Life, Post-Marathon

The afternoon of the marathon, it was my knees and ankles that were screaming. Which was a little bit frightening to me; I'm used to muscles pain, but not feeling like my joints had been hammered repeatedly.

When I awoke yesterday morning (Can I just say that I'm incredibly glad we decided to NOT fly home the day of the marathon and NOT be at work the very next day? I can't believe I ever even thought that was a good plan.), however, my joints were fine. It was my incredibly tight Achilles tendons that almost did not permit me to leave the bed. I've never been sore there before, but had to continually stretch all day to just be able to walk.

Today, my quads are a little sore, but that's about it. There's little other evidence that I ran 26 miles on Sunday. My students were duly impressed (but kept asking over and over again, "What place did you come in?" and could not fathom how that was of no concern to me) and I showed them a few pictures. One or two co-workers asked how it went, but I'm not quite sure they even know how long a marathon is and I feel weird about going around making announcements about my mileage.

There's still papers to grade, laundry to fold, and no heat because we've been procrastinating about this whole heat pump thing. I've got pounds to shed from carb loading and bags to unpack.

At least I have the memory of triumph, crossing the line! Anybody else have post-race letdown?

Oh! By the way, they posted chip times and my official marathon time is 4:39:45. Which looks so much speeder than 4:41, right?

So...I'm a marathoner now!

I'm very pleased to announce that both my mother and I are now officially marathon finishers! I loved the experience and am looking forward to many more (though not in the immediate future) marathons to come! My mom is very pleased to mark "Marathon" off her list and have it not return there, thankyouverymuch. Neither of us had any real pain or "hit the wall," even though we're sore and exhausted.

In the weeks and days leading up to the race, I've been surprisingly nonchalant about the whole thing. In fact, I slept okay last night and wasn't even nervous this morning....UNTIL we arrived in downtown Des Moines this morning at 7:00 in the dark and I was freezing under two layers of race clothes, a sweatshirt, gloves, ear warmers, and my winter coat. We ducked inside a building to use the restroom (amazingly, I avoided all porta-potties today, which is an accomplishment within itself) and when we emerged, I could not find my $3 purple ear warmers which caused me to instantly burst into spontaneous, out-of-proportion freaking-out...which I think was my little way of displaying my pre-race nerves. I was distraught over those darn ear warmers and fretted around for a good five minutes while my family offered hats and concerned (over my sanity, not the ear warmers) looks and searched my layers.

Luckily, when we stepped outside into the slightly warmer and lighter exterior, I reached in my coat pocket for my gloves and I discovered my lost treasure! Suddenly, all was right with the world again and I was ready for the marathon!

My mom and I decided to line up and stay a little ahead of the 5:00 pacer. That worked out beautifully for the first half of the race and we frolicked along through the chilly air at a nice, relaxed pace. My family ran from the diner along the course where they were having brunch to cheer for us as we went past at mile 10 and 12.

We started feeling it in our legs and feet after mile 15 and Mom slowed down a little. We stayed together almost to mile 19, but at that point, she gave me the blessing to go on. After taking my remaining gel packs and jelly beans from her (She graciously carried my food in her oversized pockets almost the whole race...I'm not quite sure why I didn't really consider this detail when planning my race outfit. I had some gel packs shoved in the side of my shorts and had to put one in my sports bra in the end), I turned on the iPod and hit the road!

The next 5 miles were fantastic. This brought me back to my training mode: just me, my iPod, and the thoughts rolling around in my head. I felt great, really picked up the speed, and passed dozens and dozens of people. When I approached, then left behind the 4:45 pace group, I knew I was on a roll. I got a little choked up at mile 20, smiled ridiculously big at mile 21, 22, and 23, and went by 24 without even really seeing it. My mind and my body had just kind of glazed over at about mile 20 and I just kept running.

At mile 25, I got a little choked up again (overly emotional much?) and that last mile was not as speedy. In fact, it was pretty rough and for the first time, my knees and ankles started complaining. I considered walking a little bit (up until then, I just had walked at water stops), but I'm pretty sure I didn't. I honestly can't remember since my brain was pretty much mush at that point. I think I just slowed down a little because I was shocked (and yes, emotional) when I very quickly saw the 26 mile marker ahead.

I could barely see the finish banner at the end of the block after the mile marker, but I didn't take my eyes off it for the rest of the race. I tried to gradually speed up and after I hit 26, I really pushed it. I was aware that I probably looked like a total freak staring at the finish banner and making strange noises as I sprinted that tenth of a mile, but I did remember to smile and throw up my arms as I hit the finish line. I could hear my family cheering and I felt all the ridiculously happy and excited euphoria that you're supposed to feel after your first 26.2! I was thrilled with my time, 4:41, and I'm really hoping that my chip time will be a minute or two faster. (It was a very slow and crowded race start...we were shuffling towards the start line for a looong time.)

