Post-Marathon Thoughts

Well, I'm alive. Barely.

So, the race didn't go very well. Turns out that you have to actually train for a marathon. In my two marathons, I've now made every rookie and veteran mistake imaginable.

1.) Rookie mistake: I trained well but went out way too fast and bombed at the end of the race.

2.) Veteran mistake: I figured I had this whole marathon thing down and didn't train---like, at all.

Wisconsin marathon time (5/5/12): 4:24:46

Chicago marathon time (10/7/12): 5:19:29

Almost an hour slower. Wow.

I'm disappointed. I'm not happy with my time but I have to admit that this was a very humbling experience. Turns out that if you want to do well, you have to actually train for it. It's a good metaphor for life.

I kind of scoffed at the "slower" runners before. But now I know: Every mile is a battle, whether or not you're fast or slow. In fact, I'm now a firm believer that slow runners have to fight for longer and are therefore stronger people.

Despite my time, I still had fun! My 5 goals remained in my head and I have to admit that they got me through the race. I really enjoyed the course and I made sure to keep my head up and enjoy the crowds and the energy of it. Chicago really is a great city and the marathon highlighted the best parts of it!

My two favorite signs seen on the race course:

1.) Do Epic Shit

2.) You've been training for this longer than Kim Kardashian was married

So, I'm going to learn a few lessons, pick my head up, and keep going. Marathons take guts and commitment and pride. And so, I'm proud of myself.

Sean and I on race morning! 

Blisters after the race

Post-race Chinese food!

Pre-Marathon Thoughts

The Chicago Marathon is tomorrow. Wow. Wow.

I have not been looking forward to this marathon. My summer training, in one word, sucked. The heat and humidity really bothered me and I am going into this undertrained.

But I got excited for the race yesterday. Really excited. All of my friends were asking about it. My office even put together and signed a good luck card for me! I was so amazed and flattered by their support.

My first marathon (the Wisconsin Marathon in May) was small. I was running with only a handful of people for a lot of it. But Chicago? The Chicago Marathon is huge. And I'm learning that the whole city gets behind you! Everyone comes out and watches it. My friends who aren't running the race will be making signs and following my progress with some pretty cool racing apps (check out RacerChaser).

So, yes, I'm getting excited. Finally.

I went to a talk about last-minute marathon tips. Coach Mark said to come up with 5 goals---even if one of the goals is getting to the start line. So, Coach Mark, here are my 5 marathon goals:

1. Get to the starting line
2. Get to mile 5
3. Get to mile 13
4. Don't worry about the time. Run/walk as I see fit. No watches.
5. Head up. Smile. Enjoy it.

Chicago, I heart you. See y'all out there!

Race bib

Good luck card from my company! I love my job!

Cursed

My summer marathon training is cursed. Cursed, I tell you!

Saturday morning I woke up at 4:30 am all gung-ho and ready to conquer 15 miles. I even laid out my running clothes the night before. 

And then I was instantly doubled over, sick.

So, yeah. I didn’t run Saturday. But as soon as I felt better I managed to go to yoga!

On Sunday I ventured out on my own and ran 6 miles. Hurrah! I know that 6 miles isn’t even close to the 15 miles on my training schedule, but considering that I haven’t run for weeks (not kidding, it has been weeks) then it’s not too bad. I ran through my new neighborhood to try to get know the area a little better. In Logan Square, there are these pockets of neighborhoods with gorgeous homes, big leafy trees, and laughing children. But the main roads are dirty with vacant storefronts, trash everywhere, and a crazy amount of broken glass. My apartment is on the intersection of two major roads. Sad panda.

Back to the point. Right now, my marathon training is in salvage mode. I’m already waaaaaaay behind and I’ll miss the crucial 18- and 20-mile weeks because that’s when I’m on a vacation in Lake Powell. I cannot run there, as we are literally on a boat the whole time, but I did just buy some swim goggles to keep up my fitness.

