Cavalcade of Awesome

So, I ran my first marathon on Sunday. It was the culmination of many, many months of preparation and training. I officially signed up for and started training for this race back in May, so I’m glad that it’s all over now and I can say that I have now run a full marathon (26.2 miles). And I am even happy with my time; 5 hours and 10 minutes.  The marathon was not as soul crushing and hard as I expected, but that’s not to say it was easy.  I think the key for me was running the actual race with a buddy.  My friend Mike and I ran the race together and provided each other with much needed distracting conversations and encouragement especially in the later miles (20+).

The marathon I ran was part of a larger group of races called The Tri-2B Tuff Challenge.

The Tri-2B Tuff Challenge consists of three distance races in three months.  You can either do three half marathons or two half marathons and a full marathon.  I did the latter.

The first race was the Jacksonville Marine Corps Half Marathon on Oct 2. Mike and I mistakenly believed that race started at 8am so we showed up ready to run at 7:30am. However, when we showed up people were dismantling the starting line. After asking around we discovered that the race actually started at 7am. Undaunted, we backed our butts up to the dismantled starting line, started our watches and ran the race anyway. It took a while, but we wound up catching up with some of the stragglers and finishing the race anyway.

The second race was the Outback Steakhouse Distance Classic Half Marathon on Thanksgiving Day. We double checked the starting time for that race and showed up early so we started with the official clock. This race was awesome. I enjoyed the course and it was actually fun to run it.

The last race was the Jacksonville Bank Marathon (or you could run the half marathon) on Dec 19 (this past Sunday).  Finish those three races and you win the Tri-2B Tough Challenge.  I’m glad I did it.  Since I was training for the marathon anyway the two half marathons in Oct and Nov kept me from slacking off too much on training.

However, looking back, I don’t think it was a good idea scheduling this series of races during the first three months of my son’s life.  It was really hard balancing work, newly gained fatherhood and training for my first marathon.  However, now that I’ve done it, and I feel good about doing it, I really feel like a stronger person physically and mentally.  Honestly, a week or two ago I was saying that I will NOT run another marathon once this one was done.  I was burned out on training for the long race, getting little sleep as a new father and going to work all day.  Now that it’s finally over?  I would consider doing another one.  Not next year.  But in 2012, I may consider doing another 26.2, especially if my wife wants to train and join me.  So the race tally for me this year was 1 full marathon, 3 half marathons and a 15K.  And 1 baby boy.  It was a crazy year, but exhilarating.

So, yes, I once again prove that I am filled to the brim with awesome-acity.  Drink it in, people.  Drink. it. in.

So, over on my other blog, Held Over!, I’m celebrating my marathon success by showcasing vintage advertisements for movies having to do with running (or just have RUN in the title).

On Monday I looked at Chariots of Fire. On Tuesday it was the Michael Douglas inspirational tale Running. Today was the ad for the Dustin Hoffman thriller Marathon Man.  Two more days left in marathon celebration week.  Check back Thursday and Friday on Held Over! to see what’s next.

This entry was posted on December 22, 2010 at 4:10 pm and is filed under exercise, life, movies, running with tags exercise, Held Over, life, movies, running. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.