My second marathon: I finished the race

On Sunday, October 10th, I ran my second marathon and crossed the finish line with a time of 4:22:53.

The time was two full minutes slower than what I completed the same race last year, but I am gratified that I completed the race.

I had a targeted goal of finishing the race well below the mark I crossed the line at 3:25:00. I think I bit off more than what I could chew.  I stuck with the pace group for the first 6 miles, but I gradually started to fall of that pace as I was unable to keep my heart rate below 190 BPM.  As I closely monitored my heart rate I knew that if I kept it that high for the remainder of the race I would not finish. I was able to reign in my heart rate a little bit and finished the race hovering around 160 BPM, I felt more comfortable, but my pace was 10 minutes and 30 seconds.

At the end of the day, the moral of this story is to "not bite off more than what you can chew." Yes, I finished the race, but was I ready for that kind of pace for 26.2 miles? No.

I will live to run another marathon. My goals will need to be set higher and they will need to be attainable goals. The beat goes on, work harder, and train even harder.