“To finish a marathon is to attain a small piece of immortality.” — Kathrine Switzer, Author/Runner
Notes:
After months of training, getting up early in the morning, running… I finally did it. I completed my second marathon. I'm not going into too much detail as I barely remember the first 20 miles of running. Yah, can you believe that? I was kinda in this 'zone' thingy where I did not feel as fatigued as I should be (or rather, as fatigued as I felt @ Chicago) cos I ran with two great ladies: Bridget and her sis, Angela. It was pretty kewl running in a small group cos you were distracted by the conversation and just generally having a good time and don't realise that you've gone 10, 15, 20 miles! After the 20th mile marker, Bridget said that I still looked strong, so she encouraged me to go ahead and try to beat my “Chicago” time… And I did! Ok, to some faster runners (*ahem* my big sis, Minel — who, kudos to her, had her own personal record, too!) but to me, that's a pretty nice improvement. There's more room for improvement as well and I am happy to say that I am looking forward to my next marathon (TBD, of course).
I'm going to have to do some research now and find out what sort of recovery runs I need to do. I know it's not over yet until I've fully “finished” with some recovery runs but I'm glad that the biggest hurdle passed! I COMPLETED MY 2nd MARATHON! YAY!
Here's some stats for those interested.
Course Elevation:
As you can see, it was NOT a flat course — but guess what? I was able to go through it fairly easily cos of the great pace leader I had — Mrs. Bridget Haga! YOU ROCK, girl!
Ok, so I probably should not even show this cos my time looks dismal, but who cares! It's funny to see when people (e.g., elite runners) finish when I've barely arrived @ the 10 mile mark. LOL! Props again to sis for her PR — she finished at about 4 hours and 34 minutes (her goal was 04:30:00).
p.s.,
My next running event will be the inaugural San Jose 1/2 Marathon. It's only 13.1 miles but I still plan to train for it to achieve a PR. ^_^
p.p.s.,
I burned about 2,549 calories for this marathon. LOL. WOW.
