Running my first marathon with my husband was an amazing experience, it was harder than I imagined but also one of the most perfect days of my life. I spent the first two thirds of the race feeling so grateful to be running a marathon. I was supposed to run a marathon on my 30th birthday back in September but was sidelined by an injury and was devastated so just getting to the start line was a victory for me this time around. To be honest I am disappointed in my time but I am trying to look on the bright side that it is a starting point that I can try to improve on in the future.

The day before was a little frantic and left us running around like chickens with our heads cut off, lesson learned there is that we need to plan the day before big races. I did find time for some proper fueling:

Thanks Cory for taking such a flattering picture of me, maybe you shouldn’t take pictures while driving.

The race is held in Fort Collins about an hour north of Denver and since we had to pick up our race packets the day before we spent the night at my brother’s house. The expo was pretty small but I was excited to get my number and shirt.

After laying out all my gear, I went to bed early in anticipation of our 3:30 am wake up call. It was cold and dark but at least we had luxury tour buses.

Two years ago my brother ran this race and he had to ride up the canyon in a school bus. It was colder than I thought it would be but we were happy that there wouldn’t be a large temperature swing between the start and finish.

We arrived at the start when it was still dark and cold, there were plenty of bathrooms but it would have been a good idea for us to have something to sit on. It was too cold to sit on the ground so we stood around getting stiff.

Quickly we were on our way running out of the canyon following the Poudre River.

For over the first half of the run I was so happy and grateful to be running and wasn’t wishing the miles away.

About mile twenty my IT bands started to really hurt and I knew I just needed to put my head down and tough out the last six miles.

I was so happy to turn onto the road that took us into downtown and to the finish

Official time was 4:59:13, lots of room for improvement but I did it and I am so grateful that my legs took me the full distance.

I am also very grateful to Cory who was there with me every step of the way. He could have an this race much faster but stuck with me and was my personal photographer. Thanks babe!