Running My Heart Out

I've had this week or so to think about different things. I was so nervous leading up to the day but on the morning I was well prepared and just did everything I had planned to do and before I knew it, I was standing at that start line.I had such a welling up of emotions as I heard the count down. "Three, Two, One, Go."Wow.And my first thought after that was "I'm running a marathon!" I had been so worried about the weather and it really was goddam awful but once I was running, it didn't seem to be as important. Sure it was awful. Sure it was hard, but I just ran anyway! Being part of a group of runners was great too. I was passed and I passed others. I ran with one guy for the last 22kms. We must have just had the same pace. When there were 8kms to go and I hit my wall and had to walk, he left me but I caught back up to him with less than 2kms to go and I can't tell you how good that felt! He was annoyed to see me I think!My cyclist companion called this man "my frog" as I kept bouncing back to him but at that point the man turned around and talked to me for the first time saying "I'm not a frog I'm a tortoise""What does that make me?" I called out and he replied "the hare"Hmmm!!!But we ran into Adelaide Oval together and I was sprinting too but he out sprinted me and got me by a few seconds. Not that I cared about that at that moment.I've learnt that doing most of my running on a treadmill during the winter months is still beneficial. I don't have to be afraid of it as it seemed to hold me in good stead during the marathon. I'll continue to do that next Winter. Although I will still do runs of over 20kms out on the road.18kms on the treadmill has been my max to date.I've learnt that I can take water from the water stations and don't need to carry my own water (I didn't carry any during the marathon but had been worried about it) I've learnt that I don't want music playing while running in an event like that. That people talking to you here and there and volunteers cheering you on makes such a difference. When talking to people about it this week, I've called it "one of the best days of my life" and it would seriously be in the top three!! Not going to mention what the other days are or what order they're in! :) I'm surprised at how I feel about wanting to run another one. I need to beat my time. I'm almost embarrassed about it. Strange though, because when I first wrote about running a marathon, I just wanted to finish.. then I said I'd be happy with anything under 4 and 1/2 hours... Then after doing a couple of runs over 30kms and seeing my times for those, I was hoping for a 4 hour marathon... so I was disappointed with 4 hour 18 but at least it gives me an easy mark to beat next time... My plan now is to take it "easy" for the rest of the year and start running harder start of next year. I'll probably be running 40-50kms weeks till then.Don't know whether to go for Gold Coast Marathon or just do Adelaide again next August. Don't know if my body could handle the two even though they're 5 or 6 weeks apart.Don't know if I'd like the crowds of the Gold Coast Marathon but running in qld appeals to me as I used to run along part of that marathon route and I love QLD. But all these things don't have to be set in stone now.. just gives me more to think about!