Crossing the finish line

My First Marathon

   February 28, 2024  1 Comment on My First Marathon  Posted in Blog 0 Likes 772 Views

I’m writing this three days after completing the 2024 Publix Atlanta Marathon on February 24 and I’m still on a runner’s high! I completed my first marathon and achieved all 3 of my goals!

Goal 1: Do not stop running until the end. DONE!

Goal 2. Do not finish first, but do not finish last. DONE!

Goal 3: Finish in under 5 hours. Official chip time: 4:47:34. BOOM! OH YEAH! ULTIMATE PEACH, BABY!

I shared the journey to get here on my last blog post which you can read by clicking here. I could not have done this without the Peloton Road to 26.2 Training program. A huge shout-out to the Peloton instructors for the training guidance. THANK YOU PELOTON (Beck Gentry and Matt Wilpers especially). A huge shout out of love and gratitude to my amazing wife who put up with my grueling training schedule since December. Those Sunday long runs meant early bedtimes on Saturdays and an exhausted, lazy, barely-able-to-move, husband on Sunday. Monday mornings were a lot of moaning and groaning achy husband days. And lastly – to my Chiropractor’s Justin and Chris for keeping my 46-year-old-body aligned and operational.

Here’s a few pictures of the race along with a video of my finish.

How it started
I ditched my headgear around Mile 9 but I was still wearing gloves so I’m thinking this is just before Mile 13
Definitely the 2nd 13 mile stretch, this hill in the park had so many people walking, but not me! YOU GOT THIS!
I feel like this was around mile 25, the second time on this stretch of road. By this point I had ditched my head gear, my gloves, and my bottle of Pure. I would have ditched my pants had I been wearing anything under them. First time I’ve ever run a race in long pants.
The final 0.2 miles of the race

And here’s a video my super excited and supportive wife took of me during the last 0.2 miles of the race. I love her!

I was thrilled to have my wife and son there at the finish line to witness the finish. It took a lot of grit for me to get here, having avoided this race distance for my entire running life, and it felt amazing to share that moment with my family.

Happy to have Cherish and Jack at the finish line!

The Ultimate Peach Medal!

What everyone keeps asking me now is a) are you going to run another marathon and b) If so are you going to try and run faster? For now, the answer is no. I think this was a one-and-done event for me. I’m proud of my results! I’m excited to be able to say I’ve run a marathon. I got my Ultimate-Peach medal (a five-pound monstrosity as a matter of fact!) and I think for now its time to hang up my running shoes for a bit.