Pretty Running Pictures

Some pretty pictures from my trail and road runs this week :)

Hard to complain about this site on the trail earlier this week! Even though this run was not super stellar (characterized by a very slow pace and a very ungraceful fall), it was still nice to get outside. 

Today's run, which almost didn't happen. There was, literally, a little black rain cloud that hung around for most of the early afternoon. Just as I had resigned to coming inside to the treadmill, the sun came out and I had one of the best runs I've had in a few weeks! 

Proof that playing hooky is fun once in a while, my husband and I went on a field trip this week to one of our favorite hikes. It's a little hard to see, but most of the little yellow things in the middle are actually Tiger Swallowtail Butterflies on the fire road leading up to the trail! 

The top of said favorite hike (Virginians might recognize Old Rag when they see it). Not another soul in sight :)

On making myself a priority, and other overused running expressions.

Well this summer has been pretty insane. I got married. I moved. I wussed out in the heat. I gained weight.

I also ran a couple of awesome trail races. I found some beautiful new shoes (review to come). I'm in a good place with my mood and self-worth.

This has been a rough couple of months, but it has been a wonderful couple of months. I am exactly where I need to be and wouldn't change a thing.

If you looked at my MapMyRun profile, you'd see a lot of slower runs and empty weeks. I'm getting better though. This was a 20 mile week for me, so far! They were not my fastest runs, but I ran the whole time. I deliberately went on some hilly courses and some technical(ish) trails to challenge myself. It has been a long time since I've been able to push myself, and risen to my own challenges.

"I'm putting myself first"
Yeah, this is cliche. Like - I would judge someone for actually saying this. It sounds selfish. It sounds like an excuse to abandon other responsibilities. However, I recently needed to realize that I have completely spread myself too thin. With work, moving, getting ready to move again, teaching, writing my dissertation, adjusting to married life, and keeping up an apartment for two all vying for my attention, things started to fall through the cracks. Earlier this summer, even THINKING about running made me feel guilty. I started to realize, however, that the drop in physical activity messed with my metabolism, my sleep cycle, and my ability to focus. A couple of weeks ago, I took advantage of the cool weather and my temporary unemployment to....

"Just start running"
I didn't necessarily want to. But I knew that I didn't feel good, and that when I was running I felt good. So I laced up my sweet Topo Fly-lites and went out for a 3 mile run. While I had gone on little runs characterized by "run a little bit, stop my watch catch my breath, repeat", I made myself keep moving on these runs. I made myself promise that once I started my watch, I would not pause it or stop it until I had finished the mileage that I had set out to run. It paid off.

"Practice makes perfect"
Something that had been pretty discouraging all summer was that my endurance and my pace wasn't as high as it had been all summer. This fall almost none of my runs had been over a 10:00min/mile pace. Now they're almost all over 11:00min/mile. More often for not I would just throw in the towel. "What was the point?" I would find myself thinking. Eventually I was able to step back and say to myself "Yeah, idiot, of course you aren't going to run as fast as you did back then. Of course you won't run as far as you used to. You've been sitting on your butt since March." Even though I didn't particularly want to, I was going to have to revert to my earlier skill level, and work back up to where I had been before.

I'm still building myself back up. I have 9 weeks left until my next race - The Anthem Richmond Marathon. This means that I'm diving right back into the middle of the Hal Higdon training program, and doing a 10-mile run this weekend. Let's see how that goes!

Shamrock Marathon and 8k (Whale Challenge) Race Report

I've been on a pretty long hiatus. Honestly it's because I didn't have a lot that I wanted to talk about. I had been having some pretty serious stomach problems, and it really took a major dent out of my training. Honestly, my longest run leading up to race weekend was 10 miles. Other than that I had a couple of 8 mile runs, and handful of 6 mile runs. I'm not proud of that at all. I didn't deal with these issues as proactively as I should have, and as a result I didn't perform as well as I should have. But I'll get to that in a minute.

