First Marathon Story: The Wall That Never Came: Running Her First Marathon on Her 40th Birthday w/ Aimee Jones

Taylor Sayles

11 minutes ago

3 min read

Split-screen of two women: left woman speaks into a microphone indoors, right woman sits outdoors under a porch. AIMEE JONES text.

From the Half to the Full

Aimee was active from a young age, starting gymnastics and continuing on until she was 14 or so. At 21, a flyer came in the mail advertising a charity half marathon event. The charity was close to her heart, and she was inspired to raise money while running the race. She went through the training, ran the half in Las Vegas on the strip at night.

Every year since, Aimee tried to run a half marathon — but she was pretty lax on the training. She wasn't getting an better or faster, she was just running.

She had her second child in 2015, ran another half marathon six months after she had him, and then her husband asked: "are you going to run a full marathon?" She initially said no, but the seeds were planted. She decided to run a full marathon on her 40th birthday.

A Smooth Training Cycle

Aimee signed up for the Eugene Marathon, ready to run on her birthday. Although she'd run lots of half marathons, she was starting pretty much from the beginning, learning pacing and fueling for the first time. Despite being afraid of the training after a friend go through it years prior, training in the winter ended up being relatively easy. Aimee felt ready for the race, with the nerves not creeping in until the week before the race.

Some days the runs felt harder, with too many hills, or with the pace slower than she hoped for. But she continued showing up and tackling the mileage.

Aimee gradually tackled fueling, and the mileage. She incorporated yoga, which has been a big part of her fitness journey, into her training, using it as a restorative practice to help recover after the hard runs.

Race Day

Aimee was nervous about race day logistics, traveling from North Carolina to Oregon. It kept her mind busy from thinking about the run, which was the silver lining.

Eugene is known as TrackTown, USA, and the experience was something Aimee hadn't experienced before.

The hotel had a shuttle (with an incredibly long line) to the start line, and all the runners were there to support each other. Reaching the start line, the nerves kicked in. But she took a gel, and prepared to start.

The first half felt good. She was surprised when 13 miles just flew by, hearing messages from her friends and family through the Rally app. She took time to enjoy the views and the silence, reflecting on the journey it took to get there.

Aimee doesn't remember ever hitting the wall. Once she hit 20 miles, she expected to hit the wall, but never did. She was scared to speed up and maybe finally hit that barrier. She was looking forward to the end by Mile 25, but never felt like it was too painful to continue.

The finish line in the Eugene Marathon is on the track, and you're on the big screen as you run towards the finish line. It was a surreal experience, and a very cool finish line experience. She could see her husband in the stands as she crossed the finish line.

Lessons Learned