One mile at a time

On Sunday Oct. 4, I ran the Portland Marathon. It was my second 26.2 mile race and I finished in 3 hours, 30 minutes and 27 seconds, which placed me 474th out of 5,710 runners.

And I’m nobody special.

I’ve always loved sports and not long after I could walk I was throwing a baseball in the yard with my dad, but no one would ever call me an athlete or for most of my life a runner. I wasn’t on the track or cross country teams in high school. In those days, to me, running was nothing more than a punishment.

So how did I get to the point where I’m running marathons? One mile at a time.

About six years ago, two friends invited me on a five mile run. I barely made it one but I tried again and for some reason kept going back until eventually I could run all five. Five miles then turned to eight, which then turned to 10, which then turned to 13 and on and on.

I ran my first 5K in the spring of 2011, my first 10K a couple months later and my first half marathon that fall. It took me a while to check off my first marathon but I finally did it in March of 2014.

I’m not going to lie. Running a marathon isn’t easy. There’s a lot more training and time involved than even a half. At my peak, I ran six to seven days a week for a total of 50 to 60 miles, mostly on the Riverfront Trial. But that’s a bit extreme as I had a particular time goal in mind. If your objective is to just finish a marathon, you can train less. I know a girl who qualified for the prestigious Boston Marathon running just three to four days a week.

Since marathons are so long, usually at least 3 hours, for most people much longer, you also have to watch what you eat before and stay hydrated during.

But completing a marathon is also more rewarding.

During my first one, the last six miles were so excruciating that I broke down in tears after I crossed the finish line. I’d never felt such a sense of accomplishment. This freaked my wife out since in more than five years she had never seen me cry.

The Portland race wasn’t as difficult as my first marathon, but the final six miles were still tough and felt much farther than any previous six. Instead of thinking about crossing the finish line, I focused on each aid station where I could stop and refuel on electrolytes and water.

The Portland Marathon would make for an ideal first 26.2 mile race. The course is mostly flat, has amazing crowd support and beautiful views of the city that includes running across the St. Johns Bridge.

When I finally crossed the finish line, I didn’t cry, to my wife’s disappointment. I was more relieved than anything and happy it was over as I limped through the finish area, drinking and eating anything I could find before collecting my finisher shirt and medal.

I’m not the only The Dalles resident who finished the marathon this year: Congratulations to John Young, Judy Richardson, Heather Fitz-Gustafson, Heidi Gustafson, Judy Powell, Heather Runyon and Katheryne Uhalde.

My wife and I would like to start a running group here so maybe the number of finishers will be even more next year.

Anyone interested? Email me at dwiley@ thedalleschronicle.com.

I promise we’ll start one mile at a time.