first marathon  − 1 November, 1980

for an entire year i trained, waking up at 6 am to go running before school. at first i could barely run a block. my goal was to run half of the twenty six miles since i had never entered any type of race before not even a 5k. however, at the halfway mark my 13 mile split was 1:34 minutes. i felt great. i kept running. then i hit the wall at 19 miles and i could barely move my legs. i dropped out of the race. i was 16 years old at the time and i believe one of the youngest runners entered in the race. the best part was after the race my mom asked me what i wanted to eat and i told her strawberry waffles with lots of whipped cream. so we headed off to the nearest howard johnson's and i inhaled giant belgian waffles with fresh strawberries and extra whipped cream. it was the best waffles that i ever had. when i got home i soaked in a hot tub and went straight to bed. i didn't wake up till the next morning.  the following year i ran again and finished. :-)