I guess I should do an official post on the marathon. I mean, I did spend 4.5 months training for it. The training was one of the hardest things I have ever done. I went out twice from July-Dec 1. I went to two football games & only tailgated for one. If you know me, you know how painful that was for me. I think I picked a great season to run a marathon though- I didn't miss much. Watching some of those games was actually more painful than my runs were.
My running was schedule was: TWR & Saturday with cross training on Sunday. Wednesdays were the longest weekday runs. I got up to 10 miles. It was rough. I ran outside in the dark in the mornings at 5, so I could get the run in before work. I literally can not run in the afternoons. I was so tired from chasing after heathens all day & had ZERO motivation. I got up at 5am every Saturday morning & was running by 7am. A lot of times, it was dark for the first hour. I had no social life & I was completely boring. I also had the appetite of a 15 year old boy. I ate ALL. THE. TIME. Greek yogurt & protein smoothies were my BFFS. Let's be honest, still are. I have a serious obsession with Cho, but anyway.
I got sick twice during training- once early with the stomach virus & then the week of my last long (22) mile run, I got a nasty cold/sinus infection. I, thankfully, got meds & was all better pretty quickly, but I didn't get to do the full 22. I was worn out 10 miles in, so I had to change it up a little bit. I feel like I could have done better if I hadn't gotten sick, but such is life.
This is the runner's version of arm candy
GoSportID, Garmin & Shop All Tied Up bracelet
The GoSportID is awesome bc it has 2 sides- one with emergency contact info
& I put a Bible verse on the other side: Hebrews 12:1
This was just a normal Wednesday run. I was exhasuted all the time.
I DID IT! 20 freaking miles.
Rog & I went to Memphis on Friday, Nov 30. Kathy took me to the expo downtown which was not crowded at all. We picked up all my stuff & the girls' things, as well. I was so proud to be a HERO! & raise money for those sweet kids.
We loaded up on Hero goodies! St. Jude is so awesome & I am so happy I picked this marathon to run.
The only pic I have of the 3 of us from Friday night! Dan made a great spaghetti dinner for all of us & I was asleep by 10pm. I slept GREAT. I was so surprised because I could not sleep at all the night before my first half.
I think Little Miss was more excited than any of us about this whole thing! She & Oscar made signs!
I ran the first 13 miles without seeing anyone I knew, but because it was fine because the first 16 miles had great crowd support. It was probably the most fun race I've ever done. There were water stations basically every mile which was awesome. It was a HOT day for running & for December. It was 72 degrees by the time I finished. They were handing out cold towels at several stations & I was SO thankful. That really was the best thing ever.
Start Line- eek. I was not nervous, but I did have to hold back a few tears when I first walked up. I had worked so hard.
I don't know if you can see this, but this is CHLOE! It was so cool to see her. This was about mile 12 & I wanted to scream out "I KNOW HER! I KNOW HER!" But I didn't ;) This was obviously near the end of the half marathon & people were really happy at this point.
FINALLY! I saw my friends & I was so happy!!! This was mile 13 & I was still feeling pretty good, but it was HOT. I think it was close to 11am at this point.
I saw Amy, Nick, Rog, & the kids around mile 16! I was not feeling my best, so I decided to listen to music, but since I don't listen to music normally, I hated it. I stopped around mile 18 to try & throw up. I hadn't ever stopped during a long run, but I really needed to throw up. It was so hot & I wanted to run faster, but I couldn't. Anyway, the last 8 miles were flat & boring with MINIMAL crowd support. The only people I remember seeing were some frat boys running a water station & my dad at mile 23.5. OH & the beer shots at mile 22! HA!
Never once did I think that I wasn't going to finish. I had worked too hard for too long to not finish. I would have crawled across the finish line if I had to. By the end, I was running 3 minutes & walking 1. I was SO over it. As soon as I rounded the corner into AutoZone park, my friends were waiting for me. That was the BEST! I have never been happier in my life. I could see Amy & Chloe in our suite when I finished which was awesome.
BE WARNED! GROSS PIC BELOW
This is what happens when you run 26.2- GAH-ROSS.
I could not walk after I sat down in that chair. It was horrible. Also, I had my shirt on backwards the entire time. I didn't notice it until I was in the car on the way home. Bahaha what? Who doesn't notice that??
Anyway, I ran it & I do not think I will ever run one again. The training was too much on my body & my social life ;)
Marathons are hard work :)
SO thankful for all the support I had!
SO FUN!
I took a few days off after the race & then began a reverse taper until...
Today marks week 3 of the boot & week 4 of no running. I am going NUTS! I never realized how much I loved running & how sane it kept me. Riding the stationary bike has been torture.
I think this was God's way of telling me to slow my roll. I have only been working out every other day & not doing near as much as I used to. I hate it. I have been working on my upper body which I did not work on at ALL from July-December. I need to be looking good for Charleston in 2 months.
Anyway, I finished a marathon & I am so proud of myself! I can't wait to run the race this year - the HALF! It was absolutely the best. The crowd support was phenomenal & running through St.Jude campus was SUPER cool! Seeing those sweet angels was so inspiring.
I lost my phone charger, so I don't have a cord to upload any recent pictures. I need to work on that this week. Oh & I definitely thought I would cry multiple times during the race, but I never did. I was so shocked. I was so hungry when we got home & SO looking forward to dinner. We got dinner & my order was wrong & I LOST IT. Uncontrollable sobbing. I had been holding it all in & that set me off. So funny! I needed to let it out :)
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