I had been looking forward to running the Shamrock Marathon since the moment that I finished the Outer Banks Marathon this fall. I was so determined to train for it, and I had planned on having a major PR and basking in the glory of all of my hard work. However, as you may have noticed from my last few posts, that simply didn't happen. For physical and psychological reasons, I was not able to get the training in that I needed to. So as the time approached for race weekend, I realized that I would need to make a decision. I could either forfeit my entry and stay home that weekend, or I could go rough it and see what happened. For reasons mostly unrelated to running, I decided that I needed to push myself and do what I could do, whether that meant finishing with a really slow time or not finishing at all. I had signed up for the Whale Challenge, which was going to be especially hard, because I was going to have to run 5 miles one day, and 26.2 the next! I basically walked into this race expecting to fail, but wanting to find out one way or the other.

My mom came down to hang out with me that weekend, and I think it really helped. I'm a grown-up, but I will always love my mom in the stands cheering me on, or there for me afterwards ready to kiss my boo-boos and give me a big hug. Worst case scenario (DNF), I would still get a fun girls' weekend out of it!

On Friday night we went to the race expo, checked into our hotel, and had a wonderful dinner filled with all of the seafood that we didn't have access to while living in the mainland. We were NOT about to pass up an opportunity to get truly fresh shrimp, oysters, scallops, and crab. It was awesome.

Expo goodies!

The 8k took place on Saturday morning. Our hotel was gracious enough to provide a shuttle, so I took that to the starting line. When I got there, the sun coming up over the ocean was picturesque.

The race went pretty well. I ran at an average pace of 9:31/mile, which was frankly better than I had expected. I really wanted to treat that race as a warm up/shake out for the marathon the next day. It was a lovely day, I felt very fresh, It really was like a nice easy training run. Except that I got a medal at the end!

Later that day we were able to get our toes in the sand, and enjoy some mother/daughter relaxation time. I think we both really needed it.

See what I mean?

The next morning was absolutely scary. I couldn't sleep the night before, I hadn't trained as much as I should have, and there was nothing I could do about it now. I pinned my bib, packed my GUs, and got on the shuttle.

I don't remember a lot between getting there and the race actually starting, except that it was sort of cool to see Mike Wardian starting off. He was participating in the King Neptune Challenge, which meant that he ran the 8k on Saturday, and the half marathon and full marathon on Sunday. After following him online it was pretty inspiring seeing him run in person.

Once the race started I felt ok for the most part, but around mile 6 I was thinking "oh crap. This is going to be the worst, longest, most failure-filled day ever. I cannot wait for this to be over so that I can sleep in the car on the way home." However, around mile 8 the course had wound its way through Camp Pendelton, and we were greeted and cheered on by lots of servicemen and women!! That was a huge pick-me up. By then the sun had come out, and the breeze was nice, so it really had turned into a lovely day to get out and run.

Around mile 13, my stomach started to feel really lousy. For the first time during any race EVER, I needed to stop and use the facilities. Also I'm a girl, and that thing that sometimes happens to you when you least expect it.... totally happened. Oh well. You move on. Thankfully, at about mile 13.5, the course ran by the hotel where my mom and I were staying, so I was able to see her! She gave me a big hug and it meant the whole world to me. I just kept chugging.

I'm not sure what I was thinking after that, but I remember waiting for it to get psychologically worse, and it just didn't. Looking back, miles 13 and 14 were probably the lowest points in the race, but after that I turned off my iPod and just soaked up the scenery.

We ran through the woods, and ran past a mile marker for the site of the first colonists landing! The history geek in me was really excited to see that.

After that, they lined the course with what can best be described as a huge number of leprechaun puns, one after another after another for at least a mile. The daddy's girl in me laughed at every single one of them.

Next we ran through Fort Story, past the lighthouse that Alexander Hamilton had built in 1792.

Then we ran past the community of military families, who had awesome signs and were cheering us on the whole way, even though at that point they had been outside for at least 2 hours watching people run by. That was awesome.

