I finished my first marathon today.
I felt good through 23 miles. I was running under 5:10 per mile and I was on pace to finish about 2 hours 14 minutes which would have put me in the top 3. Then the cold started to hit me. At the start of the 7:00am race it was 28 degrees and it didn't warm up. There was a little headwind in the last 5 miles. My fitness was good but my quads were very cold. I couldn't stride as normal and had to take shorter steps. I slowed at mile 23 and my last 2 miles were over 6 minutes per mile. I lost over 3 minutes in the last 3 miles. I'm glad I finished. It was difficult to run at the end and my leg color was green. But I'm excited because even though I ran 2:18 today I know I can run 2:12 - 2:14.
