Eugene Marathon - A quick summary

First ever marathon finish.
On the track in my hometown, Track Town USA

26.2 miles is longer than my commute to work, about twice as long, I think. It's just short of my 35 minute drive to my buddy Karl's place up the peninsula in the San Francisco bay area.

26.2 miles is more than twice the width of San Francisco (12 miles).

Wilsonville Oregon to Vancouver Washington is 26.5 miles.

Oh, and I would only have to run 21.3 marathons to get home to Menlo Park from Eugene. The point being, a marathon is a big distance to cover with your feet.

When I was 30, with zero understanding of the possibility of completing, or the implications of my words, I vowed to run a marathon before I was 40. Done and done. I turn 38 in just under 2 months.

Completing the Eugene marathon yesterday is definitely one of the great highlights of my life so far. Rough math puts marathon runners in the US vs the US population at about 6.4%, so I'm in fairly exclusive company now. Among my friends, the percentage is much higher (and that's awesome!). Completing my first marathon in my hometown was extremely important to me. Not only is it Track Town USA, but all of my family lives here, and many of my friends live nearby too.  Add in that several good friends were running the 1/2 marathon, it was too perfect to pass up.

The real question was with my nagging achilles injury, do I run and risk further injury, maybe hampering my running for several months? I also felt like I required a shoe change.

Superfriends.

Decided to run, decided to change the shoes. My reward for the risks? Probably the most perfect first time marathon experience a person could ask for: perfect weather, amazing crowd and community support, family and friend support both on and off course, and all of the post race hometown comforts a person could ask for.

Thank you so much Eugene!!