A Year Later And I Keep Coming Back For More

Yesterday marked the 1-year anniversary of my first full marathon. It's crazy to think that it's been a year since that amazing day, and it's even crazier to think about how far I've come (and gone) since then.

Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined I would be running my third marathon in just over a year after my first. (In case I hadn't mentioned it before, I'm running the Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon on Sunday.) Heck, I am still in awe I even ran one marathon!

I remember crossing the finish line of my first half marathon, loving the feeling and already planning to run my next half. But one other thought prevailed: "There's no way I'm ever running a full marathon!"

Funny how things change.

Not only do I love the marathon, I love training for a marathon.

And before all of you question my sanity, in the words of the Big Bang Theory's Sheldon Cooper: "I'm not crazy. My mother had me tested."

This will be my last marathon for a while as I plan to focus on obtaining a sub-2-hour half marathon time this fall. But I will be back for more.

To be honest, I'd like to tackle a 50K in 2014. I mean, if a marathon is fun, how much more fun would a 50K be, right?

I'd also like to find a flatter marathon to run. Now, I love hills and really like the Knoxville and 7 Bridges marathons, but I'm curious to see what kind of time I can post if I didn't have 2,500-plus feet of elevation change to deal with.

I'm beginning to ramble, but I want to close with this: the marathon has taught me a lot. It has taught me a lot about life and myself. Here are some lessons I've learned:

• Any trip worth traveling requires proper training.
• It's not always about the destination. Sometimes it's about the journey.
• A bad run could be just what you needed.
• You get out of running exactly what you put into it. Can't cheat your way through.
• Sometimes your best run isn't your fastest run.
• Sometimes your fastest run isn't your best run.
• You don't always PR, but that doesn't mean PR effort wasn't needed to cross the finish line.

Well, I'm going back to focus on my taper crazies. I'm not sure what my time will be on Sunday, but I know I will give it my all. That's all I can do.

Happy running!