Marathon complete!
Three : Twenty-Two : Forty Eight
Blissful exhaustion.
I ran the Redding Marathon yesterday! I finished in 3:22:48 (three hours, twenty-two minutes, and forty eight seconds), which was significantly faster than my goal time (three hours thirty minutes) and is also a solid qualifying time for the 2016 Boston Marathon, a sought-after and celebrated achievement in the running community (my age group qualifier is three hours thirty-five minutes). I am pumped!
The race was excellent. My training plan prepared me well, and I had very little soreness until the final 10k (6.2 miles). That was tough! But it’s a marathon, so it should be hard, and despite the complaints from my legs, I was able to finish at a solid pace. The only thing I would change for next time would be the weather (as if I have any say in the matter); it was misting from the start and turned into a light rain at about mile 15. It wasn’t awful, but it was very wet and by the end, a little cold. Still, on the whole, it was a great event, and I am extremely pleased.
I would like to give a special shout out to everyone who sent inspirational texts before and during the race: Mom & Dad, Paige L-N., Liz S., Annmarie D., Laura B., Katie S., Cara K., and David D.! Your well wishes were much appreciated! And I am guessing more of you would have sent messages if I had announced that I would carry my phone, but that was a last minute decision based on rain, but plan for it next time (because there will be a next time).
I am also super grateful to have had friends meet me at the finish, they even had signs!
I also appreciated all the post-race celebratory messages! There are too many to individually recap, but I loved every one of them.
Thanks everyone for your support! I look forward to running more marathons in the future and you all make it that much more rewarding and fun!
Below is my playlist for the marathon, it was carefully orchestrated, so I’ve included some of the behind-the-scenes logic for entertainment. Enjoy!
Redding Marathon Playlist:
- Uptown Funk
- Uptown Funk
- Uptown Funk – yes, I like to listen to songs more than once, particularly if they are a current favorite
- Poker Face
- Just Dance – a little Lady G. early to remind me to relax, have fun, and dance!
- MANiCURE
- Bad Moon Rising
- Bad Moon Rising
- Bad Moon Rising
- Rockstar
- Rockstar
- All The Right Moves
- All The Right Moves
- Steve McQueen – like my Lady G. interludes, Sheryl has some good songs to “keep going” without too much adrenaline
- C’mon C’mon
- Soak Up The Sun
- Diamond Road
- We Were Rock & Roll
- Club Can’t Handle Me
- Uptown Funk
- Timber – this is my hill climbing song, because “it’s going down”
- Timber
- Timber
- Bad Romance – came on right about halfway and was much appreciated; it’s a song I have to be careful not to overuse
- The Edge of Glory
- The Edge of Glory
- Teeth – another Lady G. interlude
- Just Dance
- G.U.Y.
- Gypsy
- Timber – another short hill going down!
- Shake It Off – I might have been singing out loud at times… hope the other runners didn’t mind
- Payphone – “even the sun sets in paradise!”
- Payphone
- To The Dogs Or Whoever
- Feel This Moment
- MANiCURE
- MANiCURE
- I Knew You Were Trouble
- I Knew You Were Trouble
- Give Me Everything – time to run the final 10k!
- Give Me Everything
- Babel
- Up Around The Bend – classic!
- Uptown Funk – yep, this song Again, and I enjoyed funk-ing it up the whole time
- Uptown Funk
- Dance Apocalyptic – fast beat = fast feet
- Bad Romance – second play could not have come at a better time, I had just struggled over some small hills, there was about a 5k to go, and Lady G., she knew I was caught in a Bad Romance
- I Will Wait – this song is a reliable method for getting 105% out of my legs, even when they really would rather not, so “paint my spirit gold”
- I Will Wait
- I Will Wait