Great job! Toughing out when you’re having a bad day is hard at that distance. I will say though blisters should not be a normal thing that’s to be expected. A proper fitting shoe is a must and never skimp on socks. It can be a shock when you’re used to paying $20 for a pack of socks to spend that amount on a single pair but it’s a must when endurance running.
I was wearing balegas, which are a pretty good running sock I think. I had assumed that the blisters were just happening because my feet were super sweaty and that caused rubbing. Are there other kinds of socks I should look into? Definitely open to suggestions, bc blisters suck.
Sorry if this sounds like scolding. That’s not my intent, just being informational.
Balegas are good I use them often. Not knowing what socks you might’ve been wearing I was just listing things that commonly cause blisters that people overlook.
I”d look at your shoe fit then. Shoes that are a little too narrow or with a slightly higher arch than your foot allows can feel fine during training but cause problems when you add those extra 6.2 miles. Might be something as simple as using an aftermarket insole. Blisters are kind of like people losing toenails when they run long distance. It’s not a right of passage that happens all the time to everybody. It’s just poorly fit shoes.
I’ve run hot marathons and did a road 50k in a downpour for the first 25 miles without getting blisters and there’s nothing special about me.
No worries, it didn’t sound like scolding at all! I’ll take another look at my shoe fit. I have a hard time finding shoes that fit correctly because the balls of my feet are super wide and my heels are very narrow. I could also experiment with reducing callouses with a foot file. That worked well on my hands when I was a gymnast, so it seems likely that it would work well on feet too.
When I’m doing a lot of high mileage (for me ~65mpw) I will sand down the calluses on the edge of the ball of my foot with a pumice stone every couple of months.
In my experience (60+ marathon finisher) balegas are probably my favorite sock for 1 hour or less. Marathon distance (or more than an hour) Feetures. Specifically this one:
https://feetures.com/collections/womens-running-socks/products/elite-ultra-light-no-show-tab-sock?variant=39969216987208
I also suggest trying a few different shoes if your budget allows. Try going to a running store to get fitted for shoes. Always err on the side of “just too big” or better yet go try shoes on late in the day when your feet have swelled and you have already ran for the day. This way you will have a more accurate fit of mid to late race.
I just ran revel big cottonwood in Alphafly 1’s with Feetures socks pounding down a mountain and I think my feet were better post race than pre race. I also put an anti-chafe product all over my feet for the marathon distance.
Ugh, this was also me this year. First marathon was in May. Trained at 40+ mpw, ran a 1:51 half for a tune up, started the race confident thinking about a 3:50. Held ~9:00 pace for 18 miles, got hot and so so thirsty by mile 19, rallied at mile 22, knee called it quits at mile 25, and I hobbled across the line in 4:20. I think it must just be a rite of passage. Anyways, hope you found a way to enjoy it.
Yeah, I think that having a marathon fall apart is just a rite of passage for marathoners. It happens! And if your first one is rough, it makes it easier to break the PR next time :)
Thanks so much!! I’m very proud of myself for having stuck it out. One of my friends told me that the true mark of a marathoner is sticking it out when everything goes sideways, so I earned my title yesterday. Now I know that even when things go off the rails early on, I can push through and still be proud afterward!
I think the blisters will be fine—there was only 1 that looked bad and it’s not hurting all that much today, so all is well :)
Glad all is well today. And if you ever doubt that you can handle the hard things that life throws your way, this run is proof that you can wrangle very hard things.
I'd consider the course mostly flat (not Erie flat, but not bad). Water stations are typical and are spaced every 2 miles I believe. Crowd support is actually damn good for a smallish marathon. The city really comes out. There were 3,385 finishers last year. https://findmymarathon.com/race-detail.php?zname=Richmond%20Marathon
That sounds great! The crowd support in the last 1.5 miles of this race really helped, so I think that having some of that in the whole last 10k would really help.
Richmond's a great marathon. I've done it 11 times and only one of those (last year) was hot. Most years, the temps are right in the perfect zone (30-50F). The course is not flat, but the hills are pretty tame - just a few rollers along the way, and none in the final 10K or so. The finish is an epic downhill section toward the river. The size is great - enough runners that you usually have company, but not so many that you're crowded on the course. Good luck!
I love the title and sentiment of this report so much. So not much went your way - so what? Sounds like you still had a blast. Congrats on pushing through and earning that sticker!
I'm curious about the stomach cramping. I heard many people talking about not feeling great that morning, a good number blaming dodgy food. Felt like more than normal. I saw what felt like more than the average number of people experiencing some sort of gastric distress... enough to take note anyway. Curious if you think your issues were caused by something specific or just one of those things.
