My First Steamtown Marathon

I drove up to Pennsylvania (PA), starting out on Thursday and getting there Friday (after a nice stop at a hotel for the night). It was a pretty drive - surprisingly easy for someone who has never driven long distance before. I've "travelled" long distances before but always when someone else drove about 80% of the time. So, this was new for me, especially with taking my daughters too.

We stayed with my brother Chris. He took us to New York City on Saturday and we spent the day checking out the sights - the Staten Island Ferry so that we could pass by the Statue of Liberty, the Subway, Manhattan, the Street Performers, the Empire State Building, Times Square, shopping at the Virgin records store, M&M store, Hershey store, and more. It was cool seeing all of that. NY is a different world. I was about ready to leave by 7 pm though because it began getting REALLY crowded. You couldn't walk down the sidewalks or cross the streets without bumping in to people because there were so many people. I guess I'm not ready for NY life! LOL!

Sunday was the Steamtown Marathon. My 7th Marathon and Chris' first. He did awesome - finished in 3:54:07. Fabulous for a first marathon! He loved it and is already looking forward to doing another. My time was 5:12:00. I started out great and did well until Mile 10. In mile 9 my knee began hurting and by mile 18 I was walking a bunch because of the pain. I saw the vans picking up runners to drive them to the finish and it was SO TEMPTING. I've never been that tempted to jump on the vans before.

In fact, I had never actually contemplated quitting a Marathon before. I feel like I have a glimpse of the awful pain people must be in when they DNF in a Marathon. I wanted to cry just thinking about it. I can't imagine how awful I would have felt if I would have actually quit. Keeping on probably wasn't the smartest choice I've ever made - especially considering the state of my knee. But, I kept thinking about Joyce and how hard she, at 62 years old, pushed herself in her first Marathon (the Georgia ING Marathon) and how she would not have quit! I couldn't imagine telling her that I bailed out, that I couldn't do it.

I also thought about all of my friends cheering me on before the race. That is the stuff you don't forget easy. Friends are like life-lines.....speaking to you when you need it most, even when they are not right there with you.

It made me realize that the best part of USA Fit Gwinnett isn't the running, its not the information you are given, or even the training program you follow. It is the friendships that you make that make this group so great. Without this group, we would not know, or even likely meet, the people that we have met. And the friendships that have been formed through this group are priceless.

Happy Running!