18 weeks - 38 seconds

Two apparently completely unrelated times. But for me, they are tied directly together. 18 weeks of training. Week in and week out. Not a single day skipped, not a single mile left out. I did all sorts of running I've never done before, speed training, distance training, heart rate training. The end result? Reaching and exceeding my goal by 38 seconds.

Official chip time: 3:29:22

When I started the race, I told my buddy who was about to finish his 6th marathon, that I honestly couldn't say how important reaching my goal was to me. This was my first marathon, I had no clue how I would feel at the end. Turns out, reaching that goal was a huge thing for me. I feel so lucky to have everything come together so perfectly. I can honestly say that if it wasn't for the near perfect weather, I probably would have fallen short.

The first part of the race was exactly what I expected and hoped for. Around mile 8 I sunk into my groove, running 14 straight miles with a pace variation of only 7 seconds (7:45-7:52)!! My family all saw me during this time, speeding along at my strongest between miles 14-16. Exactly at Mile 18, I had a minor scare, as my left plantars (good foot) had a huge twinge. Luckily, I had experienced this during training, so I knew it wouldn't be something to worry about, but I did have to adjust my stride for a little bit as the kink worked itself out.

Mile 22 is where the real fun began. This is where you make a final large uphill climb to Summit Ave. I made the climb in a solid 8:20 pace, which was great. I started down Summit easing back into my 8:00 goal pace, finishing mile 23 at 7:58. I was tired for sure, but at no point during this did I feel any type of "wall". However, somewhere between mile 23 and 24 is when the "weird" stuff started happening.

Weird is the best word I have to describe it, because it wasn't painful and it didn't seem to slow me down. First, my legs muscles felt really loose. The sensation scared the crap out of me initially, because I didn't know what it was, and I had never felt anything like it during training. Were my legs going to give out? Could I finish the last few miles? Next, they tightened up, so I figured they were cramping. This scared me even more. Cramping up legs could be the end of my running and I'd have to hobble across the finish line. I pushed it all out of my head and focused on keeping my form, landing softly, and I slightly slowed my pace back around 8:10. If this was my "wall", I wasn't going to let it stop me now.

The stuff going on with my legs combined with the final small uphill on mile 25 hit me hard, and I slowed to an 8:30 pace. After rounding the corner and seeing he final stretch, everything melted away. I honestly don't know if it was the downhill motion that fixed my legs or the pure mental side of knowing the finish line was just around the corner. But once I started that decent, my legs were feeling normal again. I sped up again, letting gravity do most of the work. As I entered the last few hundred yards, to my left my family was there, and Megan was cheering me on. It was the best feeling ever. I checked my watch: 11:29am. Holy shit, it was going to be close. I pushed harder. I could see the clock but I didn't have glasses on so I couldn't see the time. Did it say 3:29? Did it say 3:30? I got within 10 feet and saw the clock read 3:29:50. I had done it! I yelled out a victorious "YES!" and charged across the finish line. If you watch the video of me crossing the finish line, you can just make out the little yelp.