![]() ![]() Defining your first marathon by a number is honestly setting yourself up for disappointment. You don’t know what the race environment is going to be like, you don’t know how your body and mind are going to hold up over many hours of running. In reality though, I really think this should be the philosophy for anyone running a marathon for the first time. These are the reasons why I was going into it with the mentality of lets just finish this and enjoy the experience. Basically the entire course was wooded trails with a decent amount of single track (though there was almost always room to pass). The first isn’t bad, but the second is quite steep, though still not prolonged. In that loop were two fairly good climbs (for this area) in the first half and lots of shorter but steeper areas in the back half. In other words, I was going into the marathon with a longest run of just over a half marathon and a woefully low base mileage. And that means going into the marathon my longest run ever was…. However, because of all the activities at Duke such as marching band, other tri workouts, this thing called homework, sleep, and getting to know people, I barely ever had time to go on a substantial long run. While that’s not good, it’s not terrible either. Going into Duke my longest run was 14 miles. That, in turn, set me back about two weeks on my training schedule, essentially making me lose a month. I took two weeks completely off from running and cycling while I was on vacation with my family (Well, I rode the Virginia Creeper Trail, but running is what aggravated the injury). I developed an overuse injury in my right knee during the second week of July. Let’s take this opportunity to candidly review everything that should have screwed me over on this race, shall we? It started back in early-mid July. Or perhaps more accurately change what I hadn’t done prepare for it. I was way past the point of no return, I would do it, and there was no way at that point to change what I had done to prepare for it. ![]() I had the usually to me but strange to everyone else sense of calmness that always overwhelms me before a large event like this. I spent almost 24 hours in Medoc Mountain State Park on account of this race, and that’s one of the reasons why it’s so great!Įven after 26.2 miles of running, I still manage to smile and have fun! I loved my Medoc Experienceįriday evening I left the gothic wonderland known as Duke University around 4:30 for the no-cell-service wonderland known as the middle of nowhere Medoc Mountain State Park. Medoc is an experience which I will remember for the rest of my life. but that would be the same for any marathon I did. Sure, I could have been more prepared, not gotten injured in training, had more time for long runs, etc. It’s hard to imagine a better experience for my first marathon than the experience I had at Medoc. Others were skeptical in my choice for my first ever marathon, but I was hopeful that I had chosen well. My first impression of a marathon was awesome. And lucky for me, I chose an amazing race. ![]() I had my first taste of what it felt like to travel 26.2 miles by foot in one shot. A week ago today, I got my first impression of thing known as a marathon. They say you can never undo a bad first impression. I tried not to ramble, but a lot happened at my first marathon. ![]()
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