I sent my parents an email this morning that included a few keen words about my recent races in Kona and New York City, and they replied that they were proud of me, but that it was time for me to rest and reflect.
I agree.
I do want and plan to give a play-by-play race report of my first marathon in New York City, (my 52nd overall), but I feel like I am in too much of a fatigue laden and emotionally numb fog right now to include the details and nuance it deserves. I think a night or two of more than four hours of sleep might clear that up, so I will aim to post that worthy of your time piece sooner than next Tuesday.
Therefore, until I write a tangible take on the race, one that would put you right there with me on the course, I will share how it felt in my head and heart.
The marathon on Sunday is not a blur, a mistake, or a run that felt unusual; that is the crazy part, running that fast, for so many miles felt natural. It felt like I was finally letting go of trying to be someone I don’t think I deserve to be, or not worthy of becoming, and just ran the pace I believed I could. A pace nearly ninety seconds faster per mile than what I could hold the week prior in a marathon specific workout, a pace that would have made me laugh out loud imagining I could keep up during a marathon two years ago, but felt like second nature to me on Sunday, a pace faster than I even planned to run in Boston, when I was in true running form gunning for the hallowed 3:10 finish time, a pace I was working toward for years unbeknownst to me, but finally ready to tap into on Sunday morning. I held a 6:50ish min. mile pace the first fourteen miles or so, then slid down to 7min., from fifteen to nineteen, and averaged the last six miles around 7:43ish, with an overall average pace of 7:15 min. per mile, which delivered a five minute personal best finish time of, 3:09:56.
The entire weekend was fantastic, and I can’t wait to share it all, but, honestly, I just need to sit with this one for a couple more days.
In the meantime, this gorgeous song from Coldplay, Magic, my favorite, captures exactly how I feel about the marathon in general, and especially the race on Sunday.