My first marathon
By Amber Anthony

My first marathon... why? Being a sprint gal for most of my life, the idea of 26.2 never quite showed up on the map. Doing my first half marathon last year was a big step, very exciting, and I was happy enough with that distance. Heck, I ended up doing my 2nd on a whim while on vacation in San Francisco only 6 months later.

This year, though, there I was, signed up for the Motorola Marathon in February. More out of necessity than desire, I was there, ready to meet the challenge head on and give it what I could. My training was truly for a strong 13.1, so I knew I had to pull the other 13.1 out of the sky. But would it be any fun ???

Amazingly, it was! And full of wonderful memories....

• At the starting line, getting cold cocked by my running partner's elbow as we hopped the fence trying to find a spot by our pace group (I knew she didn't have as much fence-hopping experience as I had, and I was right!).
• At mile 6 realizing that both of us had dropped our Clif Shots and were left with only 1 between us for the entire run.
• At mile 11 laughing with the spectators and begging for a sip of their Bloody Mary's.
• At mile 12 as I hit up a cyclist support worker for an extra Clif Shot and he graciously proffered one of his Hammer Gel bottles (which I held onto as a lifeline the entire race, afraid to try something new on race day but afraid to be without any options).
• At mile 13.1 feeling great as I passed the half-way mark and ran down beautiful Congress Avenue but not sure I was quite ready for another half.
• At mile 15 thanking God for the wonderful crowd offering orange juice and bananas to the racers (what a life saver!).
• At mile 16 realizing how long we'd been at it but not allowing myself to calculate exactly how much longer was left.
• At mile 20 cheering that there was "just a 10k" left.
• At mile 23.5 dragging my exhausted body up an incline and loosing my form... thereby pulling my IT band in the process. I then watched the 4:45 pace group pass me by and let go of my visions of 4:30 and prayed for 5:00 as I limped the next 3 miles home.
  

But I think the best laugh I had the entire day was watching the spectators pass me by at breakneck speed as I limped the endless block to the shuttle, then proceeded to fall asleep on the 20 min ride to the car.

So now it's done, I'm alive and laughing, and I showed up to swim with my Masters group the next day. I even have two more marathons on the calendar for 2005 and am looking up just what Boston will take. Never say never!