Two CU employees share their marathon experience

Sallie and Jennifer getting ready for the race

A couple weeks ago thousands of folks participated in the inaugural Charleston Marathon. South Carolina Federal Credit Union was a sponsor (shameless plug), and a number of employees here ran the race that chilly January morning. Two credit union employees, Jennifer and Sallie, raced together. After talking with them about the experience, thought I would share part of their experience with my readers:

Jennifer and Sallie had each run a couple “shorter” (OK…10K!) races leading up to this day. But this was their first full marathon…26.2 miles! Jennifer trained for approx 18 weeks leading up to this race. Sallie trained for 16 weeks. With all that investment in time and training, what goes through your mind waiting for the “GO” air horn? For Sallie, she thought “will I be able to do it?” Since it was cold, she was also thinking “hurry up…let’s get going!” Jennifer said she was excited. She was thinking about all the training, her equipment, even training pain. But at this point, it was pure excitement.

Fast forward 20 miles…or as Jennifer calls it “the 20 mile wall”. Pain had set in. Excruciating pain. Racing through her mind were thoughts like “did I train hard enough? Can I complete these last few miles?” Sallie was wrestling with her own issues as all racers do, but the key was the support they provided each other. With two miles to go, they made their final push for the finish line. Jennifer shared how incredibly emotional it was when they both crossed the finish line together. Pain mixed with so many positive emotions.

In the three weeks since the Marathon, both have continued to exercise (4 mile runs, weight lifting, spin classes, etc). Regrouping from an incredible 26 mile experience. But I’m sure it won’t be long before Jennifer and Sallie are getting ready to start training again for next year’s race since it’s a mere 33,000 hours until the 2012 start time!

Finish Line!