I ran my first marathon in Charlevoix on June 25, 2011. I started training for the race a few months before. I ran a half marathon in January and the Fifth Third 25 K in May. I have been fortunate enough to be injury free during all of my training. For most of my long runs my friend Jamie joined me, which was very helpful. On some of our longer runs our husbands would even join us and bring us gatorade every few miles. A few weeks before the race Jamie decided to run the marathon with me.
The start line of the marathon was 2 blocks from my parents condo in Charlevoix. The race started at 7am and the temperature was in the mid 50′s. There were about 350 runners who participated in the marathon. Jamie and I started running at about a 9 minute pace. I have never run an entire race with someone else, so this was a new experience for me. I felt really good most of the race and time seemed to pass quickly. The race was mostly on a scenic biking and running trail that runs between Charlevoix and Petoskey, it was mostly flat with a few hills and very spectator friendly. My mom, sister and husband were able to go to multiple points.
In the weeks before the race I thought that this might be the only marathon that I was going to run. The training takes a lot of time and I thought I enjoyed running half marathons more then full marathons. My first goal was to finish the race. My second goal was to run 10 minute miles. We finished the race in about 4 hours 8 minutes, which is 9:30 per mile. I was still in disbelief when I crossed the finish line that I had finished a marathon. Now that I’ve run my first marathon I am looking forward to running my next marathon.
