I hated every minute of training….

I came across a quote that described my marathon process to a tee – “I hated every minute of training, but I said ‘Don’t Quit’. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.” It’s true. Training was the absolute worst time of my life. It was a constant battle with myself to get out there and get my runs in—especially my long ones. I missed out on social events, my favorite exercise classes during the week, I skipped out on nights out with friends & family in order to either not be tempted to drink any alcohol or having to get enough sleep to wake up early to get my long run in for the weekend, & I did a lot of my runs on the treadmill since this winter in Illinois was never ending! Training, honestly, took the fun out of running for me. But actually running in the marathon—even with the pain and struggles that day – I had fun!

From the moment the gun went off to initiate the start of the race, the feeling of ‘I can’t believe I’m actually doing this’ came over me. As I ran down the street, seeing all the spectators cheering, clapping, screaming, holding up their signs that they made, & ringing their cowbells felt like something out of a movie. I honestly didn’t think that people actually got so excited for these kinds of events. I mean the big well known marathons, yes. But a first time event in a little small community in the middle of nowhere—it was absolutely astonishing! The volunteers at each aid station were wonderful at making sure we had enough water, sports drink & gels throughout the race, they did a great job at making sure we knew that they were cheering for us too, and for just making sure we were ok. The police officers directing traffic and making sure we stayed safe on the course did a great job at cheering us on as well. There were signs posted along the course with funny sayings, motivational & inspirational quotes to keep us going. There were random spectators’ high-fiving us, one had a sprinkler set out for runners to run through towards the end, some even jumped in and ran along with us to show us their support, there was a man handing out doughnuts—which I regret not taking one!! Lol The feeling when you’re in so much pain that you don’t think you can continue anymore, and then seeing a group of people on the side cheering you on and telling you that “you rock”, “you’re so close”, “you’re amazing”… words that in any other circumstance I’d probably tell them to all F off, that they didn’t know what I was going thru, that there’s no possible way my body could go any further— but in this moment in time, those words and those people are what kept me going. To know that these people were out there cheering for me, someone they didn’t know at all, I wanted to make each and every one of those people proud.

In the end, through all the training, the setbacks, the pain, & the doubt; I am so unbelievably happy I did it. This was the biggest challenge I ever put myself thru, both physically and mentally. I am a little disappointed in my finishing time, but I have to remind myself that for my very first time ever running this length of time and as challenging as this course was, that I should be proud of myself. I did what a lot of other people only dream of doing. I accomplished a huge feat and I am going to be proud of every step of this race. I told myself I would never do another marathon again. Weeeelllllll…. In the back of my mind I keep thinking to myself if I did this or that I could’ve maybe prevented those horrendous leg cramps and possibly meet my goal time or exceed it. So to say I will never do another marathon—may be a lie. Only time will tell. I encourage everyone to try to run a marathon some day in their lives, and if you think you can’t – remember that a lot of people, who have thought they can’t, eventually found out they could. Or if you don’t want to, I encourage you to at least go out and watch a marathon.