Erica Kartak

I’m a marathon finisher! It’s a little hard to believe, but I imagine completing your first marathon isn’t something you ever forget. The last six miles I kept thinking about the fact I was running farther than I ever had before. Last week I shared my personal time goals for the race (read about it here).  Up until race day, I was pretty focused on my time, but the morning of the race as we arrived at the start, I was just so excited to finally be running after 5 months of training that I didn’t really care about how long it would take me.

I started off right under my 4-hour goal pace and felt really good for the first 10 miles (averaging around 9:00 min/miles) and was able to hold it for another 3 or 4 miles through the half-marathon point. I had my favorite water/Gatorade mix along with me, but since there were stations every 1.5 miles I took a sip at each one instead. I also stuck to eating Honey Stingers every 4 miles through mile 12, but didn’t feel like eating after that point.  Lessons learned: drink more often early and keep eating to refuel because you’ll need it later.

At mile 15, I really started to feel the fatigue and my pace slowed to 9:28 min/mile.  From that point, my pace was all downhill and I was wishing the course would have been too!  My personal cheering section at miles 16 and 18 (and surprise running partner!) did manage to inspire me on to stay under 10:00 min miles through mile 20.

Before the race, several people told me those last 6 miles would be difficult. I don’t think anyone could have prepared me for how tough they were. My right hip flexor was bothering me, but at that point pretty much everything hurt. I did walk for a bit a handful of times, especially around mile 23 which happened to be uphill and into the wind!

My official time was 4:16:13. I tried to push it the last few minutes to finish in 4:15, but it wasn’t meant to be. I am so proud of myself for committing to the training and completing a marathon. 26.2 miles is a long way!! Plus it gives me something to reach for next time. Yep, you heard me right…even though it was one of the hardest physical activities I’ve ever done I would consider doing it again. :)