My mom finished in 5:12 and was happy enough with that time. Our goal from the beginning was to finish and we both did! I feel very proud that I was able to accomplish something I've dreamed of and trained for for a long time, and even more proud that my mom was able to do so with me. How many marathoners have marathoner moms, too?

I'm finally able to check off one of my running goals for this year!

Week 7 of Marathon Training

Even though haven't exactly stuck to it run by run, it has been really helpful for me to plan with the Runner's World Plan. This is my last week of summer before workdays start. Planning and structure are going to be of paramount importance in the coming weeks if I want to stay on track. So, let's see what's in store for this week....

(Oh, by the way, I still have been a total failure at my strength training. Such a failure, that I'm not going to bother with listing it in my plans for right now.)

Monday
1-2 miles, morning (hmm...that means I should probably be running right this second)

Tuesday
4 miles, morning

Wednesday
5-6 miles, morning

Thursday
1 mile, evening

Friday
3-4 miles, morning

Saturday
1 mile, whenever

Sunday
14 miles, hopefully in the morning before church

I'm considering switching my long runs to Saturday and may do so this week. We'll just see how things pan out.

P.S. I had a wonderful first anniversary with my husband in Charleston last weekend! Part of my gift to him was leaving behind my running shoes when I packed. : ) (I ran right before we left on Saturday and right after we got back on Sunday. Saturday morning, I even got to run with my friend Amy who is also training for a marathon, which was a real treat!)

Week 6 of Marathon Training

I've been slightly off my Runner's World marathon training schedule for the past two weeks, but I'm still really pleased with my progress. Without even planning to, I accomplished a past goal I had almost forgotten: to run from the pool (where I used to lifeguard) home.

My mom and I wanted to get in a long run and didn't want to go out and back. (Sometimes I get wimpy on out and back runs and just want to turn around early.) We had this great plan that my sisters would drive us to town and dump us out of the van. Then we'd run home. So we got on g-map pedometer and mapped out our course and it just happened to start on the road of the pool. So, there we were dumped, and we ran. It was hot and hilly, but through some really beautiful backroads. It's so flat where I live now that I was enchanted with the little valleys, hills, and creeks we encountered.

So, we're officially up to half the distance of a marathon! The real excitement though, is that I'm not (that) sore today! My quads are a little tight, but didn't bother me at all on my run. When the two of us ran a half marathon (for which I didn't train) in February, I was crippled for days. It was pathetic.

Anyway...here's the plan for this week. (Yes, I am starting over again with Making the Cut.)

Monday
1 mile, ran this morning

Tuesday
2 miles, evening
JM Making the Cut Day 1

Wednesday
4-5 miles, evening
JM Day 2

Thursday
1 mile, evening
JM Day 4

Friday
3-4 miles, morning
JM Day 5

Saturday
1 mile, morning

Sunday
4-5 miles, evening (My Runner's World said no long run this week and I'm not going to argue with the experts!)

(Possible) Upcoming Runs

I love running races. In high school, it was more of kind of a love/hate thing because although I like competition, I was always worried about not being good/fast enough for my team. Now that I'm a grown-up though, I just pay my fee, get my t-shirt, and race for me. I can be anywhere I want on the spectrum from uber-competitive to leisurely jog and no one cares. And because most people in my peer group are at home sleeping on Saturday mornings, I can usually get an age-group award, too!

This is my favorite race "trophy." You have to go all the way to an isolated valley in Burke's Garden, West Virginia to run the Varmint 1/2 Marathon, but it is worth it. It's a beautiful race.

Of course, if you're my little sister, you don't mess around with the tiny age-group sheep. She won the women's 5K in 2007 (pictured above) and 2009.

Unfortunately, I live in a fairly isolated part of the state, so I'm not really on the race circuit. I have to plan a little more carefully for races, instead of just going into town for a Saturday morning 5K. Here's what I'm looking at for the rest of 2009.

July 25
Salisbury Greenway 5K with my sisters

August 22
Spruce Pine Springmaid Splash Trail 10K
*This one's a maybe-I've wanted to do this extreme race for years. You go through woods and creeks and pastures and all. It's right before school starts back though, so I don't know if it's logistically going to work out.*

September 5
Lake Waccamaw: Take the Lake, 15 miles with my mom
*I might do the lake swim again on Labor Day...we'll see.*

October 18
Des Moines Marathon!

