My First Marathon: Running the Chickamauga Battlefield Marathon

Before running the marathon - I was upbeat, and even relieved, I was finally going to be running a full marathon. My first ever!! Farther than my longest running distance ever, 21 miles. Actually, Chickamauga Battlefield Marathon was my second marathon running attempt. I'd tried to complete Chicago's 2007 marathon, running in it less than one month earlier.. Chicago would probably have been my first full marathon, had I not been forced by police barricades to stop running before finishing.

It was cancelled for the first time in the entire Chicago marathon running history due to several reasons: large numbers of heat related marathon running injuries, lack of water needed for such an unusually hot running day, and shortage of ambulances. I was running at mile 16 1/2, making great time, when I was forced to stop running and temporarily halt my lifelong dream of running a marathon. Although many of us running in my marathon practice group agree the marathon cancellation was unavoidable and probably saved lives, it was still a huge personal disappointment for many of us who were running that day.

Anyhow, I was pumped and ready for a second marathon running attempt: Chickamauga Battlefield Marathon. In contrast with Chicago's huge running crowds, Chickamauga's marathon had a quiet but friendly running atmosphere.

I had a slight cold I'd had for about a week, but at least the sore throat had gone away. No cold was going to stop me from running the marathon. I was sniffling and coughing a little but otherwise felt fine. I'd followed the marathon running tapering schedule closely. When I ran while sick, it didn't make me feel any sicker, and actually seemed to help me breathe better.