By then, we were looping back on the course that we had run before, I knew we were getting close. Every building was familiar, and a sign that I was getting closer to the finish. around mile 23 I just started booking it. I passed person after person. One runner said "Wow you've got a good run going!" and I replied "I'm really close to a PR, and I don't want to leave anything left on this course!"

I gave it everything I had until I reached the finish. That's right, I made it to the finish. I finished the marathon in 4:48:56, which is a 2-second PR from the marathon this fall. I took my medals, my packet of snacks, met my mom and we drove back home where my awesome fiance was waiting for me :)

Such bling. Much challenge. Need beer. Wow.

Disclaimers
Ok, now that I've documented how awesome it felt to do what I did, I need to clarify a few things. First of all, I do not endorse running with the amount of training that I put in for this race. I think it helped that I had run a marathon 4 months before, and was able to ride on that fitness. However, my recovery for this race has been significantly longer and more painful than recovering from the last race. I hurt much worse for longer, and I was, in general, more exhausted. Exhausted to the point that I needed to call home from work on Monday afternoon, which is simply don't do.

I went out for a 4 mile run today and felt like I was starting at square one. I honestly felt like I hit the wall during this run. WHO DOES THAT?! I just ran a marathon and more than a week later I'm bonking at mile 3.5? What!!!?! Honestly, these are the side effects from under training. I am now working significantly harder to resume training than I should have because of it. Thankfully I don't think that I'm injured, but I do think I've done temporary damage at the very least.

Time to start training for the next big thing. Anyone know of a good 50k training program?

Winter Running

Over the last few days, I've managed to get in two really great runs in the snow. On Sunday, I went on a nice 4.5 mile run, when the snow was melting and the sun was shining. On Monday, I had a break during work and I was able to squeeze an 8.2 mile run in before heading back. Here are a few things that I learned:

1. Trail shoes work really well for keeping your footing in snow/slush. Having a little extra grip was really helpful.

2. Be prepared for wet feet. Snow will melt on your shoes, but as it warms up there might also be melted water underneath the slush. It's not hard to deal with, but it can be alarming.

3. Switching between the roads and the sidewalks can be a little scary. Not everyone has their sidewalks cleaned, and that's ok. Running in bike lanes and on road shoulders usually are usually par for the course. However, snow plows usually don't usually prioritize bike lanes and shoulders (again, that's ok). Just be aware that this may cause some awkward hopping back and forth between the snowy shoulders and the clean road to avoid traffic.

4. Running in the snow is beautiful. Honestly, running this weekend was so invigorating and exciting. I was running on a route that I run all the time, but with the snow this route was like I had never seen it before. My routine had become something special.

The snow is gradually melting. I'm not sure if we're going to get any more this year, but I'm going to put my shoes on as often as I can to play in the snow while it's here.

6 week marathon training

Time to turn the training up to 11.

On Saturday I had my longest run in a long time. I ran 8.22 miles at a very respectable pace. If I honestly felt like I could have gone longer, if I had started my run a little earlier before sunset. The best word to describe how I feel now is 'jazzed'.

I got my calendar out and counted the weeks leading up to my next marathon. 6 weeks. There are 6 weeks between now and my next marathon. *gulp*.

Increasing mileage really does need to be a priority for me above everything else. However, I'm starting to feel limited by my strength and flexibility on my speed. I'm going to focus on compound lifts, and follow the 5x5 program from StrongLifts. I want to make sure that I'm focusing on my core, and that I'm evenly strengthening my muscle groups. I've always enjoyed doing squats, but having huge quads with relatively weak hamstrings could result in increased injury. I think, for that reason, it's important to stick to a training plan.

When I pulled out my calendar to look at events to train around, I realized that the upcoming months are the busiest of my entire life. One weekend in February we're going to go to visit friends out of town, another weekend we're headed back to visit my family for our wedding shower. Recently I took over as coordinator for our church's care cluster, which is taking over at least 3 Monday evenings coming up. Wedding planning also needs to be kicked up a notch, and so does work towards my thesis.  My fiancé and I recently took over the role of coordinators for our young adult small group. So... there's a lot to work around.

