El Paso Marathon

Today was my second attempt at the El Paso Marathon. A year ago it was my first marathon and it broke me off. Brandon and I went into it knowing we were not prepared. Injuries have left us undertrained and we were already in pain at the starting line. We had decided to run together at a nice 10 min/mile and stay together until the end. I was impressed that we were able to keep pace. Brandon was in charge of timing the walk breaks and making sure we stopped at each mile, I was in charge of keeping the pace. the hashers (Butters and CDG) came out and made beer checks for us at 4.5 miles, 8 miles, 16 miles, and at 26 miles, I crossed the finish line with a full beer!
We did the Galloway method and all was well until about mile 17 when Brandon's knee locked up. We ended up walking off and on and then when our jog started to become slower than our brisk walk, we dropped to walking and chatting. With 6 miles left, El Paso decided to deliver us a sandstorm that did not let up and we were walking right into it! We finished the marathon in a time we will never be able to brag about, but better than my personal worst. Somewhere around 5:45, I didn't even pay attention.
McLaughlin did so well for his first marathon! He ran it in 3:30 and won second place for his age group!
Joy and Cyn rucked the half marathon and Cobb came out and paced MILFY in the half! Hag Banger, Fluffer, and Portugal ran the 5k and then helped host a beer check for us!
Then they ALL stayed and waited for us to finish, the support was pretty amazing! I am so excited to have so many people come out and support us.

After the marathon, we went to Whataburger for some sustenance and then we were off to lay trail for our one year anniversary hash. Even Cobb and Cyn came out to run our shitty trail. We prelaid about 2 miles of it, walking, but ran about 1.5 live. The wind was blowing so hard and it was so cold that we made circle super short. All in all, it was a good day running!

Recovery Run

Just a nice slow marathon recovery run. As I was chugging along I was reflecting on how much I have learned over the last year. The El Paso Marathon last year was my first completed marathon. I was so sore afterward and decided I earned time off from doing anything. I remained so sore that I could hardly walk, it only got worse until I ran the Spartan race the following weekend, which cured the pain. I never believed in the power of the recovery run.
I was reflecting on all the things I have learned, mostly by trial and error. I have learned the value of a recovery run. I have learned that you have to respect the marathon because it does not respect you. I have learned the difference between sore and pain and which ones to push thru and which ones to listen to. I have learned to listen to my body, it will tell me what to do. I have learned the difference between not WANTING to go the distance and not being able to. I've learned that fearing the distance is all in my head. I've learned that 26.2 is not the whole distance, it's just the race distance. Most importantly I've learned that I can do more than I ever thought if I just try.
I have fought with myself, I have fought with running, I have loved it and hated it and continued to do it. I have had a million reasons to run and a million reasons not to and I keep chugging along. I've learned that those miles are patient and they will lay there and wait for me to run them.
I have learned to believe in the strength of my own legs, the power of my own lungs and the courage of my own heart.