Q: How did you feel during each marathon? What challenges and triumphs did you face?
A: The first race I did was the Limerick Marathon on Sunday. I went in knowing I wasn't going to be racing it, but I got caught up in the buzz of the race, and went out pretty quickly. When I finally realized how quickly I was going and slowed down, it was too late. I started cramping up in my legs, which forced me to really slow my pace down more than I wanted to. The main challenge on Sunday was travelling to my next marathon. My legs were already really sore from the cramps I experience during the race, and then had to sit in a cramped bus for 7 hours with minimal space to stretch my legs, which wasn't ideal. Still, I was happy knowing that I had one marathon behind me, and I focused on recovering for the next one.
On Monday I went into the Belfast Marathon thinking as many good thoughts as possible all the way up to the start line, because my motivation was a bit lacking. When I got to the race and saw the crowd and all of the participants, however, I knew I could do the race. The main problem I faced during this marathon was that it was pacing related. Since the race was open both to individuals and to relay teams, every time a member on a relay team “passed the baton,” a new person with fresh legs would enter the race, and they would run quite strong. It threw my pace off quite a bit when I would run to keep up with these new competitors. My main triumph for this race was really just the fact that I managed to finish two marathons back-to-back, which I feel incredibly happy about.
