Sunday Run-Day

Pardon the interruption to our usual Monday-Wednesday-Friday post schedule! I just wanted to share a little life update, which is that a big focus of my life over the past half year came to a close this past weekend: I finally ran the marathon I’ve been training for! Phew. (Just a warning that this post contains a lot of ALL CAPS, I still have an abnormal level of adrenaline in my system.)

The race was the Vermont City Marathon, and I can’t recommend it more highly — this is an awesome event in an awesome state. The crowds are so supportive, the logistics are smooth, and the course itself isn’t too hard except for a few hills (and there are taiko drummers on the biggest hill, at Mile 15, which is pretty darn cool).

Anyway, I just wanted to share that it’s DONE, for those of you who remember me mentioning it in my post months ago about why I run. And obviously I wanted to brag about it on the internet humbly update you all since this is a place where we share about our lives, not just about our awesome DIY projects.

This was my second marathon, and I was so happy to make it to race day at last after 500 miles of training over 20 weeks through a Boston winter that broke snowfall and low temperature records. And I have to give major props to Naomi for her support throughout. Since we both work full-time, the weekends are really the main time we can do DIY projects, and the fact that half my weekend was taken up with my weekly long run since the day we launched this blog definitely didn’t make it easy.

And of course Sam deserves a serious THANK YOU I LOVE YOU for all his support, since if I was DIYing one day and running the other, there wasn’t a lot of time for other weekend activities. Plus he got me into this running thing in the first place.

And I’m so appreciative for the support of so many amazing friends and family who tirelessly encourage me and listen to me prattle on about running, and those who supported me in person and in spirit on race day. Being able to take on something this time-consuming is an incredible privilege that wouldn’t be possible without so many people’s patience and encouragement.

ANYWAY, enough about other people and back to me and my incredible accomplishment. Really it can be summed up pretty much as:

I ran, and then I ran some more, and then (most important part) I kept running:

Oh and don’t worry, I don’t always look so awesome while running, most of the time I look more like this:

And then finally I was able to stop running:

I’m thrilled to say that I beat my goal time. My first marathon in 2013 I ran in about 4 hours 20 minutes with the goal of just finishing (Sam and I trained and ran it together). This time I went into the race telling myself I should be happy if I broke 4:00 (the initial goal I set for myself when I started training in January), but not-so-secretly hoping I could beat 3:45 since the pace of my training runs suggested I might be able to and that would qualify me for the Chicago Marathon. The concept of qualifying seemed crazy to me as someone who has never considered myself fast or athletically-gifted, just really really committed to my training schedule.

When I crossed the finish line in 3:43, I couldn’t have been more excited. (The photo above of me crossing the finish shows a time of 3:44:41, but that’s “gun time” — the time elapsed from the starting gun. A runner’s official time is recorded starting the minute they actually cross the start line, which can be anywhere from a few seconds to hours after the starting gun depending on how big the race is, and is tracked by a chip in each runner’s bib. DON’T GET IT TWISTED, I ran a 3:43 okay?)

Of course I showed my extreme excitement by breaking down in tears upon seeing Sam, my mom, and my stepdad just moments after crossing the finish line.

It was emotional, what can I say? All this time and hope and anxiety and perseverance and sacrifice and pain and elation and carbohydrates (best part) goes into just getting to these four hours, and then comes the thrill of the race which goes by in a blur but also stretches on like it will never end, and then suddenly there’s the finish line and joy and relief and an endorphin high like nothing else in this world.

Fortunately I pulled it together a few seconds later for a slightly better photo, complete with my sweet new hat.

I feel so lucky to have participated in such an awesome event this weekend with so many great people. Here’s to challenge, reward, and what comes next!