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Friday, January 23, 2015

Marathoning for Mortals

Hi all! 
Thanks for stopping by today! Life has been busy, but isn't it always? I wanted to share my marathon experience with you all. If you are just an average person -a mortal- you CAN run a marathon just as I did! 



As you may have read in a previous post of mine, I was having a difficult time with training. You really do need to stick to the training plan in order to feel confident at the start like that you could actually do this! The training program I chose to go with was an intermediate 1 runners plan by Hal Higdon. I went with this plan because I am an experience runner ( 6 half marathons along with many other distances). The plan seemed reasonable with what is required of me to do and it seemed to fit well with my busy school schedule...so I thought. 

I did well with the first 1.5-2 months of the training plan, but as the weekend "long runs" got longer, I began to fade in my dedication to the plan. Thankfully I had a few people who were there to encourage me. First and foremost my buddy Zane who I run for. Zane and his family have been a HUGE support to me and my running. They have so much confidence in me and that I can really do what I put my mind to and for them I am forever grateful! Right next to Zane and his family, I have my great friend Rebecca who was training for the same race as I was and this would also be her FIRST MARATHON! We spent many days together over the past 4 months (we go to school together) so we were a constant reminder to each other that we HAD to run! I will be honest, I had times where I wish I had never signed up for this race. Rebecca and I would turn toward each other and say "were we smoking crack when we signed up for this race while in school full time??" Of course we weren't but we were so weighed down by life, school, and family at times to where we questioned our reasons for running a marathon, but let's face it... there is never an "ideal" time in life to run a MARATHON! I always kept in mind why I was training for 26.2:

1. Zane- plain and simple
2. To say 'I DID IT!'
3. To push myself to see what I am capable of
4. To never have to wonder 'what if'
5. The feeling of the finish line & accomplishment

About 10 days prior to race day I received a message from my great friend Run Jodi, who is an amazing runner, dental hygienist, and person. She asked me how training was going and if I was ready for 26.2. I was nervous... NO I WASN'T READY AT ALL! The longest distance I had ran at this point was 13 miles! I told Jodi my concerns and she gave me a few wise recommendations. She suggested I run 16 miles that coming Friday, consider that my longest training run, and then spend the next week recovering. She said that since I didn't train as well as I could have, I could at least do a few things to make the a great first marathon experience. Jodi said to avoid sugar 1 week prior, drink WATER ONLY (I was doing a gallon a day for about 5 days leading up to the race), get a good nights rest up to 3 days prior to the race, and begin carbohydrate loading 1-2 days prior to the race. I took these suggestions and 'ran' with it since I know I had not put in the training miles needed to feel confident about the race, so the least I could do would be to listen to these suggestions!

It was finally race weekend! My family and I drove over to Melbourne, FL on Thursday to hang out and relax for the weekend. We love visiting the Space Coast! We spend our days driving around Historic Cocoa Village and Cocoa Beach, walking on the pier, checking out condos, pretty much any mindless wandering thing that will fill up our days- we just enjoy it :) Saturday night prior to the race a bunch of runner friends an I (along with family) all went to the race expo to get our packets/bibs and then headed to an Italian restaurant to "carb load"! I order a big bowl of pasta with meatballs... it was DELISH! I finished every last piece of pasta from that dish! That's not normal for me because I usually get full pretty quick, but I think my body knew I needed every last bit of carbs for the big race the following day.



Well here we arrive! It's race day! 3:15 wake up call! I was so unhappy about the early wake up call- to be honest, I wasn't looking forward to this day at all. I was nervous, scared, and quite frankly, a little mad at myself for putting myself up to this. I kept it moving though. I got dressed, had a bagel with jelly for breakfast and began drinking more water. Christy got dressed and went with Rebecca and I to the race start. Dad so kindly drove us at 4:45a to the race area.Rebecca and I got to meet with our "I Run 4" friends and take pictures!! I LOVE meeting our I Run 4 family at races! After our photo-op we went to the port-a-pots to 'take care of business' and then we headed to the start line.



