First, I am finally acknowledging that I am running my first marathon.
For the longest time, I’ve been telling myself (and others) that I “have a marathon race number” and we’ll see how my legs hold up – not really committing. I’ve been nervous about getting injured or just not being able to handle the training.
I’ve been training for my marathon, but I think I am to the point that I can admit
I. Am. Running. A. Marathon.
St George Marathon in October. My very first 26.2 miles. I’ve been to lots of marathons and can “kinda talk the marathon lingo”. But in 5 shorts weeks, I will be wearing that “finishers” t-shirt and sporting the medal.
Today marked my FIRST 20-miler training run for my upcoming marathon.
I’ve been thinking about it a lot. I’ve been reading up on tips for long runs. My dear running bud hunted me down last night at our Ward Hoedown to bring me a cookie “for good luck on you first 20 miler”. She totally understood my nervousness and I was so grateful for her sweet gesture! Plus the cookie was divine!
I’ve run 17 miles and many short miles, but this is the farthest I’ve been run. There were crazy logistics to running this morning. We were having our Ward Rodeo, so I needed to be finished by 7:00am. AND my running pals ran a marathon last weekend, so they needed to run shorter today.
So at 3:20am I rolled out of bed, changed into my running clothes and headed out for 8 miles before I caught up with my group. It was already very warm, humid, and very dark. I charged up 4 miles, stopped and watered/gu’ed up and charged back 4 miles.
My dear running friends met me at 5:00am. We headed out for 12 more miles. Running with friends is absolutely essential when training for a marathon. I’ve gotten up at crazy hours and driven to crazy places just to be with a pal. It is that important!
Immediately after we started, I started to feel pukie. Ugh….last weekends race is still near and dear and I didn’t want 12 miles of the pukes. I could tell I was starting to slow down. Self doubt and weakness crept in. “There is NO way I am going to be able to run 20 miles much less a marathon”. This is the part, where my dear friends taught me about kindness. While I struggled for 3 miles (and when I say struggled…well …..it was ugly), my dear friends showed me endless encouragement.
I think while running poorly, sometimes we are stripped of our pride and any “fronts/barriers” we put up. We become raw and all insecurities shine through. The great thing is that “true” running friends don’t care. They want to help and carry you through your rough patch. I will forever be grateful for my pals “carrying” me through a few bad miles (and all the other miles too).
During this time, I realized AGAIN how much I have to learn about running. My dear friends taught me gently and kindly about hydration, fueling, the importance of rest days and that I’m not wonder woman!
My mile 14, I was feeling much better and started running at a normal speed. We were getting short on time and I needed to get home to help with Rodeo stuff. But when we finished we would still be short on miles. We decided to run the Ward Rodeo 5k for the final 3 miles. We made it back to my house, jumped in the car and drove to the start.
We got there just in time. It was a great distraction to run with 30 other runners. I wasn’t running at rocket speed, but I felt good and had controlled breathing. I have no idea what my time was (and I don’t really care)!
I hugged my dear friends goodbye knowing they will never understand HOW much I appreciate them and just being there today.
The Rodeo had a kids 1K run. So I joined ran with Carter and Abby. Carter took off with his buddies. I finally caught up with Abby (I was still running slow!!). We held hands and ran through the finish. It was wonderful to be with my girl!
