Baby's First Marathon

I did it! 

So, the race was fun. It was good! Nothing bad happened! which sounds like a low bar— but think about all the bad things that could happen in 3 hours and 49 minutes!

Yes, that was a not-so-subtle flex on my finish time. My time goal was very broad: I would've been happy with anything under 3:55. All my long runs were around 9:00/mile, but I read that long runs could be up to a minute and a half per mile slower than your race pace! So I had no idea what to expect, except that it would be somewhere between an 8:30 and a 9:00 pace (which is very broad).

My coach, Jim, told me to start at 8:55. I knew that wasn't going to happen. But I did listen to his instructions about pacing based on heart rate, and that's what I'm most proud of. This is the graph of my heart rate throughout the race:

See that long, slow, gradual increase? That's the discipline I worked toward throughout my training. That's why I love endurance sports. I'm not a fast sprinter, but when other people are starting out too fast and burning out too soon... I'm the slow and steady tortoise. I'm proud of that.

Oh, and the pain in my foot? I took a risk by running in brand new shoes (I put five miles on them before the race) and I had absolutely zero pain during and after the race. See? Nothing bad happened! And for that, I am grateful.