My right hamstring was cramping up before I even left the house yesterday morning for the Newport marathon. How does that even happen? Nerves, probably. Marathons always make me anxious, but this year I went in with expectations, which compounded the anxiety.
My training went so well that I thought I had a shot at setting my all-time personal marathon best. No, it was more than that; I thought I had it in the bag, and it would have meant a lot to me to achieve a personal best after everything I went through with the surgeries.
Anyway, by mile five (Five!) both of my legs were legit cramping up, but I still maintained my goal pace for the first 18 miles before everything fell apart over the last eight. While I still beat my time from last year – which I ran during Hurricane Matthew – by a half hour, I was well off my expectations and nowhere near a personal best.
While we tend to only post on social media when things go well, privately we understand that not every day is a great day, not every goal is accomplished, and not every dream gets fulfilled.
Historically, Newport sea captains placed pineapples outside their homes to signal that they had returned safely from their voyages. With that in mind, my finisher’s medal offers perspective; while the race certainly did not go as I had hoped or expected, worse outcomes were possible, and at least I made it back home.
