So I ran the Wineglass Marathon this morning and it was a hell of an experience. The day turned out beautiful, high 50's/low 60's and some sun. The course is almost completely downhill which was great, but very rural so not a ton of crowd support. I ran alone, but made some friends along the way.
The first 14 miles were not bad at all, but miles 15-19 were really tough for me mentally. I think I walked all of mile 18. I just kept thinking of how far I had to go. Then I decided at mile 19 to do 3-1 intervals and tried to stop focusing on how long I had to go. This helped immensely. Even better, one of my close friends surprised me at mile 21. I had no idea she was coming, and the marathon was over 2 hrs from where we live so this was pretty damn awesome and gave me a huge boost. She ran with me until mile 25 and then it was pretty smooth sailing!
I finished just under 6 hours which I'm very very happy with. I was definitely expecting to be over 6 hours
I know I haven't been posting here long but I appreciate everyone's support and advice!!
Congratulations, marathoner! So awesome if your friends to show up to help push you through to the finish. Great job powering through! Now it's time to enjoy your recovery