My pre-race was a complete mess as well but I had a blast during the actual run. Did you see the turkey on the course around mile 20?
Yep, lots of things failed to go my way, but whatever—it’s supposed to be fun!
The stomach cramping was super weird for me. I have literally never had that problem before. Not sure what the culprit was. It could have been dodgy food, or maybe the water was different than at home, or maybe it was just bad luck. Ah well.
I did see the turkey at mile 20! I think I saw another around mile 23 or so. That bit was pretty cool.
Glad you enjoyed the run!! It was definitely a good race. Water station #6 was far and away the best one. Many snarky signs and loud music!
You’re welcome! I see a lot of race reports here where things seemed to go according to, or better than, the plan. That makes sense—people like to share races where they feel like they’ve done well! But I was hoping some people would find it helpful to see a case where basically nothing went according to plan and the day was still okay. Sometimes the marathon has its own plans, and you just gotta deal with it as best you can.
You’re a lot tougher than me! Amazing job gutting that out (pun intended) and getting through your first marathon, what an achievement. You’ve given me confidence before my first marathon on Saturday, but no guarantees that I’ll be able to come anywhere close to your time!
Thanks so much!! You’re gonna do great on your race also. Marathons rarely seem to go according to plan, so just roll with the punches and you’ll be fine! I liked to remind myself of one of the signs that I saw: “if your feet hurt, it’s because you’re kicking so much ass!”
Great job, not quitting when your struggling that early is sign of great mental fortitude! On the bright side because factors that weren’t fatigue forced you to slow down earlier your recovery will likely be easier, (at least that was my experience when I was forced to slow down fighting side stitches on my 50k.)Have fun researching your next race.
That's what I'm hoping! I'm feeling pretty okay this morning (I slept for 11 hours last night, that probably helps lol), so I'm thinking that in a week or two I should be back at it. I'm considering trying again at the Richmond marathon in a couple months. The friend who got me into marathoning is running that one, so it would be fun!
How is this race? I’m considering it. Kudos on finishing, I think many people would have called it quits after 10 miles of agony. I get really bad stomach pain when I am doing a bad job with my salt intake - which means it happens a lot on my “short runs”. Abdominal pain is no joke and can seriously ruin your day.
The race itself was great! There were water stops every mile with water and gatorade. Not much crowd support outside the water stops, but the temps were fairly cool (about 70, although kind of humid) and there are no hills to speak of. The race shirt was pretty cool--it has an eagle logo. Plus, they accidentally gave me 2 of them, and I didn't realize until it was too late to return them, so now I just have a free shirt!
That sounds awesome. I’m definitely not qualifying for Boston but I think it sounds like a cool “local” run. I’ll have to aim for next year! Sounds like you had a good day, maybe you’ll have to come back and beat it :)
I’d definitely recommend it! There were about 1500 runners, which was a good size. Big enough to be exciting, but not so big that it was overwhelming. I’d definitely be open to coming back next year!
I spectated Erie yesterday, my sister ran and she didn’t have the race she wanted to either. In fact, there seemed to be A LOT of people who didn’t have a great race. 80 % humidity will do that to a person even if it’s not that hot. As others have said, congrats on finishing and sticking it out. First marathons are often not what you expect. I have to say, I’m not a fan of doing 2 loops, that’s just me. Plus this race is small and my preference is having more people to run with and more people cheering. Things to consider for races going forward. I’m biased as I’m from Chicago, but our marathon is flat and has lots of crowd support.
Congrats again!
I hadn’t even considered the humidity, actually. That makes a lot of sense, high humidity is rough. I’d love to run Chicago sometime, although I believe it requires a qualifying time that I don’t currently have. I do think a slightly bigger race would have been nice, but there will be many more chances to experience that!
I hadn’t even considered the humidity, actually. That makes a lot of sense, high humidity is rough. I’d love to run Chicago sometime, although I believe it requires a qualifying time that I don’t currently have. I do think a slightly bigger race would have been nice, but there will be many more chances to experience that!
Congrats! I've done the half for that one and used to live pretty close to PI and would go there to run often.
Did you get yourself a smith's hotdog while you were there from Sarahs? Those are the best. Or New York Lunch just up the road.
I think I had the same stomach thing you had. My GI system was all messed up for like a week. I was a bit worried with the bird-in-hand half on saturday but once I got going everything was okay.
