I’ve waited way too long to write this and I’m not sure why. It wasn’t a bad race, although there were definitely parts I’d like to forget. I think it took much more out of me than I expected, and I never felt fully recovered for a good 2 months and by then I figured, “What’s the point?” But, I would like to record the experience I had at my first marathon, even if it was 5 months ago. Perhaps it will encourage someone else as they prepare for their first.
I had decided to run Richmond SunTrust Marathon as my first almost a year ahead of time. It wasn’t because Richmond is that special, but rather because the date was. The race would be run on November 14, which was my brother’s birthday and would have been his 40th if he hadn’t passed in 2003. I went all out and made my family custom tees that matched my custom race shirt.
Race shirt front:
Back:
We had a bit of a celebration the night before in Williamsburg (where we were staying) and I gave them all their shirts and then we shared stories and memories about Stephen and talked about how excited he’d have been if he were with us. It was emotional for sure, but encouraging. I thought a lot about those stories during the race the next day.
