Seattle's Newest Marathon Man!

Well, more of a half marathon man, but what's 13.1 miles in the grand scheme of things? A half marathon is basically a marathon, and I completed my first one this past Sunday and experienced one of the greatest feelings of accomplishment I have ever had.

First some background. I weighed myself January 3rd and realized that I had reached a new all time high. All time highs are terrific except when it comes to weight. So like I had done so many times before, I set a goal to drop a few pounds. I went to the gym that day, stepped onto the treadmill, put it on 6 MPH, and started to run. I used to be a pretty decent runner as a teenager, but it's been a while. After a mile, I had to slow down the treadmill because I was running out of gas. After 2 miles, I was done and thoroughly ashamed that I had fallen so far out of shape.

Over the past 4 months, I have worked out 6 days a week without missing a day. I've done mostly cardio, mixing in just a little weight training here and there. I have tracked everything that I have eaten counting calories obsessively, and I've dropped 45 pounds. I now weigh the same as I did when I graduated high school, a great feeling for sure! I'm not beautiful, but I'm close.

My favorite workout has been running, and about a month ago, I signed up for the Capital City Half Marathon in Olympia. I know Olympia is a pointless city that's hours from where I live, but it was the only race that fit in my schedule without making me wait until summer. I trained hard, averaging about 32 miles a week over the past month. I did a 9 mile run and a 10 mile run to get used to the longer runs, and then it was time to run 13.1.

I knew I could finish. Ron from the Biggest Loser finished a full marathon, I could surely do a half. But my goal was to run it in 2 hours or less. 2 hours in a half marathon would mean averaging a 9 minute mile. I didn't know anyone else in the race, I was truly on my own, competing against no one but myself, and it was exhilirating.

The first few miles were a piece of cake. On mile 4, I remember thinking that I was going to get addicted to these races, doing several each year. I turned off my iPod and just listened to all the people running near me, it was like being a part of a stampede with people cheering us on as we ran and police stopping traffic to give us all the room we needed. I ran for the first 10 miles without stopping to walk, and felt great for most of those 10 miles.

Miles 11-13 made me want to die. I had to stop and walk 3 different times for about a minute each, and since I wasn't wearing a watch I was convinced that I was going to fail to reach my 2 hour goal. When the finish line came into sight, I tried to sprint, but I literally had nothing left. I ran across as fast as I could and when I looked up and saw the clock, I had run the race in 1 hour, 49 minutes, and 45 seconds. That's an average of 8 minutes and 22 seconds per mile!! What a great feeling!

I didn't come close to winning. Over 60 women ran faster than me. I was beat by men in their 50's as well as men in their teens. But for a guy that could hardly run 2 miles in January, I felt like I had come a long way! I don't know if a marathon is next or not--it's been 2 full days of rest now and I can still hardly walk, but if finishing a marathon feels twice as good as finishing a half, that's definitely something I'm eager to experience!

Pictures to come as soon as I figure out how to post them. My mom and Carter came to cheer me on and prove that I really ran the race to anyone that is doubting me!