Running a Marathon

At the beginning of this year I decided to start training for a marathon. My sister convinced me to do it and I thought, why not? I found a race to run in, and was excited to conquer this goal. It felt good to be accomplishing something at such a large magnitude--and to do it for myself. Training for the past 5 months has been an up and down roller coaster. I had a love-hate relationship with running. I became addicted to it and found myself looking forward to it each day. I was running 4 days a week, gradually increasing my mileage. Saturdays were always my long runs and after awhile, I began to tire of the schedule. I hated taking 3 hours on Saturday to run and then be so tired and wasted the rest of the day, the whole weekend was shot. Mike and Abby were tiring of it, too. I would try and run in the morning before Abby woke up, but some days were harder than others.

After researching the marathon race and finding out it had a 2500 foot elevation climb, I realized I was in over my head. I stink at running up hills--and in a marathon? I just didn't see that as enjoyable. I love running, but I'm not a big fan of running uphill for 8 miles straight! I decided to still run a marathon, but my own "home-made" race. I planned on running it on June 5th, the original marathon race date, but in P-Town, not hilly Aptos.

While running my long 18 mile run this past Saturday, I decided I was feeling good enough to run a marathon that day! I was ready to do it and be done with it! I called Mike and asked him if he'd think me crazy to run 26 miles instead of 18, and to find me an extra 8 miles to run. He was so SUPPORTIVE, and I really couldn't have done it without him. He was encouraging and positive about the whole thing. How lucky am I? He brought Abby and met me a few times along the route, bringing me water, Gatorade, and food. He called me throughout and made sure I was feeling good and to encourage me to keep a good pace. I felt so good throughout the entire run and never felt like I couldn't finish. The last 7 miles or so, my sweet mother-in-law ran with me to keep me motivated. I don't think I talked very much, but she kept the conversation going which helped me keep my mind off of how much pain my legs were in. We stopped and walked a few times just to give my knees a break (they were killing), but each time we stopped, I got back running again. The last 2 miles were killer, but it was no question in my mind that I was going to finish this run! Come to find out later, I actually ran 27.5 miles by accident! Miscalculation on my part! :)

About half-way through--right after I decided to go for it all!

Meeting up with my Mother-in-law, Kathy--She's a great motivator! She ran the St. George marathon while almost 3 months pregnant with twins (my husband and his brother)! She is amazing!

Looking back on it, I am amazed at what the human body can do if you put your mind to something. I don't think our bodies were created to run marathons, but I think our minds were created to help our bodies accomplish anything. Mind over will. And I know my mind is what pushed me through to the end. It may not have been an official race, but I am proud of myself for what I've accomplished--I never thought I'd say this, but I wouldn't mind doing it again! :) The training really prepared me--both physically and mentally--which made it seem easy. I think it also helped that I wasn't planning on running it that day because I didn't have the anxious feelings I sometimes get before races.

Last quick water stop with Mike and Abby. Abby had lost interest by now and was screaming after I ran away. She was sooooo done being in the car. :)

The recovery has been AWESOME. Mike researched online how to recover from running a marathon and found the most important thing is to not sit down right away. When I got home, that's all I wanted to do! I immediately sat down on the grass! But Mike made me get up and walk around the block a few times. He bought me a huge pasta lunch and made me eat all of it and drink glass after glass of water. He even made me stand up and eat! I took a nap and made sure I laid straight and didn't curl up into a ball so my muscles wouldn't get stiff. I was pretty tired, but still was able to catch a movie that night with some friends. I even sat through the whole thing without hurting. :) I've heard horrible recovery stories so I was grateful I had such an easy one. And I have Mike to thank! I had one day of soreness, but in all honestly, it felt like I had run my normal 18 miler--not 27!

I am sooooo thankful to Mike and Abby for supporting me throughout this whole process and pushing me to do my best. I have such a great family!

The home stretch--with Abby running to me!

I know I looked exhausted, but I really felt so good.....

I do plan on running still--just not my normal 8-18 milers. I think it will feel so good to just run 4 miles or 5 miles and maybe an 8 miler every now and then. Running is a great way for me to get rid of stress and negative energy--it really has helped me become more in-tune with my body, so I know I won't stop. My next race will be a mini-triatholon--a 400 yard swim, 11 mile bike ride, and 3 mile run. Sounds like a fun challenge!