Place: 488 Net time: 4:43:27 Guntime: 4:43:29 Pace: 10:49 Running the Providence Marathon was definitely the best thing I have ever done. “When you cross that finish line, no matter how slow or how fast, it will change your life forever.” I came in 488th place in about 4 hrs and 43 minutes, which is not bad at all, especially for my first time. With all my friends and family supporting I honestly don’t think I would of made it, even though everybody said I wouldn’t make I think that’s what motivated me to finish, thanks guys. I only trained for a month before the race so I was really unprepared. it takes about a year of training to be able to handle 26 miles but I worked hard, and when marathon day came I woke up and felt great. Plus I had a good diet going on. There were thousands of people lined up at the starting line and I managed to get into the second row in front of everyone. When I heard that gun go off I flew off the line and of course it started pouring hard right when we started. I think I did the first mile in under 7 minutes, which is bad for a marathon because your wasting valuable energy and glycogen in your legs, I should of paced myself for 8 minutes. But it was great being in the front for a while, eventually I was getting passed like nothing because of my fast start. At mile 4, people from my dorm were volunteering passing out water and Gatorade, (Leah, Kia, Sade, Marcus) I grabbed a cup from my resident director Kia quick as they were cheering me on. If it were not for the volunteers i do not think anybody could make it, they are all a big help and I and all the runners appreciate every single volunteer. The rain felt good and I think it actually helped me because my feet were burning through out the race and the puddles cooled my feet down. About mile 10 or so I met up with a guy named mark, it was also his first marathon but without him I probably would of finished way over 5 hours, or not finish at all. I was running very slowly when he caught up to me and started talking to me, he told me to stay with him and I actually forgot about the pain and started running faster for a while, he gave me this gel that restores the glycogen in my legs quick to give me a nice burst of energy for about another 3 miles, but he said not to take it until I was really dying of pain so I saved it. We had a good conversation but a few miles later he took off and got way ahead of me, I wish I seen him at the finish line to thank him again. Somewhere around mile 16 I ate the gel and ran well till about mile 20, then I hit the wall, meaning my legs could not handle the strain of running but I pushed myself. It was the worse pain I have ever felt and honestly I almost cried, it hurt that much. I made sure not to stop running though. I refilled my body with electrolytes from Gatorade almost every mile and a half. At one point during the marathon i finally saw Providence in the distance across the bay and it kept getting closer, i told myself thank god its almost over but then all of a sudden it was off in the distance behind me. The funny thing is that happened twice and it killed me. The scenery was amazing at some points and really makes you think about life. It changed me as a person forever. The one thing that pulled me threw to the finish line was knowing that everybody was waiting for me at the finish line. Sarah, Mom and her boyfriend, Sister, Chad, Nick, Carmine, BK, Tony, the girls. I knew they would be shocked to see me actually finish. And when I was at the last mile in pain and really couldn’t run anymore, I turned that corner on to Weybossett St. and heard everybody screaming my name, especially Nick and Chad there yelling was great. I got a jolt of energy and ran faster then I ever have in my life for the last couple hundred feet and passed someone going on into the finish line. The announcer said something on the microphone when I was coming in, something like “ look at this kid running in fast,” something funny. Of course after that I could barely walk at all and I still cant a day later. Ill never forget getting my medal across the finish line and wearing it proudly, 488th baby and in 4 hours and 43 minutes. I’m going to train all year for the next marathon and I set my goal for under 3 hours and 30 minutes, that’s shaving off more than an hour from this marathon, but if I train all year I know I can do it. Only 1 % of the world population finish a marathon so it feels great being that 1%. | 