Running the Richmond Marathon - November 10, 2012

2012 has been an extraordinary year for me. I turned 50 in January and trained for my first half marathon at Shamrock in March. Actually, all of this started in 2011 when I took up running again after about an 18 year hiatus. It was part of my effort to drop most of the extra weight I had accumulated and to make some effort to get back into reasonable shape. In November, 2011, I ran the Wounded Warrior 5K in Norfolk and finished in just over 31 minutes. It was my first race since running the Elizabeth River Run back in the early 1990's and by the end of the race, I was sucking wind. The important thing, though, was that I finished it. I remember standing at start line watching the half marathon runners start their race and thinking that I could never run a half marathon.

After that, I was hooked. For the first time in a long time, running felt good and was helping me achieve my weight loss goals. In December, I joined the Cornerstone Striders, a Suffolk running club, and began to participate in group runs. While I do run solo, I have found that running is much more enjoyable as a group activity. With the advice and encouragement of friends in Cornerstone, I began to set and achieve longer distances. By May, I had run two half marathons and decided that I would run a full marathon. I finally decided that race would be Richmond, because it is my hometown and has the reputation of being that nation's friendliest marathon.

This past Saturday, I accomplished that goal, finishing the Richmond Marathon in 4:35:51. We had a beautiful day and the race was mostly enjoyable, with the exception of some cramping between Miles 24 and 25, which I was able to walk off. I ran much of the race with my training buddies, David Pace and Ted Bennett, but we split up about Mile 19. The race finish was wonderful with a downhill sprint to Brown's Island. As Dick Beardsley observed in the documentary "The Spirit of the Marathon": "Once you cross that finish line, no matter how fast or how slow, it will change your life." Finishing the marathon has convinced me that there is nothing I cannot achieve once I put my mind to it.