So, new goal: Keep with the biking and yoga, continue running as best I can, and, well, just go out and enjoy the marathon. I know I’m not going to win the thing (*snort*), or even set a PR, but I can enjoy the training and eventually the race if I just relax, do my best, and have fun.

Fun? Fun, you say? Watch, there will be a post as I freak out about the race---again---in just a few weeks.

RUN-GER

I have always wanted to be a writer, but I rarely write. I’m too scared or embarrassed or whatever. But you can’t get better if you don’t write. So here I go.... back to the blog. There’s so much to talk about.

I’ll start with the biggest event that has happened recently: I completed my first marathon!

My goal time was 4:30. My race results were:

I'm so proud of myself for beating my goal time! However, there is room for improvement.

I made the classic rookie mistake of going out waaaaay too fast. I tagged behind two people and before I knew it we were doing 9-minute miles and I felt great! If I was doing the half marathon, I would've PRed. That is, until I hit mile 18. I then slowed down at mile 22 and basically crawled through miles 24-26 (look at my 19-mile split versus my finish time). Oops. My bad.

Beyond that, here are some of my thoughts about the training and the race:

1. Wanna know a great way to NOT lose weight? Train for a marathon. Besides now having a giant ghetto-booty, I lost muscle and got flabbier in the whole training process. The run-ger (running+hunger) was unstoppable. Not even one week after the race and I’m hitting the weights again---and I already feel better!
2. There’s no way I could have done the program without my training group. I trained with CARA and I loved my group and my group leader! I admittedly was horrible about my mid-week runs but I was able to get through the long runs because I couldn’t embarrass myself by falling over or stopping in front of 20 people. Marathon training is all about the long runs. Whatever get us through it, right? Pride is a powerful thing.
3. People who are “runners” are funny. They’re both elitist and yet they embrace newcomers. I had so many runners and friends congratulate me on training for and later completing my first marathon! Their concern and support was surprising and absolutely wonderful!! However, behind the scenes they also like to compare times and gloat about past races and how many miles they “conquered” in a given week. The worst part is that I could recognize these traits because I pass the same judgement in soccer! It’s interesting to be on the other (read: "loser") side of the spectrum. I can only hope that I'll one day be fast enough to be an elitist runner.
4. The course in Kenosha, WI was really nice. It wove through pretty lakeside neighborhoods and some open spaces. I'm glad I picked a smaller race for my first marathon.
5. I never keep my race medals. I'm very superstitious about superstitions. I avoid all of them. I refuse to knock on wood, etc, etc. However, I think I might keep this medal. I fought hard for it, damnit!
6. Am I going to be a regular marathoner? Probably not. Despite this, I am excited to start training for the Chicago Marathon in October. Now that I know what the training schedule is like and now that I have made some of the classic mistakes, I think that now I can become better focused and---fingers crossed---faster.

Overall the experience was a good one. I learned a lot about running and about myself and that's the whole point, right? Right. Tell that to my aching legs.

Andrew flew out from Colorado to come support me! He surprised me with a Snickers bar for after the race (my favorite candy) and massaged me and took me out for margaritas and queso and was overall just wonderful. LOVE!

Even though I called him "the worst pacer ever" in my mile-24-I-hate-my-life rage, I adore Sean. I couldn't have gotten through the race without him! I don't know how he was able to manage running 6-miles with me after he had just PRed in his own half marathon race. This sexy runner amazes me!

Things I’m Learning

1.) Corporate America is all about “teams.” Everyone is on a team. E-mails are addressed to teams. Clients are calling in to speak to their team. Two people, a department, a company… all are teams. There’s no “I” in team, but I need a break from all these damn teams.

2.) I’m not a great runner and yet I’m training for a marathon. Turns out that most marathoners are not great runners. Whew! I thought you had to be an Olympic athlete in order to accomplish this. Nope. Turns out that many of my friends who have completed multiple marathons have walked in a number of them. It’s all about the experience.

I foresee the experience of my exhausted body literally crawling across the marathon’s finish line.