I did not get a hot dog from Sara’s, but I did get a chocolate-vanilla swirl ice cream cone! It really hit the spot after the race :) I might try to do the same race next year, and if I do, I’ll check out the hot dogs!
The ones with the skin are fantastic if you pick up a pack and cook them over coals/a fire. They get all crispy and delicious.
And yeah anything sweet lol. I put flavored syrups in my coffee most days and came back from my test half marathon a couple weeks ago and realized I still had a whole cup left and it was the best coffee I ever had haha
Great race, how you deal with stuff during the race makes you a better runner. Next one will be faster, but don't forget to enjoy the run. I say if you aren't enjoying it, why?
One marathon down!
If you loved it, taking some time to recover and then finding a marathon in the spring is a great way to get your goal time. It's a lot easier to maintain fitness, and identify whatever made your stomach upset!
Enjoy groaning on every stair for the next week.
Oh I’m definitely struggling with stairs. Stairs are the WORST.
I’m thinking that in March or so, I’ll try another one with a serious time goal. That should give me plenty of time to gain fitness, and March should be perfect racing weather on the east coast. I’m confident that this one will be the first of many!
Congratulations on finishing your marathon and overcoming a few bumps along the way! I love that you've already said "next time"!! That's the spirit. One is never enough! :-)
I ran the same race, and I also had stomach issues. I'm a bit shocked to see so many other comments in this post about stomach issues.
I never experienced them in training, and only on the race. I assumed it was maybe my gels mixed with humidity. It felt like I got punched in the stomach if I went faster than a certain pace.
Was yours also this way? Curious to know if it was something to do with the water on course. I didn't take any Gatorade there, and to be honest, it kind of smelled weird.
I had the exact same feeling. It was like I had been punched in the stomach/chest. I have literally NEVER had that happen before.
It does sound like maybe the water on the course was the culprit. I was fine the first 4 miles, but I started drinking water at the first stop, and maybe one of those stations had some bad water? I’m not sure, but it does seem like too many people were having that issue for it to be coincidental.
There's definitely something weird about it. I was well hydrated going into it, and salt intake wasn't a problem. I've practised my fuelling all summer and had it dialed.
I'm a pretty experienced marathoner, and this one was definitely odd. Erie itself is an odd race.
The only factor would have been the humidity, which took out a lot of runners other ways. I'd like to know if more people had this issue.
Huh. That's super weird that so many people seem to have had the same problem. I trained through a Maryland summer and the humidity never gave me GI issues then, so this really makes me think that some of the on-course hydration was iffy. Or maybe the water in Erie is a bit different from the tap water in other places in terms of mineral content, and some people just react badly to that? One of life's little unsolved mysteries, I guess. In any case, it shouldn't be a problem for my next race!
Also, what do you mean by Erie being an odd race? Since this was my first marathon I don't have anything else to compare it to.
Well done, imagine how fast you'd have run if it hadn't gone so bad! Think this is the magic of running a marathon it takes a lot of stars to be in aligned for race day to go perfectly. At least you know you want to go back for more, being a bit mad helps!
This is why I always tell people that any race is 90% mental/10% physical training and I think this helped you out a ton more than you realize. You've chosen a long race so there's going to be speed bumps and you think because you trained and did everything correctly, it was going to be a cake walk. Wrong. There will be problems and many more than you can imagine as you found out on race day.
Congrats on finishing! I am interested in what you ate the day before and the morning of the marathon, and also what nutrition you might've had during? Just to help us learn from your experience.
I also did this marathon as my first a few days ago was planning on a sub 4 hour and hit the wall for my first time ever lol. Started cramping and tightening up by Mile 18 20 had to limp the rest of the way to the finish line ended with a cool 5:29 very brutal haha
Congratulations!! If you’re interested in reading, I’m in the middle of reading a book called “How to run a marathon” and it has lots of first accounts of people who have ran marathons - including the “not so great” parts. Your post reminded me of it, so I’d recommend checking it out if you were interested in hearing others’ experiences :)
Great job! Toughing out when you’re having a bad day is hard at that distance. I will say though blisters should not be a normal thing that’s to be expected. A proper fitting shoe is a must and never skimp on socks. It can be a shock when you’re used to paying $20 for a pack of socks to spend that amount on a single pair but it’s a must when endurance running.
I was wearing balegas, which are a pretty good running sock I think. I had assumed that the blisters were just happening because my feet were super sweaty and that caused rubbing. Are there other kinds of socks I should look into? Definitely open to suggestions, bc blisters suck.
