Twin Cities In Motion
(Virtual) Marathon
Always Running Brave Like Gabe!
Virtual Marathon, Austin, Texas
Pre Race
As an ambassador initially for the Twin Cities in Motion race, I was super pumped to run my first long-distance race in the Twin Cities! That is until COVID19 happened and turned all of our lives upside down. However, amidst trial and error during the training season, I decided to make the most out of Marathon #4 and my first ever virtual marathon! I met up with some of the ambassadors I met virtually through our program and our mutual membership in November Project. The race was supposed to culminate the same weekend as the November Project Summit, so I thought, why not bring on the good vibes. So I was headed to Austin after staying fairly socially distant and keeping my distance from others. I took a leap of faith and headed down for a fun weekend (after all, I love a good racecation, and it was my birthday month). Obviously, with it being a virtual, socially distant race, there was no expo to rave about, but Austin is beautiful in its own way, so it was just as nice to get to bed after some travel and race meet up with the other ambassadors.
Race Day
The virtual race experience was definitely an experience! Was this my fastest marathon? No way! But I definitely had fun along the way. This race taught me a lot about perseverance and noticing the small things during a big race! Being that I don't live in Austin it was nice to see parts that connected I didn't even know about. The race was difficult with the amount of elevation on the route my fellow ambassadors created and I was definitely not used to Mount Bonnell. My favorite parts of the race had to be running by the murals around the capitol after the Black Lives Matter protests and riots took place as well as running by just so many murals overall! I loved feeling like I was on top of the world and getting my miles in around Mount Bonnell but the heat definitely showed up at the end!
Post Race
Overall, the virtual race and ambassador experience helped me grow as a runner. It helped me understand what I am comfortable with when the stakes aren't high like during an in-person race. I did feel amazing getting to represent a major marathon as an ambassador and was grateful to have the opportunity and to be introduced to so many new runners virtually across the country. I think if I were to do it again I'd want to be a half marathon participant for a virtual race as opposed to a full marathon because it was a lot of pressure to put on myself when the training season was so odd.