My First Marathon in 2017: The Failed One

During my recent long run in training towards the virtual marathon, I started thinking back to what got me running marathons on a yearly basis now. So back to the first one...

Yep, that’s a look of disgust and pain as I crossed the finish line. Well, passed the intended under 4 hour goal.

I wanted to do the marathon once, just to say I had done it and never do another. Had never ran more than 10km before training for it.

I thought by telling people I’d do it in under 4 hours, I’d find away. But I never met that struggle running like I did on that day. I could write a book on the mistakes I made in my training leading up to it and on race day.

I also underestimated how big the event was. A lot of well wishes that morning and I felt embarrassed at how I did. I was afraid of the ridicule after saying I would do it under 4. But the truth is, that never came. No one ever cares on an event as much as you perceive. Some people don’t train or commit themselves to a challenge because they’re afraid to fail. Failing is where you learn the most. Saying you can’t do something because you think you will fail is the worst reason not to try! If you fail, you learn, you get better. You tried and you’re much better off than before trying. And I learned all that the hard way through this run.

But during one of my many stop and starts, I accepted that it wasn’t to be and I promised myself that I would come back the following year and do it right... I almost did...