All five of my marathons have their own story. I have run five marathons in five different states between the years 2006 and 2019.
My first marathon was simply, "I want to see if I can actually do this." I ran it K Mart shoes with little to no knowledge on pacing or nutrition. But I finished, but it was rough. I felt terrible when I crossed the finish line and I said, "Never again." This was the reason I did not run another one for four years. I also had two babies during that time.
Marathon number two was everything marathon one was not. It was a chance for myself--the mother of a preschooler, toddler, and infant to take a personal retreat. Everyone has their own idea of self care. Mine includes running. I ran a marathon in Sacramento and shaved 16 minutes off my time. I remember crossing Mile #22 thinking, "I still feel okay!" If any of my medals belong to Rob, this one is his. I will never know how challenging it was for him to take care of our three children while teaching Sunday School and preaching two sermons in two different services. Not any man can take that on but my man did.
Marathon number three was eighteen months later. It was the one and only marathon my whole family attended and watched me cross the finish line. Although I am pretty sure the youngest who was two and a half at the time was asleep in the stroller. And she threw up in the car on the way to the starting line. Again my husband is a superstar. But I PRed again and my whole family was there to see it.
Marathon number four was about two years later and is only marathon (so far) I ran with a family member. My sister joined me in Minnesota. We chose not to actually run side by side because I was going for a PR. Which to this day is my fastest. I was four minutes shy of breaking four hours.
Marathon 2019 was another personal retreat but I also had the chance to heal after some very difficult months in 2018. I spent countless long training runs in prayer and sometimes in tears. I ran it in January in beautiful Arizona at the beginning of 2019. I left my burden at the finish lane.
So now I am training for Marathon 6. This has been my COVID19 run--my "I need to get out of the house or I am going to go insane" type run. I am having flashbacks to when I trained for Sacramento and desperately needed some time away from the chaos of Planet Toddlers. What marathon I am doing is not one hundred percent determined yet. It might have to wait until 2021. For now, I will continue training.
Here is my latest video of my reason for running 10 races in 2020...
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