December 12
Charlotte Thunder Road Half Marathon
*This is another maybe. One of my good friends from high school is running the marathon and I'm thinking about possibly doing the half if I can be in that region.*

If we're at my parents' for New Years, I would LOVE to start 2010 with the Running of the Lights 5K at Tanglewood at the stroke of midnight! My husband cannot think of ANYTHING more idiotic than this race, but I'm in love with the idea. : )

What fun races are y'all planning on? Are there any more in North Carolina (or upper South Carolina) that I shouldn't be missing out on?

Week 3 of Marathon Training

It's now less than 13 weeks until the Des Moines Marathon! Here's the plan for this week:

Monday
1 easy mile, evening
Jillian Michaels Workout 1

Tuesday
3 miles, morning
Jillian Michaels Workout 2

Wednesday
3-4 miles, evening

Thursday
1 mile, evening
JM Workout 4

Friday
4-5 miles, first thing in the morning
JM Workout 5

Saturday
1 easy mile

Sunday
10 miles, first thing! This will be my first double digit run since....maybe the end of 2007. It's been a while.

Marathon Training Plan

So last post, I answered the what and why questions. There is a very important question yet to answered, how am I going to get ready for this marathon?

Runner's World ran a 16 week training plan in their July issue called the "The RW Marathon Challenge" with modifications for busy runners, injury-prone runners, those looking for PRs, and first timers. I'm following the first timer plan with a few tweaks here and there. The first long run starts at 5 miles (which is completely attainable for me right now) and builds to a 20 mile long run before tapering. On the scheduled "rest" days I'll be just doing a short easy 1 mile.

The other component that I tend to neglect is strength training. Remember how I'm one of those people who have to learn the same lesson over and over again? When I look back, those times that I was running AND strengthen training AND cross-training where the times that I was the fastest, fittest, and happiest.

So, I'm dusting off my Jillian Michael's (did I ever mention how I'm obsessed with Biggest Loser?) "Making the Cut" and following her circuits for strength/cross training. I bought this book several months ago and have never made it past Day 4 of the workouts. I had busy as an excuse before, but no excuse now! I'll let you know how it goes.

Des Moines Marathon, Here We Come!

So, you might be wondering, "Why is someone who has been running very minimally in the past few months, and only six miles at the longest, registering for a marathon? A marathon in Iowa?"

The Iowa part is easy to answer; my grandparents live there and I have not seen them in almost two years.

The marathon question requires us to back in time.

When I was a freshman in high school, I had this secret fantasy of being on the cross county team. Which seemed far-fetched at the time, because my childhood athletic career had been pretty laughable. I was the disgrace of the YMCA softball and basketball teams. My teammates sighed with dismay each time I stepped onto the field or court. In three years, I never scored a single point in either sport. (That absolutely cracks me up now, but seemed pretty tragic to my chubby middle school self.) I could not shake this thought though, that I was meant to run on the cross country team. The first time I shared this dream with my one my classmates, he laughed in my face. I still remember the look of bewilderment on his face, "Isn't that, like, over 3 miles?"

But, I ran anyway. I loved cross country. I was never super fast, but I was in the top twenty for my county senior year and that was enough for me. (By the way, five years later, my little sister is now the fastest cross country runner in the county. *heart swelling with pride*)

By my freshmen year of college, I was ready for another challenge. It seemed absolutely crazy at the time, but my mom and I decided to race a triathlon. I had swam (by the way, for what's it worth, I'm actually a far superior swimmer than runner) and run in high school but was pretty out of shape. My mom hadn't seriously run since before I was born. We completed the Angel's Race Triathlon on my 19th birthday and have never looked back. Together and separately (and now with my younger sisters as well), we have completed too many 5Ks, 10Ks, biathlons, triathlons, and half-marathons to count. (Okay, honestly, she's done way more me. It's impossible now to imagine my mom going more than two weeks without collecting a race t-shirt.)

Obviously, the final (at least as far as I'm concerned) frontier is the marathon. A few years ago, I trained for about four months for a marathon. I was up to 17 miles and absolutely obsessed and ready. Unfortunately, a few weeks before race day, a nagging knee problem reached the point of serious knee injury. Doctor's orders were no running for at least a month, lest I wanted to permanently ruin my knee. Crying and disappointed, I had to put away my running shoes and couldn't run the marathon. My mom said there'd be another time.

I've got a hard 16 weeks of training ahead of me, but I'm ready.

Y'all, it's time.