Christy walked toward her set-up spot where she would photograph Rebecca and I .2 miles into the race and then at that same point on our way back which would be the 13.1 or half way mark! The start line was EMOTIONAL to say the LEAST! Rebecca and I stood at the start line together, smiling, shaking(it was cold), praying.... we couldn't believe what we were about to do, but it was going to happen. The race was the "SPACE coast marathon" so they stuck with the space theme and there was a video screen with the recording and audio recording of the Space Shuttle Discovery's last launch. Something came over me and when the countdown began "4, 3, 2, 1 and lift off!" I started to ball my eyes out... THIS WAS IT! Rebecca and I hugged each other and off we went!



At the beginning of races it seems the trend is (at least with me) that I start out too fast! There is so much adrenaline and excitement happening that you take off like a bullet and that's what happened to me! For the first .75-1.00mi. I was running under a 9 minute mile, which is SUPER fast for me!! I finally slowed and found my 'happy pace' around 11:30/mi!

Around mile 3 my right knee injury started to act up. It felt like my tendons were ripping! I had to slow and walk many times during the race to give myself some relief from the pain. I spent time with some of the pace groups that were holding up a stick with their expected finish times on it. They were "Jeff Galloway Pacers"- following his run/walk method. Run a minute, walk a minute was their strategy. I never really researched that method, nor did I train with the method, but for the sake of my knee injury and wanting to make it to the finish line I followed some pace groups throughout the race. I grew to really like it! Moments where I had to stop stretch and work out my knee pain I looked down at my bracelets and Zane's name on my leg and I remembered why I had to keep pushing forward!   


My face at 13.1mi looking back at Christy as she is telling me "KEEP GOING! YOU CAN DO IT! ONLYYYY 13 more miles!"


I stayed fueled throughout the race on Powerbar's Raspberry energy chews and Stinger's Pink Lemonade chews. I trained with them and that's what I felt comfortable with. I altered Gatorade and water at each water stop. Around miles 18 I ran past a friend who was already heading back toward the finish line and he gave me some Tylenol for my knee and no more then 2 miles later I felt like new! I was like a different person- I had caught my second wind and was feeling good! In training I had never ran/walked more then 16 miles, so reaching the 17+ range felt amazing to me since that was like uncharted territory! Although I still had 9 miles to go I could envision the victory and I was on my way back toward the finish!

At a mile and a half to go till the finish I ran into the 6:15 pacer... I was finishing with her, no question about it! We continued a walk run into the park where the finish line was. The stretch to the finish was about a half .25mi. in a circle around a park. Everyone is screaming and cheering for you- it's an amazing feeling. I started to cry as I saw Christy and Cody as I first entered in the park. Cody ran out in front of me and ended up finishing the race before me! LOL I ended up finishing with the 6:15 stick in my hand, but my official time was 6:20!! I wanted to finish before the cut off of 7 hours, so look at that!!



The finish was overwhelming- so many emotions! I was happy, accomplished, satisfied, humbled, thankful and so many more emotions all wrapped in a ball. I was so thankful and happy to see my family and friends at the finish line to support me. That day will forever live in my memory as a

I know this was a LONG play-by-play of my marathoning events, but I wanted to give the average person who has never experienced a marathon the "inside scoop" on what it's all about!

Before I started to train for the marathon I bought a book called "Marathoning for Mortals" recommended by my cousin Erica who has run 2 NYC marathons. What I gained from this book is something I want EVERYONE to know who has a desire to run a marathon: YOU CAN DO IT! There are so many training plans out there for beginners, for people who have never run a mile in their life! This book brought out that in the 80s when running races got big, it was more of an event that only elite athletes participated in. NOT ANYMORE! Running has evolved into someone that people of all ages, races, and genders partake it. People run for themselves, others who can't, causes, and to raise awareness. This is no longer a sport for elite runners, but for the average person who has a goal to go the distance and cross that finish line! So I want to encourage everyone who has a desire to run 26.2- DO IT! Set a goal, plan for it, and then DO IT! Comment below with any questions or you next fitness goal!