Last sunday, 5 days ago, I ran my first marathon.

You know when you go out for a training run and within mere minutes you can tell it is not your day? During training runs, it is simple enough to turn back and try again the next day..however, when that day is a marathon, there is no turning back.

This is what happened to me. The day was beautiful, clear skies, comfortable temperature, sun shining, no wind…a day made for a marathon. Within the first kilometer I knew that I was having an ‘off’ day and I realized that the next 41.5 kms were going to be a battle. Boy, was it ever a battle.

At around the 28th km my left hip gave out and brought me major pain every time I began to run for more than 10 consecutive minutes. I wanted to cry, and quit..and forget it ever happened.  Being, me, I boasted about the marathon all summer to my friends, family, coworkers. I knew I couldn’t back out. I even live-tweeted the race for my works website….people would definitely know if I backed out.

I dug deeper than I’ve ever dug and I accessed stores of determination and guts that I didn’t even know I had.

I was definitely near the bottom of the pack -  at just over 6hrs - While I was heartbroken over how terribly it went, I was incredibly happy that it was over.

5 days later - I feel full of pride and joy that I’ve accomplished this huge goal. I will definitely run another marathon and will kick some ass and have a better day.

Here’s to never quitting!