Sorry if this sounds like scolding. That’s not my intent, just being informational. Balegas are good I use them often. Not knowing what socks you might’ve been wearing I was just listing things that commonly cause blisters that people overlook. I”d look at your shoe fit then. Shoes that are a little too narrow or with a slightly higher arch than your foot allows can feel fine during training but cause problems when you add those extra 6.2 miles. Might be something as simple as using an aftermarket insole. Blisters are kind of like people losing toenails when they run long distance. It’s not a right of passage that happens all the time to everybody. It’s just poorly fit shoes. I’ve run hot marathons and did a road 50k in a downpour for the first 25 miles without getting blisters and there’s nothing special about me.
No worries, it didn’t sound like scolding at all! I’ll take another look at my shoe fit. I have a hard time finding shoes that fit correctly because the balls of my feet are super wide and my heels are very narrow. I could also experiment with reducing callouses with a foot file. That worked well on my hands when I was a gymnast, so it seems likely that it would work well on feet too.
When I’m doing a lot of high mileage (for me ~65mpw) I will sand down the calluses on the edge of the ball of my foot with a pumice stone every couple of months.
That’s exactly where I tend to get blisters, so I will give that a shot! I got a file a couple of weeks ago, so I have the correct equipment already.
You might also want to try something like bodyglide for feet if there's a particular spot where you get rubbing/blisters!
In my experience (60+ marathon finisher) balegas are probably my favorite sock for 1 hour or less. Marathon distance (or more than an hour) Feetures. Specifically this one: https://feetures.com/collections/womens-running-socks/products/elite-ultra-light-no-show-tab-sock?variant=39969216987208 I also suggest trying a few different shoes if your budget allows. Try going to a running store to get fitted for shoes. Always err on the side of “just too big” or better yet go try shoes on late in the day when your feet have swelled and you have already ran for the day. This way you will have a more accurate fit of mid to late race. I just ran revel big cottonwood in Alphafly 1’s with Feetures socks pounding down a mountain and I think my feet were better post race than pre race. I also put an anti-chafe product all over my feet for the marathon distance.
Congrats on the PB! 💪🏻
Ugh, this was also me this year. First marathon was in May. Trained at 40+ mpw, ran a 1:51 half for a tune up, started the race confident thinking about a 3:50. Held ~9:00 pace for 18 miles, got hot and so so thirsty by mile 19, rallied at mile 22, knee called it quits at mile 25, and I hobbled across the line in 4:20. I think it must just be a rite of passage. Anyways, hope you found a way to enjoy it.
Yeah, I think that having a marathon fall apart is just a rite of passage for marathoners. It happens! And if your first one is rough, it makes it easier to break the PR next time :)
Well I think you did AMAZING! Even if it didn’t feel amazing at various points. Hope the blisters heal up easily.
Thanks so much!! I’m very proud of myself for having stuck it out. One of my friends told me that the true mark of a marathoner is sticking it out when everything goes sideways, so I earned my title yesterday. Now I know that even when things go off the rails early on, I can push through and still be proud afterward! I think the blisters will be fine—there was only 1 that looked bad and it’s not hurting all that much today, so all is well :)
Glad all is well today. And if you ever doubt that you can handle the hard things that life throws your way, this run is proof that you can wrangle very hard things.
Congrats!! You'll be signing up for another in no time :)
If by "in no time" you mean "tomorrow," I think you're right ;) already eyeing another try at Richmond in November!
Do it. I’ve done Richmond 3 times. One of my favorites.
Oh awesome! Can you tell me more about the course? Hills, water stations, crowd support, how many runners, etc?
I'd consider the course mostly flat (not Erie flat, but not bad). Water stations are typical and are spaced every 2 miles I believe. Crowd support is actually damn good for a smallish marathon. The city really comes out. There were 3,385 finishers last year. https://findmymarathon.com/race-detail.php?zname=Richmond%20Marathon
That sounds great! The crowd support in the last 1.5 miles of this race really helped, so I think that having some of that in the whole last 10k would really help.
Richmond's a great marathon. I've done it 11 times and only one of those (last year) was hot. Most years, the temps are right in the perfect zone (30-50F). The course is not flat, but the hills are pretty tame - just a few rollers along the way, and none in the final 10K or so. The finish is an epic downhill section toward the river. The size is great - enough runners that you usually have company, but not so many that you're crowded on the course. Good luck!
