Air Force Marathon 2014 – Recap – My First Marathon!

The 2014 Air Force Marathon took place on September 20, and I am just finally getting around to writing my recap of the race!  Life got incredibly busy for me right around it was time to taper for the marathon (so thankful I got through the majority of training without the craziness that has been my life since!)  The Air Force Marathon was my first ever marathon.  While it didn’t go exactly as I planned (what does?!), it was a wonderful first experience!

The Expo

The Expo looked really great from all the pictures I saw on Facebook.  My schedule didn’t allow me to attend, but my awesome father-in-law went for me and picked up my packet and some free goodies.  My shirt fit a little tighter than I expected (there was some trouble with the order and many people did complain of size issues) but overall I was very happy with it.  I also really liked the patch and hat too!

Race Morning

I had to drive 2.5 hours to get to the race location at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Oh, and I didn’t get much sleep the night before.  I was honestly not feeling the whole running thing that morning!  While there was a huge line of cars waiting to turn into the base driving from the east, I came in from the west and turned on a different road (per the directions in the race email) and I was able to go right in and park quickly.  There was a walk to the actual race start of the Air Force Marathon, with only two port-a-potties along the way.  I made the mistake of waiting in one of these lines (as I had done a very good job hydrating, it was not a pleasant wait and VERY LONG!)  There were a ton of facilities up by the starting line, so I should have waited, but I didn’t want to walk by and not have access again soon.  You learn I guess. 🙂

Race Start

The pacers were very easy to find and join into their starting area.  Many of the other racers were friendly, and the pacer I ran with for the first 20 miles of the race (4:30 estimated finish) was very motivating and fun!  The race started soon after I joined the group (did I mention how LONG the wait for the port-a-potty I stopped at was?!) and we were off.  I somehow broke my sunglasses in the car on the way to the race, so I was very happy to have the hat.  I had never ran in a ball cap before and thought it would be super annoying, but I actually really liked it.  I’ve worn the hat for multiple runs since!

The Race

As I said before, I was just not feeling the whole run thing that morning.  I was bummed to have missed the Expo and be at the race by myself.  It took a few miles to warm up and get into the right mindset.  The course was fun.  There were a few hills that I hadn’t really thought would be there.  One was a slow incline that took a while to get up, and then the course also ran up some highway exit ramps.  The town of Fairborn was fantastic to run through.  A big crowd with bands playing and lots of signs.  There were lots of water and aid stops with plenty of volunteers.  I was feeling pretty good until about mile 18.  I started to slow way down and felt “off.”  At about mile 20, after another runner asked me if I was alright (which I remember being super offended by for some reason.  Like I said, I was off,)  and I realized that I wasn’t sweating.  My skin was just dry with tons of salt all over it.  I started walking, grabbed some cups of sport drink, and got myself together.  I had hydrated well, and had made stops on the course.  I’m not really sure why my body decided to be goofy, I had run up to 20 miles three times in training so I was well prepared.  By mile 22 I felt better, but I couldn’t get my legs to run consistently again.  It was stop and go the rest of the race.  (I didn’t feel too bad about this though.  I found it funny at the time because there were some other runners going through the same thing right around me, and we just all looked so pathetic and sad.  Which sounds awful, but it wasn’t.  We kept trying, nodding at each other with encouraging smiles and would start all over again.  I’m not explaining this right….it was both completely awful and great at the same time.)

The Finish

My time was definitely not what I had been hoping for and I was a little sunburned at the end.  I imagine the picture of my crossing of the finish line of the Air Force Marathon involved a very grumpy scowl.  Despite this, however, it still felt really good to have finished and receive my medal!  The medal was really cool, and I only took it off for my shower the rest of the day.

Post Race

I was alone at the event and very ready for a shower, so I gave away my free beer coupon and walked (limped) back to my vehicle.  You are able to go through the museum after the race, which would have been super cool since it had been awhile since I had visited, but I was ready to go.  I hope to bring my family back soon.  After getting cleaned up, I felt pretty good and headed out to meet a friend at a bar for (what I considered) a “more special” beer than what was at the race.  Despite the trouble my body had during the race, I recovered well.  Actually after a foam roll and a shower, I didn’t have any soreness.  (I would have rather performed better during the race and had some soreness after but I was happy with what I got. 😉 )

This was the only picture I actually took of myself the whole time!  (The beer was excellent!)

So would I do it again? 

Absolutely!  I’d hope for cooler weather, but I really enjoyed the race.  When I started running, I said I’d NEVER do a marathon.  I think I’ll end up doing several….

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