing up for my first marathon. Since the marathon is 26.2 miles, it was a goal that seemed crazy and potentially impossible. But, I decided to go big and enter the lottery for the 2016 New York City Marathon. Spoiler alert, on March 8, 2016 I got the email. The email that said, “Congratulations, you have been accepted to run the 2016 New York City Marathon!” That day will forever be etched in my mind.

As this was my first marathon, I was clueless how to train. I had been working out and running consistently but was nervous about my ability to be able to finish the race. I started training as soon as I found out. By training, I don’t mean double digit miles. I started slow and worked my way up. In the midst of “training,” or at least what I was calling training, I moved to North Carolina. With this move and transition, my training got a little off track, and ended up being what I know now as not very good.

Race Day, November 6, 2016 

I started the race with a group of 3 women (who I didn't know), causally running and chatting. By mile 8, I lost the group because of bathroom stops, tying shoes and stopping through the water stations. I was fine running alone, as that is what I planned to do, and felt good through the first half (13.1 miles).The first time I saw my family, around mile 4, I was all smiles and feeling good. At mile 14 I saw them again as I was about to go up another bridge into Harlem and I hit the wall and said “Oh shit! I have a long way to go.” I fought through the pain and at mile 17 when I saw my family for the third time, it had gotten cold and we were running between buildings, so it was a brutal wind tunnel. At this point I was over it. My legs and feet hurt, and I was cold. A few minutes after I started running again, I met up with the women who ended up finishing the race with me. We connected because I said, “hell or high water I’m finishing this damn race.” She laughed and we immediately started chatting. My legs hurt so bad at this point I could only jog. I couldn’t walk because of the different muscles used. We kept chatting, and I stopped multiple times just to relieve the pressure on my legs, and especially my feet. At mile 21 I saw my family again, and at this point I really wanted to quit. 

My mom asked if I needed anything and I just cried into her arms and she said,  “See you at the finish line.” So off I went, in pain and misery, mixed with excitement and tears.  Once I saw the 25 mile mark I had the biggest smile on my face, once we came into the finishing shoot I gave it all I had. As I was nearing the finish line, I started waving at my family, they didn’t realize I was so close, but thankfully they got a few pictures. When I crossed the finish line I was overjoyed. I couldn’t even tell people thank you because I was crying. Once I met up with my family, the first words out of my mouth were “I’m never doing that again.” Those are the famous last words. Stay tuned for what happened, in terms of running, after this race.                               

I will never forget this day, this race, and this experience.  The next time you think something seems impossible, I hope you go for it. Try the new experience, get out of your comfort zone and see what happens.

With Courage,

Katie