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:

1. Uptown Funk
2. Uptown Funk
3. Uptown Funk – yes, I like to listen to songs more than once, particularly if they are a current favorite
4. Poker Face
5. Just Dance – a little Lady G. early to remind me to relax, have fun, and dance!
6. MANiCURE
7. Bad Moon Rising
8. Bad Moon Rising
9. Bad Moon Rising
10. Rockstar
11. Rockstar
12. All The Right Moves
13. All The Right Moves
14. Steve McQueen – like my Lady G. interludes, Sheryl has some good songs to “keep going” without too much adrenaline
15. C’mon C’mon
16. Soak Up The Sun
17. Diamond Road
18. We Were Rock & Roll
19. Club Can’t Handle Me
20. Uptown Funk
21. Timber – this is my hill climbing song, because “it’s going down”
22. Timber
23. Timber
24. Bad Romance – came on right about halfway and was much appreciated; it’s a song I have to be careful not to overuse
25. The Edge of Glory
26. The Edge of Glory
27. Teeth – another Lady G. interlude
28. Just Dance
29. G.U.Y.
30. Gypsy
31. Timber – another short hill going down!
32. Shake It Off – I might have been singing out loud at times… hope the other runners didn’t mind
33. Payphone – “even the sun sets in paradise!”
34. Payphone
35. To The Dogs Or Whoever
36. Feel This Moment
37. MANiCURE
38. MANiCURE
39. I Knew You Were Trouble
40. I Knew You Were Trouble
41. Give Me Everything – time to run the final 10k!
42. Give Me Everything
43. Babel
44. Up Around The Bend – classic!
45. Uptown Funk – yep, this song Again, and I enjoyed funk-ing it up the whole time
46. Uptown Funk
47. Dance Apocalyptic – fast beat = fast feet
48. 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
49. 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”
50. I Will Wait
51. I Will Wait