When my college friends started switching to taking notes on the computer and on their iPads, I stuck to my trusty spiral notebook. I felt like making a physical copy of my training schedule might bring the same feeling of careful planning and study that I gained from taking notes and study guides in class. It so did. I'm going to try to do this for all of my other training schedules from now on!

It's a lot to juggle, but I want to make sure that I'm setting myself up well for success, without putting myself in a position where I might be injured. Here's roughly what the next 6 weeks should look like.

Week 1
Sunday - Rest from running. B day lifting (Squats, Overhead Press, Deadlifts).
Monday - Rest.
Tuesday - 6 miles.
Wednesday - 2 easy miles. A day lifting (Squats, Bench Press, Bent Over Rows).
Thursday - 4 fast miles. Rest from lifting.
Friday - Rest from running. B day.
Saturday - Valentine's Day hike!!! :D

Week 2
Sunday - 16 mile long run.
Monday - Rest from running. A day.
Tuesday - 4 easy miles. Rest from lifting.
Wednesday - 3 easy miles. B day.
Thursday - 6 miles.
Friday - 2 easy miles. A day.
Saturday - 3 easy miles.

Week 3
Sunday - 13.1 mile race (Sentara Colonial Half Marathon).
Monday - Rest from running. B day.
Tuesday - 4 miles easy. Rest from lifting.
Wednesday - 2 easy miles. A day.
Thursday - 6 miles. Rest from lifting.
Friday - Rest from running. B day.
Saturday - Traveling.

Week 4
Sunday - 10 miles
Monday - 5 miles. A day.
Tuesday - 2 miles. Rest from lifting.
Wednesday - 7 miles. B day.
Thursday - Rest.
Friday - 3 easy. A day.
Saturday - Traveling.

Week 5
Sunday - Traveling
Monday - 10 miles.
Tuesday - 5 miles. A day.
Wednseday - 3 miles. Rest from lifting.
Thursday - 2 miles. B day.
Friday - 2 miles. Rest from lifting.
Saturday - 18 miles.

Week 6
Sunday - 3 miles.
Monday - 6 miles. A day.
Tuesday - 2 easy.
Wednesday - 2 easy.
Thursday - REST
Friday - REST
Saturday - Shamrock 8k
Sunday - SHAMROCK MARATHON

We'll see how this shakes out!

Back to Fitness

Well that was hard. I had been so proud of how, in the past I had used running as a tool to overcome emotional strife, body image problems, and self-esteem. I had conquered everything, and had some shiny medals to show off as proof. I think I had actually deluded myself into thinking that I had solved all future problems because of the transformation I had gone through.

I suppose I didn't explicitly say it in my previous post, but I've been struggling a lot with depression over the last couple of months. It started with problems at work, and then over time my anxiety about work started bleeding out into my personal life. My relationship with my roommates fell apart, my relationship with my fiancé was strained, I spent a huge percentage of my visit home to my parents sitting in my childhood bedroom crying my eyes out. Needless to say, things got out of control. I went to my doctor for some help getting out of the hole that I was in. The medicine she gave me definitely pick myself off the ground. I was able to follow through when problems cropped up, and actually feel like I was in control of my life again.

However, the particular version of that medication that I was taking had some side effects that were sort of lousy. For one thing, the medicine made me hungrier than any amount of marathon training ever did. I don't mean emotional eating, or "I'm bored so I'm going to forage in my kitchen", I mean stomach-rumbling legitimately hungry. This was a horrible combination, because the other lousy side effect that it came with the medicine was general digestive distress. Sometimes I was nauseous, sometimes my stomach was really cramped, sometimes I feel sort of acid-ish, just generally kind of bad. And, it was especially bad while I was running or walking.

So... now I'm up a few pounds, but generally feeling a lot better about my emotional energy. Now it's time to get my physique back to where it was. I think I can do it. I need to get myself in shape for the Shamrock Marathon on March 22. Time to get my shoes back on!

Time to brag about my awesome coach (fiancé)

OK, I'm going to brag about my fiancé for a little bit.

