"Get me to the airport
Put me on a plane
Hurry, hurry, hurry
Before I go insane."
~The Ramones
October? More like ROCK-tober! This month started with a race weekend, is ending with a race weekend, and had countless miles of both running and driving crammed in between. Sadly, my weekly training brain dump has taken the back seat but here's the long and short of it.
Training for a marathon is hard.
The miles. The maintenence. The eating. The hydrating. The recovering. The mind fuck. And oh yeah, the being a wife and mom and coach and having a job and running a business. Hard. All of it. Trying to do all of those things while minimally impacting my family life at the same time is one of the most challenging things I've ever attempted. But along with the exhaustion, this month has brought so much satisfaction. I feel like I'm doing exactly what I'm supposed to be doing right now, and I get 26.2 miles through New York City to celebrate it all.
That's not to say my training has been stellar. It's been meh at best. My left leg never got the memo that we were going to crush this training cycle and therefore never got on board with all the speedwork my coach and I had planned. With the exception of the first few weeks and a handful of runs in these later weeks, I rarely got into beast mode during training. I've struggled with disappointment over that, but there have been no pity parties. Because guess what...I still get to run the New York City Marathon!!! I've still been healthy enough to put in the miles to prepare my body for a marathon, even if those miles were (in my own ridiculous opinion) nothing to write home about. I've had to let go of Plan A and work Plan B as hard as I could, and that should come in handy on race day.
When I ran my first (and only) marathon, I often compared the training and the race to pregnancy and childbirth. It's physically and emotionally draining. The excitement, anticipation, and fear of the unknown are enough to drive you batty. Race day comes, and it hurts and it's harder than you imagined. Then you cross that finish line and for a brief moment, you forget every bit of pain and suffering you just endured over the last 26.2 miles + 16 weeks of training before it. Elation. Relief. Amazement that you did what you just did.
For me, it took a bit of time before I was ready to do it all over again. As if by magic, the stars aligned to bring me back to my roots in New York for my second marathon, and it's already been so different than the first time. This time, I have a team of big hearted people sharing this experience with me, and the race is almost secondary to the work we did just to be able to toe the line. Together, Cancer Better Run has raised $16, 225 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. A drop in the bucket when it comes to the cost of cancer research, treatment, and patient support, but it's a number we're incredibly proud of.
This time, I'm feeling pure excitement as I go through a three week taper. 12 days out before my first marathon, my body had betrayed me with IT band syndrome and even walking was painful. If there wasn't already doubt that I could run a marathon, this certainly brought it to the forefront of my mind. Today, I know my body may rebel a little, but I know it is capable of running strong in New York.
This time, my spirit is energized. 11 days out before my first marathon, my mother-in-law, Peggy, lost her battle with cancer. I ran Shamrock just a week after we laid her to rest. Three and a half years later, this loss is still more profound than I ever imagined. My family has been forever scarred, and raising money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society has been my way of giving cancer a big ol' middle finger. Cancer may have won that battle, but the war is still raging. And since my engagement ring features the diamond Ryan's dad gave Peggy when they got engaged, I'll be carrying her with me for a 26.2 mile, 5 borough tour of New York City. Happy early Birthday, Peggy.
I'm ready. I'm so ready. The Big Apple is waiting and I'm ready to take a bite.
If you'd like to follow along, the best way is to download the New York City Marathon app. It features a calendar of race weekend events, spectator course maps, and live tracking of your favorite runners. Search "TCS NYC Marathon" in your app store to download it for free. If you plan to be out on the course, please text me or send me a Facebook message so I know where to look for you...I'll need all the good mojo I can get! I'm hoping to get another post in next week, but time is tight so this might be it until the race recap.
October? More like ROCK-tober! This month started with a race weekend, is ending with a race weekend, and had countless miles of both running and driving crammed in between. Sadly, my weekly training brain dump has taken the back seat but here's the long and short of it.
Training for a marathon is hard.
The miles. The maintenence. The eating. The hydrating. The recovering. The mind fuck. And oh yeah, the being a wife and mom and coach and having a job and running a business. Hard. All of it. Trying to do all of those things while minimally impacting my family life at the same time is one of the most challenging things I've ever attempted. But along with the exhaustion, this month has brought so much satisfaction. I feel like I'm doing exactly what I'm supposed to be doing right now, and I get 26.2 miles through New York City to celebrate it all.
That's not to say my training has been stellar. It's been meh at best. My left leg never got the memo that we were going to crush this training cycle and therefore never got on board with all the speedwork my coach and I had planned. With the exception of the first few weeks and a handful of runs in these later weeks, I rarely got into beast mode during training. I've struggled with disappointment over that, but there have been no pity parties. Because guess what...I still get to run the New York City Marathon!!! I've still been healthy enough to put in the miles to prepare my body for a marathon, even if those miles were (in my own ridiculous opinion) nothing to write home about. I've had to let go of Plan A and work Plan B as hard as I could, and that should come in handy on race day.
When I ran my first (and only) marathon, I often compared the training and the race to pregnancy and childbirth. It's physically and emotionally draining. The excitement, anticipation, and fear of the unknown are enough to drive you batty. Race day comes, and it hurts and it's harder than you imagined. Then you cross that finish line and for a brief moment, you forget every bit of pain and suffering you just endured over the last 26.2 miles + 16 weeks of training before it. Elation. Relief. Amazement that you did what you just did.
For me, it took a bit of time before I was ready to do it all over again. As if by magic, the stars aligned to bring me back to my roots in New York for my second marathon, and it's already been so different than the first time. This time, I have a team of big hearted people sharing this experience with me, and the race is almost secondary to the work we did just to be able to toe the line. Together, Cancer Better Run has raised $16, 225 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. A drop in the bucket when it comes to the cost of cancer research, treatment, and patient support, but it's a number we're incredibly proud of.
This time, I'm feeling pure excitement as I go through a three week taper. 12 days out before my first marathon, my body had betrayed me with IT band syndrome and even walking was painful. If there wasn't already doubt that I could run a marathon, this certainly brought it to the forefront of my mind. Today, I know my body may rebel a little, but I know it is capable of running strong in New York.
This time, my spirit is energized. 11 days out before my first marathon, my mother-in-law, Peggy, lost her battle with cancer. I ran Shamrock just a week after we laid her to rest. Three and a half years later, this loss is still more profound than I ever imagined. My family has been forever scarred, and raising money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society has been my way of giving cancer a big ol' middle finger. Cancer may have won that battle, but the war is still raging. And since my engagement ring features the diamond Ryan's dad gave Peggy when they got engaged, I'll be carrying her with me for a 26.2 mile, 5 borough tour of New York City. Happy early Birthday, Peggy.
I'm ready. I'm so ready. The Big Apple is waiting and I'm ready to take a bite.
If you'd like to follow along, the best way is to download the New York City Marathon app. It features a calendar of race weekend events, spectator course maps, and live tracking of your favorite runners. Search "TCS NYC Marathon" in your app store to download it for free. If you plan to be out on the course, please text me or send me a Facebook message so I know where to look for you...I'll need all the good mojo I can get! I'm hoping to get another post in next week, but time is tight so this might be it until the race recap.
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