Written by Paul -
Not that long ago, (Saturday), in a land far far away (West Virginia/Kentucky) Michelle ran a marathon. Yes I said marathon. Not a little 5k, or a dirty mud run, or some other reasonable distance running, a full marathon. All 26.2 miles! She began training in February and on Saturday morning on the border of West Virginia and Kentucky she accomplished her goal.
Friday afternoon we took off from our home to venture to Williamson, West Virginia. The drive to this small town was quite the eye opener. We traveled on a fairly major road about 60 miles north to Bluefield, WV at which point our route and surroundings became quite interesting...
We drove on a narrow two lane highway that wound its way through the mountains for over a 100 miles. We passed through several extremely run down towns. Many of these towns were constructed by coal mining companies. Once the coal had been removed from the mines the towns basically died. We saw some folks decided to stay. It was quite shocking and rather sad to see some of the conditions they lived in. I haven't seen anything like it anywhere in America before. One of these small areas claimed to be home to "The Rocket Boys" whom the movie "October Sky" was based on.
I will say that being from the west and growing up around mountains, I always thought that there were no real mountains in the east. Well, when you drive in the bottom, and then on the top of these mountains you come to realize that mountains do exist outside of the Rockies.
Eventually, we made it to Williamson.
You are welcomed by a site of what else other than...a whole train yard of coal.
Williamson has become popular as a tourist destination because of the famed family feud between the Hatfield's and the McCoy's that took place in the late 1800's. You can read all about the feud
here. They have a town festival every year that takes place around the first full weekend in June. Part of the festivities include a Marathon. This year's marathon had 440 runners from all over the country. The marathon is popular with runners who are trying to complete marathons in every state as some runners will count both Kentucky and West Virginia since the marathon is run in both states.
Michelle with Devil Anse Hatfield & Randolph McCoy before the race started.
Once the race started, I attempted to drive to the half-way point to cheer on Michelle. This took me nearly the entire time. It wasn't exactly the easiest place to navigate through. Eventually I arrived in Matewan, a small town where part of the feud took place.
Michelle nearing halfway.
At this point she is giving me a thumbs up.
I made my way back to Williamson to cheer her on at the finish line.
Here she comes on the the final stretch.
She Made It
Sigh of relief & the fact the towel is ice cold.
At the end Michelle didn't feel fresh as a daisy but she was pretty happy to have accomplished her goal.
Eating some Watermelon
And by the way, SHE PLACED SECOND IN HER AGE DIVISION!
Good work Michelle!
And now a few words from the runner herself:
I am not sure what I was expecting, this was my first marathon and everyone told me I would be just fine. I trained for 16 weeks and felt like I was prepared. I knew there was a good hill at mile 7 and I think I was over prepared for that. It was challenging but I wasn't on my hands and knees like I thought I would be. On the other hand I was not as prepared for the extremely steep down hill but I did it. I really was doing great at the halfway point. No pain, my pace was good, it was fun to see Paul and have him cheer me on. He even ran a block or two with me. Then it got hard, really hard. I don't recall at exactly what mile I started to feel mentally and physically drained. I just knew I was tired and I kept getting passed... At least the other runners offered words of encouragement.
Somehow I managed to keep going, it wasn't pretty but I did it! I saw the finish line and I wanted to cry. I was so happy, relieved, exhausted, and proud. It was so much harder than I anticipated! I have a whole new respect for people who have run a marathon.
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