My future husband is a champ. He is incredibly goal oriented, and picks up new hobbies/skills/talents/expertise very quickly. When he sets his mind to something, it gets done quickly and it gets done well. He's a great racquetball player, and takes weight lifting very seriously. He's in incredible shape, and is very knowledgable about how to accomplish his fitness goals.

When we met, I had been running for a few months. I had a couple of 5k races under my belt, and had finished my first 10k a few weeks earlier. Early on we talked a lot about our fitness routines, and he made it very clear that although he could run, he had no interest in ever doing it ever.

In the spring, he decided that he wanted to run a race. At that point my plan was still to run the Anthem Marathon, so I suggested that he might like to do the 8k that morning while I was doing the marathon. So he signed up, and we made plans to go for a run together in the near future.

Well, it didn't go super smoothly. For a number of reasons. First of all - he's about 8 inches taller than I am. My fastest and largest strides at that point were still so slow that if he stayed at my pace, he was basically walking. Secondly - the state we live in can best be described as 'balmy' during the months that he was training. Going on his first outdoor run was definitely a huge shock with respect to breathing and sweating. Third - the neighborhood we were running in was very hilly. The route we went started fairly flat, and only got hillier.

Not that that stopped him. He worked a running plan into his already very busy workout schedule, and stuck with it.

When we got to the 8k, he informed me that his goal was to run the 8k in about 45 minutes, but he expected the race to take more like 50 minutes because he was still walking sometimes during his training. He asserted this more than once while we were frEEEEEzing at the starting line. Once the race started though, he was OFF. I was able to keep an eye on his red sweatband for a little while, but I had lost him by mile 1.

At the finish line I got my medal, got my water, and then tried to find him. I found him sitting on a stoop with his medal around his neck. Contrary to what he had thought, he had not only run the entire distance, but he had finished in 40:38!!!!!!!! 10 entire minutes faster than he had expected.

I'm so proud of him. When I found him at the end of the race I completely forgot about my own time and my own race. I was so excited for him, and so happy that he had exceeded his own expectations.

Even though running isn't his favoritest physical activity ever, he's really really good at it. He's also a really great coach for me, because he keeps me accountable. He asks me all the time what my training plans are, how they're going, what my times are, etc. With his knowledge of lifting and strength training, he's also very good at providing me with strength training suggestions. He's good at taking issues that I have, and diagnosing what is going on, and offering suggestions for how to fix them.

We're getting married in a few months, and we've talked a lot about the future of my running. I know that time is going to be tight when we're working and moving. When we have kids, it's going to be hard to work time in to go on a 15 mile run on Saturday mornings. More than once, he has looked me in the eye and said "I'm going to make sure that you have what you need to keep this up." If that means entertaining the kids when he gets home from work so that I can get an 8k in before dinner, or taking care of breakfast on Saturday mornings so that I can get my long runs in, or making sure wherever we live that we have a treadmill in our basement so that I can get a run in during kids' nap time.

I'm one lucky girl.

My favorite things (fuel)

Before a long-ish workout, I definitely need to eat.... something. If I'm running first thing in the morning, I try to eat something easy to digest and that I can absorb quickly. One easy source for that I have on hand are Honey Stinger Waffles. The vanilla and gingerbread flavors are DELICIOUS. Like... dangerously delicious. As in I want to snack on them all the time. Delicious.

During my long workouts, I try to use gels about every 4 miles. After a lot of experimentation, this seems to be my sweet spot for preventing epic bonks. Some of my favorites include Salted Caramel Gu and Banana Hammer Gel. Unlike Hammer brand gels, most Gu gels contain caffeine. Sometimes I want caffeine, sometimes not. I like having both options just in case.

I'm recovering with strawberry whey protein after my weight workouts or speed/medium distance workouts. I'm not trying to bulk up, so I just mix one scoop (about 170 calories) with water to have after my workout.

After my long runs, I want to make sure that I'm replacing carbs as well as protein. For that I use Hammer Recoverite. I use single packets after runs longer than about 14 miles. I would probably use them more often if they were a little less expensive, but it is worth it once every week or so.

