Marathon Recap

Marathon Day has finally come and passed. I crossed the finish line and I am not dead. I repeat, I ran 26.2 miles and I am still alive. The day started early for me. I woke up at 4 AM. I got dressed, got my stuff together, made some peanut butter banana toast, grabbed my coffee and was out the door by 5 AM. I got to Westgate at 5:20 and hopped on the bus which left less than 10 minutes later. I happened to make the first bus leaving so that was nice. I got out to Verrado right around 6 AM so I had about an hour before the race started. My running partner Aislinn had just gotten dropped off there, too. I did some warmup/stretching and got my sunscreen on while sipping the last of my coffee. We got in a last minute port-o-potty trip and then checked out bags right before the race started. The sun was just starting to come up but the weather was perfect for running. We made a good effort to not start off too fast and I think we did really well with that. The first 6-ish miles was basically straight before we turned into some neighborhoods. The golf courses were nice and we even saw a coyote staring down some ducks by one of the little golf course lakes. The first half of the race went pretty well. We stopped to pee at mile 16 and then saw my family at mile 17 before heading in to Luke Air Force base. Throughout the 1.5-ish miles through the base there was someone cheering every 100 feet.  It was really cool. We saw my family again at 20 and I was still feeling okay but then when we saw them again at 22 I was hitting the wall. I actually started to panic a little and my sister was there ready to run with us and with some cold water. I calmed down, but it was really hard for me from 22 on. There was not one specific part of me that was in severe pain, but I just felt heavy and emotionally exhausted. The last 6 miles was also almost all straight so not too exciting. We had a pretty good hill at 25.5 miles and after that I just really needed to see that finish line. My official time was 4:25:35 but my watch actually hit 26.2 about .3 miles sooner and I paused it while I peed so nike plus says my fasted marathon is 4:18:09 and I like that. Looking back, I really feel okay about the first 22 miles but that finish was hard. I could not have done it without Aislinn and I am so lucky my sister ran the last 4 as well. It sure is mental at the end there. I am also super grateful for everyone who came out along the way and for taking pictures/video. I had a burger and french fries for lunch and treated my self to two beers with dinner that night. It was also nice to not have to work today! I went to a restorative yoga class last night for some deep stretching and I think that helped, although I probably looked like an idiot because I had to use my hands to get my legs to extend, haha. I do have Ragnar with weekend but my legs are pretty short and then after that I don't have any running on my agenda. I know that lots of people run marathons but to me, it is still a really big deal. It was hard for me. I trained a lot and running has never come naturally to me. My youngest is only 17 months old and 17 months ago I weighed over 200 pounds. I am not sure if I will ever do one again but I am very proud to be a part of the 26.2 club.

 

 

Getting on the full runners bus at 5:20 AM

less than a minute before we started

My sister made the girls shirt

not enough fluids in the world

thank you Krystyn!

the last hill

just want to finish! 

done!

complete exhaustion

my people

so thankful for this lady and for my body being able to carry me 26.2 miles. 

Weekend in Review

This past weekend went by fast! I actually left work early on Friday for a dentist and PT appointment and then met my family for dinner at Café Rio. It was my first time and I thought it was delicious. I had a salad with black beans and grilled chicken and that creamy tomatillo dressing was amazing. I only used a little of it and saved the rest and had it with a salad on Sunday. Everly was spoiled with Cold Stone by my sister and was drinking up every last drop of ice cream. My mom asked if I do that and of course, the answer was no, because my ice cream never has time to melt, haha. That grilled chicken salad was the perfect pre-run meal for my 20-miler Saturday morning. It still looks weird for me to even type that. I ran 20 freaking miles...and didn't die. It was the last long run of our marathon training and it feels so good to be done. I don't regret deciding to train for a marathon, but you definitely have to be willing to give up a lot of time. By the time I got home and took an ice bath and showered, I just wanted to take a nap, haha. Don't worry, I did, just after a little shopping. I knew I wanted pizza after that run so we had pizza at my sister's house Saturday night followed by Culver's because I freaking ran 20 miles. Treat yo self! On Sunday morning we had bagels with my sisters before I headed out to my soccer game. I was sore but I think it helped to get out and run because I feel pretty good today. On Sunday evening we made spaghetti (squash) and meatballs and my sister-in law came over. It was good but after dinner I was just done and ready to sleep. Too bad we had a crazy windy storm and it woke me up several times throughout the night. There might need to be an afternoon espresso in my future!

 

a selfie during our pee/stretch break at mile 12.

 

 

These two!

Ice cream and bagels with Cam...my favorite things!

 

Marathon Training Update

I thought I would take some time to post about the status of my marathon training as I am nearing the end. I have just under three weeks until race day and only one more long training run this weekend (20 miles). I'm not going to lie, it's hard. Running this many miles is new to me and its definitely catching up to me. Our run this weekend will be over 3 hours long. I am starting to have some IT band issues but am working on keeping my legs strong at the gym, stretching, foam rolling, and even added in some dry needling this week. There is no doubt it my mind that I can do it, but I can definitely see more know what it would be like to hit that wall. I haven't really hit it yet, but I know on race day, I will hit it. Thankfully, I have a running partner and hopefully we can talk each other through those walls. One of the upsides to running this much is all of the food I get to eat! So much food! I am already looking forward to my bagel and coffee after I run Saturday. This whole process has been kind of surreal for me. Sometimes when I am running I still can't believe that I am actually doing this. My parents weren't runners and my sister's weren't interested in running a full marathon with me. Running has never come "easy" to me and especially post-pregnancy so I am really proud of myself for working towards this goal. I am definitely dreaming about how awesome it is going to be to cross that finish line in a couple of weeks!

Pre 18-miler

Electrolytes and stretching around 11 miles

Things got a little ugly at the end but the views were pretty

Justin and the girls waiting for me to finish

the girls with me while I stretched

Ev thought my ice-bath pain was funny. She brought me a Barbie.