Sunday, August 19, 2007

Run Forrest Run!!



Well, the marathon is done! Woo hoo! The weather was perfect; about 60 degrees and cloudy. I finished in about 4 hours and 15 minutes.

As the race started I made some friends quickly so I'd have some people to run with therefore distracting me from the fact I was running farther than I've ever run before. As I chatted with Jim and Veronica in the first couple miles, I learned that Jim had run about 15 marathons, including 2 or 3 Boston marathons and that Veronica was in fact an ultramarathoner. Gre-e-e-eat. Of all the people I could run with!! We ran a 9 minute mile pace for the first 16 miles. At that point I told Jim and Veronica to keep going, that I was going to slow down a bit. Miles 16-19 were the hardest. But then I got some sort of second wind and the final 7 miles weren't too bad.

The funniest part about this race was the vast difference from the half-marathon I ran in Indianapolis back in May. That race had 35,000 runners. This one had 2 or 3 hundred. The half marathon course ran through downtown Indy, and even onto the track of the Indy 500. This race was only 1 mile of road and the rest was on trails. Unfortunately there were no moose sightings.

But at any rate, I've caught the marathon bug and am already considering when and where I'll do the next one!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Whoa...congratulations...I'm super impressed!

And did you say "the last 7 miles WEREN'T THAT BAD?"

Seriously?

Katie Kermeen Swisher said...

I don't think I've run 26 miles in my entire life! You're nuts...you look great though! I miss seeing your toothy grin every day... ;)

Omar said...

Does the sign behind you say "Humpy's Starting Line"?

Oh man... that's just too perfect.

Yea... Rob got a medal!

r o b said...

thanks guys. and omar, yes it say's "humpy's". but its named after a bar which is named after a type of salmon up here. its not THAT kind of a marathon. (i don't even know what THAT would entail)

Abbey Brown said...

18.5 in 2:45. I think Im back in the game...Congrats on the race, man. IM SO STOKED FOR OCTOBER!!!! Im going to suggest the rock and roll marathon in San Diego for your next race. They have big, famous bands set up and play like every three miles, and the after party is AWESOME!! My friend Victoria ran that race for her first marathon and RAVED about the course, competition, and encouraging volunteers. Think you'll be visiting buffalo any time soon??

Abbey Brown said...

PS: Did you wear some type of fanny pack during the race? I dont think my sports bra can hold my Ipod and my energy gels...+

Anonymous said...

Hey cuz~ CONGRATS!!! THAT IS AWESOME! I am amazed by people who run such distances!!! I took a 2.5 mile walk (by myself~woohoo) today and thought that was impressive! Keep up your good work!! ~Aim

Anonymous said...

Awesome Rob! Becky and I want to run one someday... (Someday probably equals never for me though) :)

Miss ya
Adam and Becky

Fitz said...

Mad props, Rob! Makes me think back to that time I ran a marathon...oh wait, that never happened!

Anonymous said...

Congrats, Rob! I'm really impressed. I'm actually training for my first marathon in January (P.F. Chang's Rock-n-Roll Marathon in Phoenix). I've done a half-marathon, but this will be my first full one. Just hearing you say that miles 16-19 were the worst just warms my heart! :-) But you've just become my inspiration!