Fargo Marathon - my first 26.2

The Fargo Marathon 2014

My first 26.2!

I have to admit that I was nervous about this one.  Just like anything that you do for the first time, it's a bit of the unknown combined with some healthy excitement.  I don't think I slept much the night before, but I don't think that's anything unusual.  I had laid out all my gear so it would be a matter of getting up, hopping on the shuttle bus, and making my way to the start line.  The nice part of waiting for the shuttle was running into some folks from Winnipeg and chatting about nothing in particular.  It helped to keep my mind off of what we were about to do.

Standing at the starting line was crowded with little space to do any sort of stretching.  My nerves were starting to get the better of me.  After the national anthem and the starting of the race, my nerves were in full force and it took me about 5km to feel like I was into my groove.  I know that there was a lot of music along the way, but I needed to have my own music and run with something familiar.  I had my headset on, but again, this is what I needed to get myself settled.  I did about an 8 min/mile for the first 5km, and then picked it up to a 7:45 minute/mile until the half way mark.  At the 13.1 mile mark, I felt strong and was around a 1:42 split time.  This felt good.

The second half was going fairly well, until about the 20 mile mark.  There were no real hills or challenges to speak of, however I had heard time and time again about what happens to people at the 20 mile mark.  I'm not sure if it was mental or not, but I thought that this was going to be where my wheels fell off.  I had wanted to attempt to run a 3:40 marathon, and at this point, I was running with the 3:30 group.  Seeing as this was faster than I had hoped, I ended up dropping my pace and essentially telling myself that I had time in the bank and that there was no need to keep up the pace.  I have always known how much the mental endurance plays in these races, and at this point my internal dialogue was getting interesting.  Keep up the pace, slow down, your almost there, no you're not, my legs are tired... and so on.  In the end, I listened to my body as well, slowed down a bit, and finished with a 3:40:45.  I have to say I am very happy with this time.

 A huge thank you to my wife for meeting me at the finish line.  She ran the half and met me at the end.  A big shout out to the other local runners who made the trek down for this marathon - there are simply too many to mention!  All of the positive emails, texts, videos and thoughts proved to be exactly what I needed to make it through this race.