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Monday, October 12, 2009

4:34:05

Well, folks . . . I learned something very valuable this weekend: Sometimes you have to give yourself a little bit of credit. I've always held that I am NOT a mentally tough runner. Sure, I'm REALLY tough when it comes to other activities and areas of my life; but running? Nope. I figured maybe I just wasn't cut out for running marathons. Well, yesterday I went out and I proved myself wrong. Despite my training interruptions; despite my lack of a proper taper; despite the upheaval of my life in recent months; despite all the other excuses I gave myself for not succeeding . . . I went out there and I gave it everything I had in me.

And this time, it was finally good enough. I don't know what it was--maybe the fact that I was in my hometown; maybe it was my lucky earrings; maybe it was the fact that I had a first-time marathoner depending on me--I can't tell you with certainty; but what I CAN tell you is that when sh*t got tough, I hung in there. It hurt like HELL, but I didn't give up. In fact, at one point my mantra was "Just don't quit." And sure enough, I didn't quit. I kept on running until I crossed that finish line. 4:34:05. For those of you keeping track at home, that's a PR by nearly 8 minutes. But most importantly? I took no walk-breaks (with the exception of aid stations--I'm just NOT coordinated enough to drink while running). I was kind of starting to doubt that it was possible for me to complete a marathon without taking any unscheduled walk-breaks. In fact, I may or may not have voiced that very sentiment to my parents and Wilson at dinner on Saturday night. But I did it. And I cannot explain to you how proud of myself I am for that. I'm tearing up right now just thinking about it.

I promise to post a race report at some point this week . . . but for now, I just want to thank all of you. Each and every one of you was on my mind during the race yesterday. I seriously love you guys so much--I'm not sure where I'd be without you. I wanted to make you all proud out there. But most importantly, I really wanted to pay you all back for all of the times you have encouraged me to keep going. And I figured there was no better way of doing so than by . . . well, keeping on going, of course! So thank you to all of you. And also? There's a pretty amazing boyfriend of mine who deserves all of the credit in the world for getting me through the last few miles. I couldn't have done it without him. I actually don't think I could have accomplished half of what I have--in both running and life--without his support. I am truly grateful to have such a kick-ass sidekick :) And finally, I have to thank my parents for their continued support of my crazy little "hobby" . . . and or course, the carbo-loading dinners and post-race beers too :)

On that note, it is time for me to wrap up my little acceptance speech and hit the sack. It's back to school for me tomorrow. But seriously. I really do love you guys! You rock my world in so many ways, I can't even count them all :)

14 comments:

Marathonman101108 said...

As you probably already know, I "stalked" you and when I saw your finishing time, I was doing fistpumps and yelling. Or was that when I was watching the Giants game?! Anyhow, it appears that things do happen for a reason, huh? You quit your shi*ty job, packed up and went to Fl. to get a degree in something that really interests you, and now are kicking ass in college and in running. I think the mental part of being strong with your life altering decisions carried over to being strong running the marathon. Great that your boyfriend is a big part of your success, as well as your family. A PR by over 8 minutes is definitely something to be proud of. Congrats, and a BIG long distance hug. I can't wait to read your race report. Love ya', girl!

Jen Feeny said...

Still so stoked for you girl! Congrats on the PR!! What an amazing run huh? It sounds like everyone I knew running had an amazing day...

Lindsay said...

dude congrats!! that's an excellent pr and no walking! definitely a marathon achievement. my goal in my 2nd marathon was "no walking" and i only pr'd by like 1 minute, lol. so, excellent job!

Marlene said...

DUDE! Congratulations! I'm so proud of you!!!

MissAllycat said...

Congratulations on an amazing PR!! You kick ass. YAY!!

Paige said...

BAM! That's how it's done! You totally kick butt, and I'm so proud of you :)

It was a PR kind of weekend, for sure; I think it was in the air! When I crossed the finish line at my race this weekend, I told the RD I just PRd and that I "must have put on my running legs today!"

Yeehaw, great job IC!

Rachel said...

GREAT JOB!!! I'm so happy for you! I looked up your time yesterday and was so excited to see that you did so well!

DelDean said...

The next time you doubt yourself about anything <\i> - just remember this race. Your 'good enough' is pretty damn great!

Congrats on the big PR !!

X-Country2 said...

That's awesome! You should be crazy proud of yourself. Can't wait to read the report.

Nitmos said...

Congratulations! These are the best races...when you find out a little bit about yourself in a good way.

Anonymous said...

Ooh CONGRATS!!!! Wow, 8 min PR?!! I'm so happy for you - marathon redemption at it's finest! :) Can't wait to hear about the whole thing!

The Laminator said...

Okay, I'm a little late...but congrats, congrats, congrats on a new marathon PR!

I'm so glad you ran a great race because I got a sense you were starting to doubt yourself a bit as a good runner over the past six months or so. Very happy that you toughed it out and showed yourself how great you can be when push comes to shove and you didn't give in.

Wow, an 8 minute PR despite all the chaos and upheaval in your life. Imagine what you can do if you ACTUALLY trained for it. Craziness. Great job, Irish. Very proud of you.

Being Robinson said...

YAYAY! whoo-hoo. you are awesome. i'm reading your blog backward since i haven't been in bloggy land much lately. but that is awesome, it was a perfect day for a race, and you rocked it. i also hope you LOVED aid station 10.5, the sea of blueness that it was! :) congrats lady, you did an awesome job. i hope you had some beef!!

sRod said...

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! Very, very many congratulations to you! You've made us all proud!