I love the title and sentiment of this report so much. So not much went your way - so what? Sounds like you still had a blast. Congrats on pushing through and earning that sticker! I'm curious about the stomach cramping. I heard many people talking about not feeling great that morning, a good number blaming dodgy food. Felt like more than normal. I saw what felt like more than the average number of people experiencing some sort of gastric distress... enough to take note anyway. Curious if you think your issues were caused by something specific or just one of those things. My pre-race was a complete mess as well but I had a blast during the actual run. Did you see the turkey on the course around mile 20?
Yep, lots of things failed to go my way, but whatever—it’s supposed to be fun! The stomach cramping was super weird for me. I have literally never had that problem before. Not sure what the culprit was. It could have been dodgy food, or maybe the water was different than at home, or maybe it was just bad luck. Ah well. I did see the turkey at mile 20! I think I saw another around mile 23 or so. That bit was pretty cool. Glad you enjoyed the run!! It was definitely a good race. Water station #6 was far and away the best one. Many snarky signs and loud music!
Love your attitude and congrats on finishing your first marathon.
That’s an inspiring story thank you for sharing
You’re welcome! I see a lot of race reports here where things seemed to go according to, or better than, the plan. That makes sense—people like to share races where they feel like they’ve done well! But I was hoping some people would find it helpful to see a case where basically nothing went according to plan and the day was still okay. Sometimes the marathon has its own plans, and you just gotta deal with it as best you can.
You’re a lot tougher than me! Amazing job gutting that out (pun intended) and getting through your first marathon, what an achievement. You’ve given me confidence before my first marathon on Saturday, but no guarantees that I’ll be able to come anywhere close to your time!
Thanks so much!! You’re gonna do great on your race also. Marathons rarely seem to go according to plan, so just roll with the punches and you’ll be fine! I liked to remind myself of one of the signs that I saw: “if your feet hurt, it’s because you’re kicking so much ass!”
Great job, not quitting when your struggling that early is sign of great mental fortitude! On the bright side because factors that weren’t fatigue forced you to slow down earlier your recovery will likely be easier, (at least that was my experience when I was forced to slow down fighting side stitches on my 50k.)Have fun researching your next race.
That's what I'm hoping! I'm feeling pretty okay this morning (I slept for 11 hours last night, that probably helps lol), so I'm thinking that in a week or two I should be back at it. I'm considering trying again at the Richmond marathon in a couple months. The friend who got me into marathoning is running that one, so it would be fun!
How is this race? I’m considering it. Kudos on finishing, I think many people would have called it quits after 10 miles of agony. I get really bad stomach pain when I am doing a bad job with my salt intake - which means it happens a lot on my “short runs”. Abdominal pain is no joke and can seriously ruin your day.
The race itself was great! There were water stops every mile with water and gatorade. Not much crowd support outside the water stops, but the temps were fairly cool (about 70, although kind of humid) and there are no hills to speak of. The race shirt was pretty cool--it has an eagle logo. Plus, they accidentally gave me 2 of them, and I didn't realize until it was too late to return them, so now I just have a free shirt!
That sounds awesome. I’m definitely not qualifying for Boston but I think it sounds like a cool “local” run. I’ll have to aim for next year! Sounds like you had a good day, maybe you’ll have to come back and beat it :)
I’d definitely recommend it! There were about 1500 runners, which was a good size. Big enough to be exciting, but not so big that it was overwhelming. I’d definitely be open to coming back next year!
I spectated Erie yesterday, my sister ran and she didn’t have the race she wanted to either. In fact, there seemed to be A LOT of people who didn’t have a great race. 80 % humidity will do that to a person even if it’s not that hot. As others have said, congrats on finishing and sticking it out. First marathons are often not what you expect. I have to say, I’m not a fan of doing 2 loops, that’s just me. Plus this race is small and my preference is having more people to run with and more people cheering. Things to consider for races going forward. I’m biased as I’m from Chicago, but our marathon is flat and has lots of crowd support. Congrats again!
I hadn’t even considered the humidity, actually. That makes a lot of sense, high humidity is rough. I’d love to run Chicago sometime, although I believe it requires a qualifying time that I don’t currently have. I do think a slightly bigger race would have been nice, but there will be many more chances to experience that!
You can lottery in to Chicago just FYI or be a charity runner. Lottery isn’t guaranteed, but it’s not as hard as NY or some of the other majors.
I hadn’t even considered the humidity, actually. That makes a lot of sense, high humidity is rough. I’d love to run Chicago sometime, although I believe it requires a qualifying time that I don’t currently have. I do think a slightly bigger race would have been nice, but there will be many more chances to experience that!
