Here’s a message from the Academy Facebook group that illustrates the thrill of finishing strong at your first marathon.

Paula Soto completed the Bakersfield Marathon on November 12th 2017 with a time of 4:34:45.5!

What I love is that she ’embraced the suck’ of the finial miles and finished with a smile on her face . . . ready to do it again!

Listen to the joy in her words, we can’t say it better than this,

What It Feels Like to Run Your First Marathon

“You guys!!! I ran my first marathon yesterday and I still cannot even contain my excitement!! I posted a while back about how my first 16 miler didn’t go so well, but I was able to learn from it and turn it around, finish my training cycle strong and run my first marathon without a hitch!

Yes, it was hard. Yes, I was tired. Yes, I couldn’t believe I was only half way at mile 13. BUT it was seriously the most amazing experience I’ve had to date.

I ran it in Bakersfield, CA, where most of the people running it were local so it was a relatively small race and I loved it! Seriously, I couldn’t believe the pictures my mom took of me after because I was actually smiling after running 26.2 miles.

My wonderful MTA coach, Dominique Hamel, estimated a 4:35 finish time so I stuck with the 4:38 pacer until mile 22 when I kicked it into gear and finished in 4:34:45.5!

Running has given me so much and I’m just so grateful for this community that Angie and Trevor created and for all of you that are a source of positive energy and encouragement. I can’t wait to do this again!!” -Paula Soto

Congrats Paula on Releasing the Kraken and proving that you have what it takes!