Tuesday, August 2, 2011

7/29/11, My "Slowest Marathon" NOT my "Personal Worst"

On Friday night I ran a marathon in Wakefield, MA. It was an 8 loop course around a lake and it started at 7pm, making it my first ever night marathon. My finish time was 5:06:53, 1 hour and 38 minutes slower than may personal best.  Slow? To some people, maybe. "Worst?" Hell no, it was great!! It's not my personal worst, it's just my "slowest marathon." I refuse to call my 5:06 a "personal worst." What does that even mean? There was nothing bad about that marathon, it doesn't deserve the label of "worst." I had a great time, in fact, it was extremely enjoyable, all 26.2 miles. I ran the first 5 loops with an old friend and a new friend, the conversation was great, I had several belly-laugh moments when I could baarely catch my breath because I was laughing so hard. Then there was that good laugh when all 3 of us peed under a low tree branch together, right along the path at dusk. After the 5th lap, we lapped Ryan, who was running the 12 hour ultra (more from him soon). I decided to drop back and run with him. I ran 2 laps with Ryan in the heavy down pour, gosh, I love running in the warm rain in the summertime!!! We chatted with a few other runners, including one man who has been living in a motorhome for the past 7 years exploring America (my dream!!). I have spent years of my life living in a motor home traveling America as a kid so it was cool to meet him! I decided to run the last loop my by myself and this loop was definitely my strongest. Eventhough I had not run over 10 miles since RnR San Diego on 6/5/11, I felt really strong that last lap and picked up the pace a bit. At mile 24.5 I met up with a young man who was running his first marathon and was struggling, a volunteer yelled to us "stay together!" So we did. We ran the last bit together chatting the whole way. I finished the marathon around 12:15am. I changed my clothes, ate a sandwich then grabbed an old mylar blanket and a sweatshirt and set up my sleeping space alongside 20 tents. I laid down the mylar blanket, rolled the sweathshirt into a ball for a pillow and laid down on the grass to sleep under the stars. What better way to spend a summer's night?? A far cry from a "personal worst!"

10 comments:

fancy nancy said...

That's sounds awesome!!! I didn't know that was going on! I'm not too far from Wakefield!

Marlene said...

What a neat experience! I would totally do that. Congrats!!!

Mel -Tall Mom on the Run said...

Love it!! GREAT perspective Bethany!!

Amanda said...

Time is relative and while it's great to get a PR, sometimes you learn more from the experience and the people you meet along the way!

Glad that you enjoyed the race, sounds like fun!

Jenny said...

Great job, Bethany! Sounds like a fun race!

Marci said...

Good conversation... New friends... Sounds like a great race to me!

Suzy said...

It sounds like a great time was had! Sometimes that is more important than time because we remember the people we talk to and the conversations long after so many other things. Plus...I love the time because I'm *hoping* to hit 5 hrs on my first marathon in Oct.

Jill said...

Awesome!!! Sometimes a clock just doesn't even matter!

Johann said...

Yes, I like this! My type of run. Congratulations on another marathon finish! I love loop races (circuit races). There is something about the mental challenge they bring that I love. My best is a 6 day circuit race on a 1km loop. I ran 689km in 6 days. I've done some 6 day and a few 24 hour circuit races. Super! Have a great weekend!

Davie Plumbers said...

This is great.