If you need a reminder of what I said about marathons after I ran my first and only then follow the link to read my blog post Journey to 26.2. http://funthoughtsonlife.blogspot.com/2013/04/journey-to-262.html
Here is the main part of what I wanted to highlight from the previous blog post:
Not everyone is cut out to run a marathon regularly. I personally have decided that I am a bit of a "Wham" type marathoner. The one hit wonder. It was on my bucket list. Something I wanted to accomplish before I kicked the bucket. My friend pointed out to me that the general population that has run a marathon is .5%. I am proud to say that she and I are both in that small percentage, but I don't plan to become a regular there. My reasoning to only do one is multifaceted. The training was rough. I trained by myself, not because I didn't know anyone who was training for a marathon when I was training, but because no one that was training was my pace or anywhere near it. I had planned to run my marathon by the Jeff Galloway method which involved intervals and no one I knew at that time was interested in my methods. So, training for 18 weeks and running for hours at a time by yourself was difficult. I will never forget the day that I had on my running clothes when the kids got on the bus and was about to get in the shower when they got home and my son asked me, "Mom have you been running the whole time I was at school?" The answer was yes, but I began to scratch my head and wonder what in the world I was doing. That was plain stupid, running the entire time my kids were in school. The fact was that 2 years ago I was slow enough that it took me that long to get my long training runs in when I got up into the 20+ miles. But I was registered, and I am not a quitter. So I persevered and finished my training and ran my marathon. I ran the Country Music Marathon 2011. I finished.
The day of my marathon in 2011 the weather was mild then got hot for the second half. The first 11 miles ticked away like nobody's business. They went by so fast because I was running with the group who was running for my friend's sister with cancer. They were a super fun group to run with and we laughed and talked and enjoyed the atmosphere so much. Then we got to the split and on the CMM course, it goes from feast to famine. In the first half, there is tons of crowd support, lots of bands, entertainment, distraction, you name it. As soon as you get to the split, there is nothing. The crowd support drops off, much less bands, less entertainment, less distraction. Some of the course is through the projects and I was a bit scared in parts of it. It was long and lonely. My wonderful husband met me at mile 17 and ran the rest of the race with me. I was never so glad to see him in my life. However, I was in so much pain and so tired that I could hardly walk, much less run. I remember at mile 23 I stopped to use the port o potty and I literally thought I would not be able to get back up, I was stiffening up that fast. I was able to finish that race and I was so "DONE" that I immediately turned around and went to the car after I crossed the line and got my medal. I was beyond exhausted. I told my husband when I got in the car that I was not going to do that again. But no one can ever take away from me the fact that I DID run a marathon. I am in that .5% and always will be.
Back to today, I had a 23 mile training run. I was a nervous wreck about the run. Let's face it, who really wants to run for 4+ hours? It's really stupid. Anyone who is running a marathon is doing it for reasons besides health. It may be purging demons from your psyche, it may be for the social hour, it may be because running is cheaper than therapy. There are many reasons people run marathons besides just these. As you read from a previous blog post, I said I would never do another one because it wasn't fun.
Here are some things that are different now than they were for me in 2011 with my running. First I am a much stronger runner. I am much faster, better, stronger. My endurance is better, and I have been incorporating more core work and crosstraining into my regimen. I am more relaxed. If I miss a training run, I don't sweat it. And I am not killing myself during the week. So today's run was much needed as a confidence booster that I can, indeed, do it and finish strong unlike my first marathon experience. Training with a buddy or group is totally key. For example, I made the statement at mile something, "I am NOT having fun." My running buddy who was next to me said nothing, but ran ahead to catch up to our other buddy who was just ahead of us. Along the way she shouted, "Hey Mr. Motivation, we have one not having fun back here." He immediately dropped back and started talking. He told me that I have to take my mind off what we are doing, think about something else. I don't remember all that he said because I was in some bad spot mentally when he was talking. However, the point is that I scraped myself up and ran the next leg very strong.
Something else that we discussed along the way today is that everyone feels like crap when they are running this long. We just push through it. For some reason this was a revelation for me. I was delighted to know that I was not alone. That I was supposed to feel bad after running so long.
I would have totally walked the last few miles of today's run but I didn't. My slave driving buddies wouldn't let me. They said I had to prove to myself that I could finish strong.
That this part was all mind, not body. Yes the body is tired, but I have trained hard and my body can do this. My mind wants to stop. At one point I was told, "Your legs and feet will not fall off during this run. You may feel like it, but they won't." Interestingly enough, I am resting comfortably on my couch now, I have all my limbs attached and I can actually walk just fine. Yes I am tired, but I should be. I ran 23.1 miles today. No one can take the pride of my accomplishment away from me. Now I know in 3 weeks that I can finish strong at my marathon, my legs are not going to fall off, everyone out there with me feels the same way, and I can rest later. For now, I will be a rock star. I can totally do this.
Now, here is a great tidbit of marathon advice: Peanut Butter and Jelly Uncrustables are the best race fuel ever! Try it. We had one with about 7 miles to go and it was like salve to a tired soul. Amen.
Never say never. I said I would never run another marathon after my first. I am about to run my second and third within a 4 week period. I will gladly eat my humble pie because I am proud of myself.
Subscribe to my blog in the box at the right. You will receive emails when I have updated with a new post. If you are on a mobile device, scroll to the bottom and click View Web Version. Then the box at the right will be there.
Check out my website at www.funthoughtsonlife.com I just updated it with video clips of my latest speaking engagement. If you need a speaker, I am your girl. Contact me at jennifer@funthoughtsonlife.com
Have a great rest of the day!
Jennifer
No comments:
Post a Comment