Last May, I decided to sign up for my marathon debut. This is coming from someone who always said, "I'm never doing a full marathon." But, I'm also the kind of person that will do something on the spur of the moment.
My weekly miles prior to the Philly Marathon, starting from August: 27, 26, 24, 28, 30, 33, 11, 24, 3, 46, 42, 19, 32, 24, 28, 23. That's an average of 26 miles per week...only a third of what most people run when training for a marathon. I wouldn't recommend doing it this way. I train for Half Ironman races (where you swim 1.2 miles, bike 56 miles, and run 13.1 miles), so I can kind of get away with running less since I'm riding so much during the season. It works for me and I wouldn't change anything. But, a full marathon is a different beast. I didn't have much time to transition from triathlon to marathon mode; no matter how badass someone thinks they are, it's pretty difficult to fake it and muscle through a full marathon.
I did the best I could to train with a nagging knee injury, making sure to get to the start line healthy. The gun went off, and in the back of my mind I knew I was going to run into a wall...I just didn't know when it was going to happen. I felt as light as ever during the first half of the marathon, but then it drastically started to go downhill around mile 16. That makes for a very long, long ten miles. It got so bad at times, I considered walking or even dropping out. I finally crossed the finish line in utter relief. 3:03. Good, bad, and so much fun all at the same time. Good because it's a fast time for such little run training, bad because I know I'm going to sign up for another marathon so I can do it the right way, and so much fun because I've been revitalized.
If it wasn't for my spur of the moment decision, I wouldn't have reached out to my then Facebook-only friend, Dianne. If I hadn't reached out to her, I wouldn't have met such an amazing person. Instead of staying at a hotel like I usually do, I took up the offer to stay at her house with her rad housemate, Maria. Dianne and I hit it off the moment we met...like we've been friends for years. I don't think I've ever laughed so much or so hard in one weekend. It's almost scary because we have a lot in common too! Genuinely real. At the end of the day, I couldn't help but think about how happy and natural my life felt; how people come and go so quickly in everyone's lives; every once in a while, a rare gem walks into your life. When that happens, grab onto it tight and don't let go because one genuine friendship trumps a million superficial ones. What perfect timing, restoring my faith this holiday season. Happy, happy Thanksgiving...cheers to many more laughs.
Oh, their cat Puddles and I hit it off pretty well too...
My weekly miles prior to the Philly Marathon, starting from August: 27, 26, 24, 28, 30, 33, 11, 24, 3, 46, 42, 19, 32, 24, 28, 23. That's an average of 26 miles per week...only a third of what most people run when training for a marathon. I wouldn't recommend doing it this way. I train for Half Ironman races (where you swim 1.2 miles, bike 56 miles, and run 13.1 miles), so I can kind of get away with running less since I'm riding so much during the season. It works for me and I wouldn't change anything. But, a full marathon is a different beast. I didn't have much time to transition from triathlon to marathon mode; no matter how badass someone thinks they are, it's pretty difficult to fake it and muscle through a full marathon.
I did the best I could to train with a nagging knee injury, making sure to get to the start line healthy. The gun went off, and in the back of my mind I knew I was going to run into a wall...I just didn't know when it was going to happen. I felt as light as ever during the first half of the marathon, but then it drastically started to go downhill around mile 16. That makes for a very long, long ten miles. It got so bad at times, I considered walking or even dropping out. I finally crossed the finish line in utter relief. 3:03. Good, bad, and so much fun all at the same time. Good because it's a fast time for such little run training, bad because I know I'm going to sign up for another marathon so I can do it the right way, and so much fun because I've been revitalized.
If it wasn't for my spur of the moment decision, I wouldn't have reached out to my then Facebook-only friend, Dianne. If I hadn't reached out to her, I wouldn't have met such an amazing person. Instead of staying at a hotel like I usually do, I took up the offer to stay at her house with her rad housemate, Maria. Dianne and I hit it off the moment we met...like we've been friends for years. I don't think I've ever laughed so much or so hard in one weekend. It's almost scary because we have a lot in common too! Genuinely real. At the end of the day, I couldn't help but think about how happy and natural my life felt; how people come and go so quickly in everyone's lives; every once in a while, a rare gem walks into your life. When that happens, grab onto it tight and don't let go because one genuine friendship trumps a million superficial ones. What perfect timing, restoring my faith this holiday season. Happy, happy Thanksgiving...cheers to many more laughs.
Oh, their cat Puddles and I hit it off pretty well too...
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