In general, this plan is working pretty well. I usually feel like I have enough juice to get me through my workout, and I'm usually not hurting so bad the next day. 

Race report - OBX Marathon

After a year and a half of running, I have made it to a milestone that I never thought I could reach. It took a lot of practice, a lot of trial and error with food, a lot of experimentation with cross training and weight training, and lots of emotional ups and downs.

I worked through Hal Higdon's Novice 2 program. I stuck to it pretty closely, although towards the end I missed 20 mile run, and had to cut some of the mid-week runs a little shorter. This is a mistake I don't want to repeat in the future. I think there are problems that I had throughout the race that would have been fine otherwise.

Originally, I had planned on running the Anthem Richmond Marathon on November 15. I started the training plan with the intent on finishing at that time. However, after I signed up, my fiancé and I were invited to a wedding that we absolutely wanted to attend. Because I didn't know how well my race would go, or how long it would take me, I didn't want to risk missing or being late for the special event.   When I talked to my fiancé about it, he said something to the effect of "You've been working so hard on this, you need to find another one to do." He's incredibly persuasive.

I went online and searched for marathons that occurred over a weekend either before or after the November 15th weekend. That left basically two choices - either the Philadelphia Marathon on November 22, or the Outer Banks Marathon on November 9. Both seem like pretty cool options. Honestly, I'm adding the Philadelphia Marathon to my bucket list. A combination of seafood cravings, the desire for peaceful beach time, and the fact that I was so excited and wanted it to happen RIGHT NOW made OBX the right decision for me. I booked my hotel the week before, very abruptly tapered (improperly, for sure), told my roommates where I was going the day before I left, kissed my fiancé goodbye and drove to the race expo on Saturday.

I was pretty antsy on Saturday night, for sure. Having the Ohio State vs Michigan State game on wasn't calming me down any (Go Bucks!). I called my parents, Facebook-chatted with my roommates, caught up on my blog reading, tried to do some work, but wasn't really able to focus. Around 10:45pm I got a phone call from my fiance. It didn't last very long, but hearing him say "Good luck" and "I'm proud of you" and "I love you" were exactly what I needed to hear. Even though he wasn't with me, I knew he was cheering me on.

OK - Sunday morning. I downed a banana and some Honey Stinger Waffles and a diet coke and headed to the parking lot where the marathon runners were meeting. I walked over there with a really sweet woman who was also there by herself (Shout out to Jessie!). She had run this once before, and gave me lots of tips on the subtleties of the course, and strategies to take to finish the race. Once we got to the start line, I double checked that I had my keys, that my water bottle was full, that I had all of my delicious salted-caramel Gu packets stashed away, and that I had my camera pulled up on my phone so that I could snap pictures along the course. I found corral C. I jogged a bit. I stretched.

Someone came over the speakers saying a prayer over the runners, and after that it felt like we took off very suddenly. I remember having a fleeting thought "Wow, I'm running now, and I'm probably not going to stop for another 4.5 hours", but it didn't seem terribly daunting at the time. Everything was so beautiful - the sky was beautiful and dark and overcast, the road was lined with tall soft pine trees, and the only sound I could hear was the sound of the feet hitting the pavement. It sounded like rain on the roof. We ran through Kitty Hawk, and were cheered on by lots of sleepy people drinking warm coffee.

We also ran through Kill Devil Hills, and ran around the Wright Brothers Memorial! Yay Ohioans! I apologize for the wacky sideways-ish photos. It's the best I could do.

A major 'plus' to this race, is that throughout the entire course, there was a lot of participation from the residents of the neighborhoods that were along the course. Many of them were out with signs and were playing music and high-fiving us as we ran by. Not once, but TWICE I passed a house that was passing out mimosas. As delicious as that sounded, I wasn't sure it would be a good idea for me to experiment with booze at this point in the race. Nevertheless - 10 points for house Kill Devil Hills.

