Dave blazes through the marathon course.

This is a guest post from marathoner, Dave Parsons.

Wow, we did it!

This post is for all of you walkers, runners and wheelchair athletes who toed the starting line and then did whatever it took to get across the finish line. Whether you won your age category, set a new PR, or had to use every single bit of energy you possessed to drag yourself across that finish line, we did it…together!

A year ago, I ran my first half marathon in this race. I went out way too fast and was pretty well wiped out by the end. I didn’t enjoy the slow trot up High Street, but I knew that the finish line awaited and I made it. I had trained primarily on flat roads and had not worked at pacing much at all. I finished that race in 1:45 and change. From about the halfway point on, I was mentally out of it and just went through the motions to get it done. I knew that I would do another one, but I had no plans of running a full marathon any time soon.

Crossing the finish line!

As the weeks after the race began to tick away, I began to think about some goals for 2011. I vowed to never let go of the desire to have fun in a race again, even if that meant sacrificing pace and energy to give high fives, interact with spectators and volunteers, and generally soak up the atmosphere. I put away the iPod and decided to run without music as well.

With the help and encouragement from my local running group, the Mount Vernon Running Buddies, five of us made a commitment to sign up for the full Columbus Marathon with four of us being first-timers. We ran through the cold and ice in January and February, the rainy spring, and the sweltering summer. We got so used to the 6 a.m. pre-dawn start times that we almost didn’t need to set our alarms any more. We stuck to our training as much as possible through summer vacations and injuries, and the anticipation continued to grow as race day approached. We continued to get more and more nervous about the race, but at the same time more and more optimistic about what we thought our times could be.

Well, as you know, race day came and the weather was perfect. OK, maybe a little windy at spots, but all in all a perfect day. There was plenty of energy at the starting line and then the crowds, volunteers, and bands along the route did their part in cheering us on from there.

Dave Parsons, a marathoner.

Early in my training for this race, I became a little obsessed with trying to qualify for the Boston Marathon and set my sights on trying to run a 3:15, which is what I would need for the 40-44 age group in 2013. However, injuries leading up to race day derailed that and I focused more on giving it my best while at the same time soaking up every aspect of the race. After all, you only get one first marathon.

That change in perspective proved to be extremely valuable as there is no way that I would have qualified for Boston on my first attempt needing that time and I would have missed out on a lot of the fun aspects of the event as well.

A marathon is not easy. If it was, everyone would do it. I still set a lofty goal of trying to stay with the 3:25 pace group (7:49 pace) and actually was ahead of them through the first 17 miles of the race. I felt really good. Around mile 19, though, I started to have stomach issues that made the rest of the race a challenge for me physically as one thing led to another. (For an in-depth look at my race, you can click here).

Despite the challenges that forced me to slow down considerably over the final seven miles, I still continued to enjoy the race. I know I made people laugh when at one water stop right before mile 23 I scored a doughnut and ate it as I continued on my journey. I was able to summon the strength to run a 9:47 pace for the final mile and then picked it up even more as I turned the corner to go down the hill to the finish. I crossed the line in 3:52:04. I was a MARATHONER!!!

If you are a runner and you ran this race with me, congratulations on being a part of something that is much bigger than any of us. If you were a spectator, thank you cheering us on. If you were a volunteer, many, many thanks for sacrificing your day to help us. And finally, to the great staff who put on this event, thank you for a first-class race that is now officially the biggest marathon in the state, but so interactive that it feels like you know the person running on either side of you. The Columbus Marathon is an amazing event and I would not have wanted any other race to have been my first.