Marshall University Marathon review

I had a great time at this marathon. It was my first marathon and naturally i made a few mistakes, but all in all it was a great run. The morning started off cooooold. Warmer than usual but it was still cold. The race was scheduled to kick off at 7:30am and at 7:25 i was in desperate need of a bathroom. I looked everywhere but the lines were all 20 deep. I headed back to the starting line and got myself ready.

Miles 1-5
I had to pee real bad and to make matters worse now my stomach was turning. I was in the middle of huntington and i didn't think people including the racers would take to kindly to me using some bushes. I don't know something about seeing a shiny white butt on a cold morning would make me a little queezy so i didn't want to subject anyone to that, lol. I felt good and the volunteers kept the atmosphere buzzing. I noticed my hands where very swollen at the start of the race and i just figured it was the weather.

Miles 5-11
I was still cruising along acting like i "owned" this course but my bowels were convincing me otherwise. At mile 11 i found a little bridge next to some trees pee'd for what seemed like 28 minutes. At around mile 12 i was releived to see a port o jon. I picked up my pace and ran in there only to discover.........sweet Lord......No TP!!!!!!! Feeling defeated i just kept running.

Miles 11-17
My stomach was gurgling so bad that i was having shooting pains in my stomach that seemed to trigger painful shocks to my legs. At mile 17.......yes another jon.....and it had TP! After a few minutes i was ready to tackle this marathon. I ran out of the port o jon and realized my legs weren't working the way they were before i sat down, lol. My feet were on fire and i hadn't talked to anyone since 7am. I was getting bored very bored and i was starting to focus more on pain then on my run.

Miles 17-21
WALL what wall. I think everyone makes up this crap to keep the common folk away from this sport.

Mile 21.5
Oh that wall!!!!! My legs stoped working and i can't figure out why. I changed my running style because the blisters on my feet where burning like crazy and because of this now my hips screaming at me. To top it off looked down only to see two blood soaked streaks on my shirt exactly where my nipples are. Man this marathon is "violating" me. Holy crap the wall.

Miles 21.5-26.2
Keep going. Quit being a baby and keep running. I couldn't help but remember that there are people who have run 25 miles of a marathon only to have there bodies shut down at the last mile. I read an article in "Mens Health" about Marathons and the damage they do to people internally. As you can read my mind was playing all sorts of crazy tricks on me and i just kept feeding into it.
The last 200yds was on the Marshall football field which was nice soft of my feet. FINISHED 4hrs 16 minutes.

All in all it was a beautiful run with very scenic spots. It was probably a perfect pick for a first marathon and one i would highly recommend to others in the future. Very smoothly run and very well organized. I didn't accomplish my goal of doing it in under 4hrs but i did complete it and that was my other goal. Happy running.