At about mile 10 (I think), the course transitioned from being run on roads to a trail that went through a wooded area. Having my feet land on soft sandy trails was a nice change from the pavement. However, something I was not prepared for was how hilly some sections of the trail were. Around mile 11, I was passed by the 4:30 pace team, and I realized that my pace had dropped from about 10:10 minute miles, to close to 11:00 minute miles. Definitely discouraging. The harder I tried to run, the more it felt like I was running up a down escalator. Thankfully, there was a much needed much appreciated aid station run by Stack 'Em High that had oranges and bananas and banana bread. YUM. After scarfing down what I can only describe as the best orange I've ever tasted in my life, I kept moving out of the woods and past the half marathon mark.

Things started getting especially rough in Nags Head, around mile 17. I knew the big bridge was coming up, and I wanted to get to it and conquer it. The miles started going by slower, I was averaging closer to 11:30 minute miles. I was losing track of when I had eaten my Gu's, and became nervous about taking in too much or not enough. The crowds had thinned out, and I was running with people who looked like they were progressively in worse shape (not with respect with general fitness, but just with respect to fatigue). My feet were pretty sore, my legs were pretty sore, but the worst by far was my back. I felt like I had been kicked in the kidneys. The muscles between my shoulders were so tight. From the base of my neck down to the bottom of my spine just really really ached. Around that time, the course went back to the main highway going through OBX. Seeing a huge straight highway ahead of me was very psychologically overwhelming. After taking so many jogs around neighborhoods, beaches and trails, seeing only a straight patch of highway ahead of me felt insurmountable.

Eventually, I saw the bridge. I saw the bridge, and started my mantra (/prayer). "Dear God, give me the strength to beat this hill. Dear God, give me the strength to beat this hill" etc. I repeated that for about a mile leading up to the bridge. I repeated it as I was climbing up the bridge. Around the top of the bridge, I started saying "Thank you God for getting me here. Thank you God for getting me here", because I knew the hard part was over. At this point I was at mile 24, and the energy of the town of Manteo (home of the finish line) was bringing me back up. People in cars started waving and honking and cheering for me. Around mile 25.5, I started seeing people who had already finished the race walking back saying "You're so close! You can do it!"

At mile 26, I started running with a guy that I hadn't seen since the start of the race. We turned a corner, and he looked over at me and said "You got anything left? Come on let's sprint this! You and me let's go, we can do it!" I didn't think I had anything left in me, but with his encouragement I was able to tap into the last bit of energy I had and I powered to the finish. Thanks, Nelson. I didn't hear what your last name was when we got to the finish line, but thank you.

As soon as I could, I called my mom and my dad. I had a hard time talking, I was torn between wanting to move and wanting to crash. I was starving. I was having a hard time focusing on their questions and figuring out how to answer them. Even though I'm 25, it's still really cool hearing my parents say that they're proud of me. I was able to process that at least. I wandered over to the food line, and redeemed my free pulled pork sandwich and sweet potato fries at them in about 3 minutes, and chatted with a couple of other lone-wolves (Is it appropriate to pluralize 'wolf' when talking about more than one 'lone-wolfs'? I'm genuinely not sure).

I wandered back to the bus that took me back to the parking lot, I got into my car and started the drive home. Once I was actually coherent, I called my dude and told him aaaaaaaaalll about it. He promised me a massage (and totally delivered), told me again how proud he was, and I drove home basking in the glow of marathon-ness.

In conclusion....
1. Having good cheerleaders makes all the difference in the world.
2. I'm glad that I picked a race with lots of variety in the course. For the majority of the race, I was left trying to guess what was up around the corner, and what I'd get to see next.
3. Thanks to Jessie and Nelson for giving me a confidence boost at the start, and showing me what I'm made of at the end.
4. I'm STOKED for the next marathon. Bring it.

How I got to my first marathon

I started running in March of 2013, and on Sunday I completed my first full marathon.