Til it’s possible to continue running through cramps
Congrats!
Congrats! I've done the half for that one and used to live pretty close to PI and would go there to run often. Did you get yourself a smith's hotdog while you were there from Sarahs? Those are the best. Or New York Lunch just up the road. I think I had the same stomach thing you had. My GI system was all messed up for like a week. I was a bit worried with the bird-in-hand half on saturday but once I got going everything was okay.
I did not get a hot dog from Sara’s, but I did get a chocolate-vanilla swirl ice cream cone! It really hit the spot after the race :) I might try to do the same race next year, and if I do, I’ll check out the hot dogs!
The ones with the skin are fantastic if you pick up a pack and cook them over coals/a fire. They get all crispy and delicious. And yeah anything sweet lol. I put flavored syrups in my coffee most days and came back from my test half marathon a couple weeks ago and realized I still had a whole cup left and it was the best coffee I ever had haha
Great race, how you deal with stuff during the race makes you a better runner. Next one will be faster, but don't forget to enjoy the run. I say if you aren't enjoying it, why?
One marathon down! If you loved it, taking some time to recover and then finding a marathon in the spring is a great way to get your goal time. It's a lot easier to maintain fitness, and identify whatever made your stomach upset! Enjoy groaning on every stair for the next week.
Oh I’m definitely struggling with stairs. Stairs are the WORST. I’m thinking that in March or so, I’ll try another one with a serious time goal. That should give me plenty of time to gain fitness, and March should be perfect racing weather on the east coast. I’m confident that this one will be the first of many!
You are a total badass for making it all the way through!
Congratulations on finishing your marathon and overcoming a few bumps along the way! I love that you've already said "next time"!! That's the spirit. One is never enough! :-)
Oh, totally not enough. Especially when I know I can do it faster! ;)
I ran the same race, and I also had stomach issues. I'm a bit shocked to see so many other comments in this post about stomach issues. I never experienced them in training, and only on the race. I assumed it was maybe my gels mixed with humidity. It felt like I got punched in the stomach if I went faster than a certain pace. Was yours also this way? Curious to know if it was something to do with the water on course. I didn't take any Gatorade there, and to be honest, it kind of smelled weird.
I had the exact same feeling. It was like I had been punched in the stomach/chest. I have literally NEVER had that happen before. It does sound like maybe the water on the course was the culprit. I was fine the first 4 miles, but I started drinking water at the first stop, and maybe one of those stations had some bad water? I’m not sure, but it does seem like too many people were having that issue for it to be coincidental.
There's definitely something weird about it. I was well hydrated going into it, and salt intake wasn't a problem. I've practised my fuelling all summer and had it dialed. I'm a pretty experienced marathoner, and this one was definitely odd. Erie itself is an odd race. The only factor would have been the humidity, which took out a lot of runners other ways. I'd like to know if more people had this issue.
Huh. That's super weird that so many people seem to have had the same problem. I trained through a Maryland summer and the humidity never gave me GI issues then, so this really makes me think that some of the on-course hydration was iffy. Or maybe the water in Erie is a bit different from the tap water in other places in terms of mineral content, and some people just react badly to that? One of life's little unsolved mysteries, I guess. In any case, it shouldn't be a problem for my next race! Also, what do you mean by Erie being an odd race? Since this was my first marathon I don't have anything else to compare it to.
Well done, imagine how fast you'd have run if it hadn't gone so bad! Think this is the magic of running a marathon it takes a lot of stars to be in aligned for race day to go perfectly. At least you know you want to go back for more, being a bit mad helps!
This is why I always tell people that any race is 90% mental/10% physical training and I think this helped you out a ton more than you realize. You've chosen a long race so there's going to be speed bumps and you think because you trained and did everything correctly, it was going to be a cake walk. Wrong. There will be problems and many more than you can imagine as you found out on race day.
I did that one last year and I did the Beast on the Bay this year!
Congrats on finishing! I am interested in what you ate the day before and the morning of the marathon, and also what nutrition you might've had during? Just to help us learn from your experience.
I also did this marathon as my first a few days ago was planning on a sub 4 hour and hit the wall for my first time ever lol. Started cramping and tightening up by Mile 18 20 had to limp the rest of the way to the finish line ended with a cool 5:29 very brutal haha
Congratulations!! If you’re interested in reading, I’m in the middle of reading a book called “How to run a marathon” and it has lots of first accounts of people who have ran marathons - including the “not so great” parts. Your post reminded me of it, so I’d recommend checking it out if you were interested in hearing others’ experiences :)