You ever listened to The Growlers? If not, get out of here and go on Spotify, you’ll thank me later. That’s all I listened to the week before my race. Between the song Heaven and Hell, and When the Going Gets Tough, it was all the mental preparation I needed. Psychedelic Surf Rock is definitely my race day vibe.

To be honest I’ve never gotten really nervous for races. I just don’t take myself too seriously… not to say I don’t take my running serious, or my training, and my goals serious, but I like to show up to the start with a make-it-a-groovy-time attitude, instead of a this-is-it attitude.

Kind of like the classic LF quote “make your race a playground, not a proving ground”.

I relate HARD to that. I’m not a pro, I’m no longer in college with a coach to give me a pat on the back after a successful workout or race. There are ZERO expectations, and dammit I love it.

Running for me is saying to myself “see, you can do hard things” and Sunday was just another opportunity to ask myself how hard of a thing I can do.

I kept the first half steady and conservative. There was a lot of telling myself “Ahhh yes this so cozy” (cozy may seem like an odd choice, but what’s even better than comfortable? Cozy. And I LOVE being cozy). So yeah, I kept it really cozy for a while.

Miles 16-20 I ramped up my pace a little and still felt solid. My mental talk at this point was more like “oh yeah you’re getting a little spicy”.

Mile 22 is where my legs really felt toasted. I kept looking down at them in awe “HOW ARE YOU TWO STILL MOVING!?” I thought I was over 2 minutes off my race pace, but I was only about 10/15 seconds off. It was like cheering for an entity that was separate from my body (for a second I thought I had taken my psychedelic rock inspiration too far) … Man things get weird when you’re tired. 

The last three miles were the longest miles of my life. And when my best friend Sarah screamed to me that the finish was right around the corner, I wanted to scream back “DON’T YOU TEASE ME LIKE THAT!” But it was, and I crossed the line, finishing my first marathon and answering my own question.

How hard of a thing can I do?

Turns out a pretty hard thing. And yes, my legs are completely drained but my heart is really, really full. 

Highlights from my first marathon

• Sarah and Hogan taking four Uber rides to different spots on the course to scream at me the very best words of encouragement. Mile 6, 13, 20, 25, the finish - they basically had a race of their own.Me and the Marathon spectating champions.

• Woah, cowbell corner is LOUD and thankfully came at my darkest moment. Soaked up every bit of energy from that.
• Allie taking the time to coach me while preparing for a VERY big deal race of her own. 
• A high school coach, and college coach, who still check in, provide advice, and cheer me on.
• The very easy to spot Lesko rocking the yeti and a great set of cheering lungs.
• SO. MUCH. SUPPORT. To everyone who reached out to me, thank you, it really did blow me away. 

*Editor's Note because Hannah doesn't like to brag: Hannah's finish time for this first marathon was 2:54:19, and her splits ranged from 6:42 to 6:35 and back to 6:40, with a half split of 1:26:58. Talk about consistent!! We think she should do another one. Who's with us?? #SuperFanTheHan for life!