My Marathon "birth" story

I officially consider myself a marathon runner! After my first marathon, I swore them off like the plague. I ran my first and only previous marathon with an undiagnosed tibial stress fracture. It was a pretty bad experience and after that I really felt my body was not made for that distance. Fast forward to now and I am a second time marathoner! I'm pretty freaking proud!! Have you noticed that just like a birth story, we have to share our marathon experiences? There really are A LOT of similarities between the two.
I was incredibly lucky to have an awesome group of running friends! I only really knew one of the group (this past marathon was her 19th and she is going to Boston next year!). Besides Jen, we were all really new to this. We did many long runs together and really became friends. Nothing like long run talk to bring friends together!! I think of that phrase "what is said on a long run, stays on a long run"! So here's a recap of the weekend, Because I'm pretty excited about the whole experience.
The day before the race, Jen and I drove down together (little over 2 hours) to grab our packets from the expo. After we met up with our friends and carbed it up for dinner.

Jen, me, Crystal, Cortney
The next morning after dealing with crazy, stressful traffic and a sprint to the start, we were set to go. We were all there for different reasons. Jen was there to support Crystal, who was running her first marathon. They had decided before training that Jen would stay with Crystal for the whole race (even though that rockstar can kick all our butts, 3:28 marathon PR). Cortney had planned on running the half marathon in honor of her uncle and grandfather. Both had recently passed (her uncle, way to young), and both were avid runners. She had only run 8 miles before taking this on and only had 6 weeks to train!! Crystal was ready for the challenge of running a full marathon and had been training for 16 weeks. I just wanted to prove I could. I wanted to see if my body could take it. Plus the half marathon was sold out!

I don't know if you have ever run the Columbus Marathon before, but the start is pretty kick butt! AC/DC's Thunderstuck starts it off and fireworks are let off at the start of the race. We all had decided before the race that we would start together, but would go at our own pace (except for Jen and Crystal) from there. We did a quick group hug and were off. We lost Cortney pretty early on. We knew this was going to be rough for her, she had experienced some knee pain and we weren't sure if she was going to keep with the full or switch to the half. I fell behind Jen and Crystal after a bit, I wanted to stay between 8-8:30 pace and finish under 4 hours. I was really hoping for a 3:45 finish! It was a great run in the beginning. There were spectators for every inch of this race. I kept one ear without an ear bud to fully appreciate my surroundings. After the half way point I was getting a bit of ankle pain, which was weird because I hadn't gotten that pain before. I pushed on, of course. At mile 15/16ish I walked through a water stop (my first walk break), HUGE mistake. My ankle pain was gone, but my first running step was followed by a stabbing IT band pain around my outer knee. After a few hobbling steps I finally got back into a groove, but I was hitting a wall! I was starting to doubt that I could actually do this without injury! It was about that time I almost literally ran into Crystal and Jen coming out of a port-a-potty area. BEST TIMING EVER! Crystal was really struggling with leg pain. They had needed to stop several times for Crystal to stretch it out. I felt really horrible for her. It was like a recharge just running with them for the next 1-2 miles (really at that point most the miles run together). I started to notice that I was pulling ahead and soon they slipped out of my sight behind me.
I compared a marathon to a birth early on. Those of you that haven't had a baby or run a marathon will not get this, but here's why. Both are incredibly physical, mental and they take preparation. I went from "I can't do this" to "I am killing this" from mile to mile. The time spent running is full of internal dialogue. There are times when you don't know if your body is sore just from the run or if you are injured. It takes HUGE mental Kahones to make it though. I would want to slow down and just walk a bit, only to start running with IT band pain. Then I'd want to just hurry up and get it over with. I would swing between the two mentalities constantly. One of the things that got me through (along with the spectators) was my running app on my phone. It allows people to comment on my Facebook status that is posted through the app and it reads the comments to me as I run. It was awesome getting cheered on from loved ones that were hours away.
I had seen the 3:45 finish pace group pass me, after I tried to keep up, and I had let go of finishing at that pace. Now my main goal was to finish under 4 hours. I had needed to walk through several water stations and stretch out my legs. It was tough because I knew that my legs would hurt for several feet after stopping.Finally I hit the last 5k of the race. I picked up the pace a bit, but still had to take a couple walk breaks. At this point I was really swinging between walking and just hurrying up to finish. The last mile I gave it some extra push to get it over with. When I saw the last 1/2 mile mark I pushed it hard and was able to sprint to the finish line. I was freaking sore and tight and emotional. I tried to stifle a cry but a few escaped me. I had done it! I was a freaking marathon runner and I wasn't injured! I hurt, don't get me wrong, but I wasn't "hurt"! My body could do it and BONUS- under 4 hours!!!! My final was 3:57! I moved off to the side to watch my friends finish. I had no idea if Cortney had run the full or not and I didn't know how far behind me the other two were. Minutes ticked by and my heart sunk for Crystal. Her goal was also for under 4, but she was past that point. Finally, after several minutes I saw them getting their medals! They had finished in 4:16! Crystal, too had tears in her eyes. They also said they had seen Cortney a while back and she was running the full!! Cortney ended up finishing at 4:29 and she too cried! We did it! Were were all marathon runners and are already planning our next marathon and marathon relay!!
This wonderful experience has taught me to never give up. We are capable of so much more than we ever think. We are only limited by ourselves. This is coming from a non athlete! I hope that I am a positive example for my children and others out there. You CAN do anything you set your mind to. It's not easy and it might hurt, but you can do it!!
From that day on AC/DC's Thunderstruck will always motivate me and bring a tear to my eye!
What challenges do you plan or have you taken on? Have you ever surprised yourself by what you accomplished?