My First Marathon

Last Sunday, I crossed the finish line of my very first marathon. Right beside me was my dad, finishing his 20th. The story of how we got here started a year ago, in October, when I went to cheer on my dad as he completed marathon number 19. On the way home, I asked him a question: “Would you ever run another one? Because if you do, I’d like to join you.” It didn’t take him long to say yes. We gave ourselves a full year to prepare and set our sights on an autumn race. Training for an autumn marathon meant doing our longest build-up runs over the summer—a far more motivating prospect than dragging ourselves out on cold winter evenings. We chose Bruges. A flat course sounded smart for my first attempt, the scenery through the medieval city fantastic, and it close enough to home for our families to come along and support us. Preparation Before lacing up for real, I paid a visit to the cardiologist just to get the official all-clear. With the green light from the doctor, our training…