Couch to 5k

When I started running, I was pretty flabby. I don't just mean that I had gained weight (I totally had), but I also frankly had no muscle tone of note to work off of. I started with a pretty good couch to 5k plan recommended to me by a friend. I found pretty quickly that rather than keeping track of time with a watch (run for 60 seconds, walk for 30 seconds, etc), it found myself keeping time with songs. Here's how that works: I broke songs down into units (1 unit usually consisted of a chorus, or bridge, or verse of a song). I would run for a unit, walk for a unit, run for a unit, walk for a unit, etc. For me, it helped being able to ride on the energy from the song for the running bursts. I eventually worked through the program, and even found myself getting impatient during the walking periods, and accelerating through the program faster than I had expected. I completed my first 5k on May 11, 2013 (http://www.montpelier5k.com)

5k to 10k

After the 5k, I just kept increasing my weekend long runs to get to 6 miles. Honestly the only thing I changed is that on the weekends I incrementally increased my long run mileage. I ran my first 10k in September 2013 (http://www.pepsi10krun.com).

10k to 13.1

My race registration/goal strategy can really only be described as impulsive. I'm not sure what happened, but I signed up for my first half with no real sense of whether or not it was something that I could accomplish. I signed up, printed off Hal Higdon's Novice 2 Half Marathon training program, and stuck to it (for the most part). As I had with the previous two training periods, I pushed my long run mileage farther than the training program had suggested. I finished my first half marathon on April 5, 2014 (http://www.charlottesvillemarathon.com). Fun fact: I registered for my second half, which took place 3 weeks after the first half (http://www.runthevalley.com/park-to-park-marathon/)

Half to Full

Remember what I said earlier about being impulsive? I registered for my full marathon as soon as I had finished my first half. Originally, I had planned to to the Anthem Richmond Marathon (http://www.richmondmarathon.com), but due to scheduling conflicts I needed to change my plans about 3 weeks before the race. I deferred my registration until 2015, and signed up for the Outer Banks marathon, which was one week earlier. I had been working through the Hal Higdon Novice 2 Marathon training program, and with that change in schedule, something had to give. In my case, it was the 20 mile long run.

I'll save the actual race report for another post, but I want to talk about how my training and how I feel about my preparation.

1. My long run peaked at 18 miles, that I did 4 weeks out from the race. I ran most of my long runs outside, but I actually managed to run one of my 14mi runs, and a couple of 12-13mi runs on the treadmill. Boring? yes. Tedious? yes. Invoking strange images from gym personnel? yes. However, it was kind of cool to mess with pace and incline in a way that I would not have been able to on the road. For example - it was fun to mimic hills once in a while by adding an incline. When I'd do this, I would keep the speed the same, forcing me to practice climbing faster than I would have otherwise.

2. Working up to my long runs, I would bring several gels (either Gu or Hammer gel), and a water bottle. After a few epic bonks on my 15, 16, and 17 mile runs, I finally figured out how many calories I needed and when. Turns out the magic formula for me is about 1 gel about every 4 miles. I really like Hammer Gels (chocolate and banana) and Gu (salted caramel) for during the run. Afterwards, however, I prefer to have peanut butter flavored Hammer gels for before and after. They tend to be a little thicker, and have some more protein than the other gels, it's just easier for me to eat and digest while I'm not running.

3. After my harder effort workouts (either long workouts or higher intensity workouts), I would drink shakes after the workout was over. After hard workouts (both hard running workouts and weight workouts), I would follow it with whey protein. I wanted to make sure that I was giving myself all of the amino acids I would need to help out my muscles. After long runs, however, I would drink a Recoverite shake (Hammer nutrition). Recoverite is more carb heavy in addition to having protein, so it helped me start to reset my glycogen stores. Once I started incorporating this into my post-workout routine, I felt much better the next day, and I was able to work better during the next workout.

4. Where I'm training is, in general, much hillier than the majority of the Outer Banks course. I think this was helpful for some portions of the race, but didn't get me as far as I had expected. When I got to the race there were hills, and they were very different than I had prepared for.  I think I need to prepare for my next marathon 'smarter' with respect to terrain, definitely.

First marathon - check! I cannot wait for the next....