Marathon

St. Louis, MO

Sunday April 11 I completed my first Marathon! I met a few of my closest friends and Nicole in STL for the weekend. We all piled into Greg's new house and just hung out mainly in his backyard. The grill ran non-stop and the beers flowed freely. It was difficult not to drink the day before the race, but lucky Greg and Dave were racing as well, so I had plenty of support. Race day started at 5:15am when we got up, had breakfast, and our dedicated fans drove us to the start. At 7am the race commenced. The course took us through most of the major landmarks of STL; running towards the Arch, the Anheuser-Busch Brewery (it smelled like warm cereal), back towards Forest Park, along Washington University, and finally finishing downtown.

The race went well. Temperatures were in the mid 70s. I got a little over-heated on miles 20-23 due to the sun reflecting off the concrete like a hot box. The course was much hillier than I expected with positive slopes for multiple miles. Dave finished first, a full hour before I did, followed by Greg, then myself crossing the line in 4hrs 30mins. Our fans were out in full force, cheering us on the last 200 yards. Thanks to Drew, Kyle, Cassie, Sally and Nicole for all the support!
This was the first milestone on my journey to Ironman. I feel more confident knowing I have a marathon under my belt, but it definitely put into perspective the challenge I've laid out for myself. I'll be focusing on biking next, what I consider to be my strength. The challenge will be to maintain this level of running and integrate additional biking and swimming from now until November.