The Walker Family: Marathon

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Marathon

On Sunday I ran the Chevron Houston Marathon. This was my third marathon to run. How far is a marathon you ask? Only 26.2 miles. TWENTY SIX POINT TWO MILES. That is a very long way to run and I am pretty darn proud of myself for accomplishing this goal for the third time. Training for this marathon was very different than my last two. This was the first full marathon I have done since I had Autumn. It was so much harder to find the time to train, and thus my training did not stay on course for the season. I did get in most of my long runs, including an 18 miler a few weeks before the race. Needless to say, my time was less than stellar compared to my other two races, but that is okay. I am a Mom, a Mom who runs marathons. I think that is pretty impressive. (I know I know, I am tooting my own horn a little bit)

I am looking forward to doing more races in the future, but after much agonizing over this decision, I have decided not to do any more full marathons for a few years, until Autumn (and any other kiddos we have) are a little bit older and more self reliant. I still plan to train for at least one half marathon a year, which I think will help to keep me motivated and in shape.

Here is a run down of my time and my previous times, including my six half marathons.

Date	Race	Time	Pace
11/16/2008	San Antonio Half Marathon	2:37:06	11:59
01/18/2009	Chevron Houston Marathon	5:32:22	12:41
11/1/2009	NYC Marathon	5:10:52	11:52
11/15/2009	San Antonio Half Marathon	2:29:07	11:23
01/17/2010	Aramco Houston Half Marathon	2:25:07	11:04
01/30/2011	Aramco Houston Half Marathon	2:58:06	13:36
11/13/2011	San Antonio Half Marathon	2:34:51	11:49
12/4/2011	Las Vegas Half Marathon	2:29:30	11:25
01/15/2012	Chevron Houston Marathon	5:36:53	12:51

My favorite part of the race was running into downtown and seeing Andrew, Autumn, my parents and grandparents there to cheer me on. It was such a boost to my spirits. Below is a picture of my finishers medal.