Time: 3:10 AP: 9:46 (1-8 miles on my own) 9:53, 9:57, 9:52, 9:41, 9:17, 9:21, 9:46, 9:43 (9-17 miles with group) 10:04, 10:07, 10:14, 10:53, 10:15, 9:44, 9:22, 9:35, 9:05 (17-20 miles with Ward Rodeo 5k/1k) 9:24, 9:24, 9:30 My family blog entry:
First, I am finally acknowledging that I am doing a
marathon.
For the longest time, I’ve been telling myself (and others)
that I “have a marathon race number” and we’ll see how my legs hold up – not
really committing. I’ve been
nervous about getting injured, just not being able to handle the
training, and worried that I just won't be fast enough.
I’ve been training for my marathon, but I think I am to the
point that I can admit
I. Am. Running.
A. Marathon.
St George Marathon on October 1. My very first 26.2 miles. I’ve been to lots of marathons and can “kinda talk the
marathon lingo”. But in 5 shorts
weeks, I will be wearing that “finishers” t-shirt and sporting the medal.
Today marked my FIRST 20-miler training run for my upcoming
marathon.
I had been thinking about it a lot. I had been reading up on tips for long runs. My dear running bud hunted me down last
night at our Ward Rodeo Hoedown to bring me a cookie “for good luck on you first 20
miler”. She totally understood my
nervousness and I was so grateful for her sweet gesture! Plus the cookie was divine!
I’ve run 17 miles and many short miles, but this is the
farthest I’ve been run. There were
crazy logistics to running this morning.
We were having our Ward Rodeo, so I needed to be finished by
7:00am. AND my running pals ran a
marathon last weekend, so they needed to run shorter today.
So at 3:20am I rolled out of bed, changed into my running
clothes and headed out for 8 miles before I caught up with my group. It was already very warm, humid, and
very dark. I charged up 4 miles,
stopped and watered/gu’ed up and charged back 4 miles.
My dear running friends met me at 5:00am. We headed out for 12 more miles. Running with friends is absolutely
essential when training for a marathon.
I’ve gotten up at crazy hours and driven to crazy places just to be with
a pal. It is that important!
Immediately after we started, I started to feel pukie. Ugh….last weekends race is still near
and dear and I didn’t want 12 miles of the pukes. I could tell I was starting to slow down. Self doubt and weakness crept in. “There is NO way I am going to be able
to run 20 miles much less a marathon”.
This is the part, where my dear friends taught me about kindness. While I struggled for a few miles (and when
I say struggled…well …..it was ugly), my dear friends showed me endless
encouragement.
I think while running poorly, sometimes we are stripped of
our pride and any “fronts/barriers” we put up. We become raw and all insecurities shine through. The great thing is that “true” running
friends don’t care. They want to
help and carry you through your rough patch. I will forever be grateful for my pals “carrying” me through
a few bad miles (and all the other miles too).
During this time, I realized AGAIN how much I have to learn
about running. My dear friends
taught me gently and kindly about hydration, fueling, the importance of rest
days and that I’m not wonder woman!
My mile 14, I was feeling much better and started running at
a normal speed. We were getting
short on time and I needed to get home to help with Rodeo stuff. But when we finished we would still be
short on miles. We decided to run
the Ward Rodeo 5k for the final 3 miles. We made it back to my house, jumped in
the car and drove to the start.
We got there just in time. It was a great distraction to run with 30 other
runners. I wasn’t running at
rocket speed, but I felt good and had controlled breathing. I have no idea what my time was (and I
don’t really care)!
I hugged my dear friends goodbye knowing they will never
understand HOW much I appreciate them and just being there today. (I had lots of chocolate milk, cut up oranges, and bananas and I didn't even get to share them!!!!)
The Rodeo had a kids 1K run. So I joined ran with Carter and Abby. Carter took off with his buddies. I finally caught up with Abby (I was
still running slow!!). We held
hands and ran through the finish.
It was wonderful to be with my girl!
Thank you from the bottom of my heart dear running buds for helping me through my first 20 miler!!!!
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