My Book About Marathon Training

As most of my faithful friends know, I am training for my first full marathon. It's very exciting for me because it's something I have wanted to do for several years, and I also never really thought I could actually run such long distances. But I am deep in training, in the middle of week 15 of a 19-week training program. We are in our toughest month, and I want to write down some thoughts about all of this while I am up to my neck in marathon training. (This is such a long and wordy post! I realize I have been doing a lot of that lately, and I promise to come up with something short and sweet soon.)

1. I am training with awesome people, and I know without a doubt that I would not be able to achieve this goal during Spiff's Intern Year without the help of so many beloved people. My neighbor, Kalie, is my dedicated partner. As previously mentioned, we run together throughout the week, pushing our kids in stollers. She is my rock. She is dedicated, committed, and Fast! She is positive, strong, and such an inspiration to me. She has also been kind enough to offer her treadmill for interval and tempo runs when the need has come. And she has watched my children so that I can run. I don't think I will ever be able to train for another marathon again without her by my side.

I am also training with my sisters. One is running her first marathon, like me. The other is a marathon vet. This will be her fourth marathon, and I am leaning completely on her experience as we have traversed distances I have never done before. I am also dependent on the help of her family, who have graciously offered to help tend my children while we run 2, 3, or 4-hour Saturday long runs together. More often than not, Spiff is working on Saturday mornings, and the boys and I have been spending Friday nights at my sister's house so that I can run with the group while her husband and kids have helped with my boys. It's so generous of them that I feel I will never be able to repay them. Because of their help, I am able to achieve my goal when my husband is unavailable, and enjoy time with my sisters and dear friend in the short time I am living near them.

2. I am marveling at how the process of marathon training works. After my first 17-mile run, a good friend, with whom I have run 3 half-marathons, asked me, "What does it feel like to run that distance?!" My response was that it doesn't feel all that different from running 13 miles because of the process. The program builds us up to the distances, and so our bodies and minds are ready for whatever distance we are scheduled to run that day. None of them are ever easy, but some of the longer runs (say 15 miles) actually feel easier to me than a 3-mile run because of the tricks my mind plays on me. I expect a three-mile run to feel easy and be over quickly, but it is still a 30-minute run, which is not an insignificant amount of time. But when I'm all geared up to stick it out for the long-haul, my mind takes it in stride and it almost feels like it's over before it starts. I can't wrap my head around it, and I really don't understand why it is that way.

3. I love being in really good shape! For several of our interval training runs, I went up to a local high school and ran on their track. I haven't done any serious running on a track since I was in high school. I was a fast runner as a kid, but I was never in very good shape. I always wanted to run long distances, but I never thought I could run anything over two miles. So I was a sprinter. I liked the 100 and 200m distances. The 400m sprint killed me. I remember feeling like every muscle in my body had been drained of energy by the time I hit the last straightaway (always in front of the crowd sitting in the bleachers) and that I might literally die (or pee my pants, whatever came first) running the last 100m. I just didn't have a base level of fitness that could get me through that long of a sprint.

Our program included 8 weeks of 400m intervals, starting with 6 reps and working our way up to 16 reps! It was intense, and definitely a battle of wills and endurance for me. But the thing that got me while I ran on the track is that I am strong! I could easily run a 400 lap (and by easy I mean that I didn't have that feeling like my muscles were all suddenly deflated like a balloon), recover quickly, and then do it again and again and again. I am in such better shape as a 32-year-old woman than I ever was as a teenage girl, or anytime in my 20s for that matter. It was an exhilarating realization.

On the flip side of that, I was caught running on the track a few times with some of the high school students doing their track workouts. (I stayed in the outside lane and tried to be as invisible as possible.) I tell you, there is nothing that can make me feel more like a slow old woman than running next to the varsity cross-country team. Their easy run was faster than my all-out sprint!

4. We have endured all kinds of weather throughout this training. The program started in January, so we have run in cold, wind, snow, rain, and everything in between. I don't think I did a track workout when it wasn't so windy that I didn't have to fight a serious headwind on the straightaway. I also got caught in a bonafide blizzard during a track workout. I watched the storm come in, and it started snowing when I was only done with 6 of 16 laps. So I ran the remaining 10 in a snowy, windy blizzard. That's when I realized my dedication to this sport.

5. I have become acquainted with various new ways of taking care of my tired and achy body. My post-long run ritual includes a piping hot chocolate while I sit in an ice bath (gasp!), then a good long time stretching and rolling out my legs on my rolling pin (since I don't have a foam roller). All of this, added to the time it takes to get ready for a long run, travel to where we're meeting, and run means that I am sometimes committed to the Saturday long run for 5-6 hours. And then I'm toasted for the rest of the day, so I can't go too fast or too far during our Saturday activities, and I usually need a nap, too. I have to give kudos to my family for supporting me. They are awesome!

6. And finally, I just have to say how much I love this sport. I love to run. I love being in training and having a set schedule to adhere to. I love long runs. I love being in tune with the elements. I love exploring the city on foot and seeing things I wouldn't see if I'm driving in my car. I love spending time with such good people. I love working hard for this goal, through every painful step.

We ran our first 20-mile run last Saturday. It went well, for the most part, although I was battling sore feet, knees and hips starting at mile 5. As I muddled through mile 19 1/2, I thought to myself, "I'm so tired and sore, I don't know if I could run another 6 miles!" It sort of seems impossible at this point. But my sister reminded me that Mile 20 is "The Wall." It is the point at which so many people think they cannot go on, and then they make it through and finish. I just need to trust the process and have faith that I will be ready on Marathon Day.

Here's hoping that I will be.

***And just for the record, here is what my other little training partners look like while we run! All snuggled up in their coats, hoods, gloves, blankets, heated rice bags, and rain cover. They are my little champs! Gunner will even occasionally cheer me on, "Go, Mama, Go!" He has started asking me when we get up in the morning, "Is it running day?" And, "Are you running with or without kids?" I love my little running buddies!