freedom's run marathon

it's pretty tough to know what it's like to run a marathon until you knock it out for the first time. kind of like getting married or seeing the ocean. i've heard people say they would never do it again and others say they can't wait to run their next. i guess i fall in the later group.

here is a pic of my brooks ravennas, my bib number, and the medal i received after completing the 26.2. i would say it was a pretty tough coarse to run my first, but as they say "go big or go home."

when we took off at 7am last Saturday, it felt a little unreal. not sure why, but it didn't feel like i was about to pound out 26.2. eric richardson and i hung together for the first 15...who was great to run with. the coarse was fairly flat until we hit mile 15 (at mile 13 we were running a 8:41 mile). the hills took us through Antietam, historic battle grounds. even though the hills were brutal and i was cramping up just past mile 18, the views and history were amazing.

i pushed through the cramps and made it to mile 20 in 3:00:00, right on target to hit my goal. little did i know the cramps would really slow me down. after mile 21 i was doing my best to fuel up, but nothing tasted good (not even m&ms). i tried stopping a few times, but that just made the cramps worse. so by my 24 i decided to pound through the cramps. the last 6.2 miles took me 65 minutes to complete. giving me a finishing time of 4:05:20.

here is what i learned...
- not a bad idea to start wearing a trash sack to keep you warm at the start that you can shed a few miles in.
- down more gatorade and food in the first 15 even though you are feeling great.
- train more at your target pace
- run through the pain...it will be over soon

big thanks to all the fellas who ran the freedom's run in our crew...
Tim Caclasure
Brandon Grable
Aaron Johnson
Brandon Thomas
Nathan Rogers
Eric Richardson
John Yoho