Well, I finally did something I'd been talking about for a long time. I ran my first marathon. All I can say is that it is harder than I had ever imagined. I think that nowadays its so common to meet someone who has ran a marathon that it leads you to minimalize the accomplishment. I've been in some pretty miserable predicaments on some of my outdoor adventures and such, but none of them came close to the last 6 miles of the marathon. It really goes beyond the physical realm we normally associate with running activities. I totally overestimated my physical ability (blew the last month of training but decided to "wing" it anyway) and totally underestimated the importance of pacing yourself and the mental aspect of pushing your body forward when it is screaming at you to stop. That being said, my muscles are in slightly less pain than yesterday and my mind has already started to forget the feelings of death from yesterday. I can say rather assuredly that I'll run one again.
