02/18/2018 – First marathon

While training for a marathon, I was often told that crossing the finish line is one of the best feeling you can have. It was. But it was much more than just happiness. It’s also gratefulness from seeing my friends from Dosh along the route and Nguyen, Hon, Linh, Mon and Geoff at the finish line. It’s also poignancy from spending so much time and focus preparing for a race and now it’s over. Ryan told me as soon as he finished his first marathon, he was already thinking about when his next race would be. It took me more than a few seconds, but I have already looked at couple destination marathon that I would like to do this year.

While my goal was to finish a marathon without dying, I was secretly hoping that I would finish it under 5 hours. While 6 hours finish time saddens me, I did conquered the overwhelming urge to just give up many times throughout the race and I’m proud of that. There are also many highlights. Marcy, our VP of marketing organized a support group and I was able to see a few familiar faces along the route. Seeing them spending their Sunday morning cheering for me lent me the strength that I desperately need to step one foot in front of another. Ryan finished his race on goal and even drove around to find me. He finally found me at mile 25 when I thought I had to walk to the finish line. Seeing how much he cares and believes in me made me run the remaining distance and had a strong finish.

Ryan and Trung at mile 25

Ryan and Trung at mile 25

The best moment came when I saw Mon running toward me after the last turn. I was overwhelmed with joy to see Linh and him. I wished he would have joined me in that last few steps to cross the finish line together but he said I was covered in sweat & didn’t want to :(. Regardless, seeing him after 6 hours of physical and mental pain is even better than crossing that finish line

 

While I’m disappointed with my time, I’m proud of my resolution. I was able to finish a marathon after 10 weeks of training. I’m planning on finish 1 or 2 more this year. Yes, running a first marathon tend to do that to you. My rationale is I have worked so hard for this; if I slack off now, my fitness would just vanish after 1-2 months. Might as well stick it out.