A special thank you to Ray Campbell and Shaun O’Rourke for getting me through a loooooong 21 miles. I have never run that far in my life, and now I know why. WOW!

It didn’t take long for the rest of the pack to leave us in the dust. But, on such a beautiful morning, what’s the rush!? The first couple of miles generally seem to be the most difficult for me, and this day was no different. My shins started to hurt, my legs ached and just the thought of running 21 miles was daunting. I had to stop a few times early on and do a little extra stretching which seemed to help. Then, after a few miles, I started to find my rhythm and we settled into a nice slow pace.

The run took us thorough some beautiful areas. We passed by quaint New England homes, babbling brooks, pumpkin patches and majestic horse and sheep farms. I usually run with music. But since I was running with the group, I left the I-Pod at home. It was a nice change of pace to run and chat with friends instead of hearing the pounding beat of house music. The conversation also helped take my mind off the more than four hour run.

When I got home, I hobbled up stairs, drew a cold bath, dumped in buckets of ice, plunged in to cool my aching muscles, and wondered what I had gotten myself into. I mean really. If you have to take a bath filled with ice water, something just isn’t right, right?

Just so you know, the ice bath was suggested to me by a number of marathon runners as a way to help your muscles recuperate quickly. I then collapsed into bed for a very lazy Saturday afternoon.

When I started the marathon training, I knew it would require an extensive time commitment. The weekly runs take a long time. The Saturday long runs take a long time. But what I didn’t factor in, was the time needed to rest and relax after the long runs. It is really difficult to do anything else after the long runs, aside from just lounging around.

Nevertheless, I am proud of my new accomplishment and I’m starting to think that I actually have a pretty good chance of completing the 26.2 mile marathon.