I Got Married Then Ran a Marathon
Well not immediately, that would be crazy. I obviously went to the reception first.
October 6, 2012:
One week later, after a mini-moon in Santa Barbara (where we didn't run once, oops) we laced up our running shoes to run the Nike Women's Marathon in SF. I ran this marathon last year as my very first and even though it was hard, immediately knew I wanted to do it again (nothing to do with the firemen handing out Tiffany necklaces, I swear!). Last year I had never run more than 13mi and had a rather rough 2nd half. This year I was more trained, having completed a half ironman last month & running several longer distances in training runs (not as many as I should have though, which I learned at mile 21). Kevin (my new husband, YAY!), Lisa (my new sister-in-law!) and I all ran as a group with a Jambox and an epic Spotify playlist for shared tunes.
2011 recap:
Rough start regarding my *ahem* digestive system. Problems started immediately and I had to make several pit stops during the first half. Stabbing pain, general bad things happening to my guts. It eased up about half way through. Around mile 15, my back & ankles began to ache. My shoulders were a bit stiff but my legs still felt strong. At mile 17, EVERYTHING was hurting: back, knees, ankles, toes, shooting pains in my shoulders. Miles 19-23 (aka around Lake Merced aka the Lake of Running Death) were grueling at best. I hit a MAJOR wall. My running was more like plodding on in misery. I was dizzy, lightheaded, seeing stars randomly. It was nearly impossible to get my legs to run after walking through the water station. There was the Great Shoe Untie of 2011 at mile 23 when I almost fell to the ground, my legs refusing to push me to standing. Miles 24-26 I was near tears, my body completely wracked with pain, exhaustion and soreness (I'm immediately concerned about what I consider "fun")
For 2012:
No tummy problems, yay! General pain in lower back began again around mile 15/16 but much less than last year. Knees, ankles, toes felt fine through most of the race. My inner thighs tightened up but we would stop and stretch them (plus sore backs) every few miles. Still got shooting shoulder pain but it freaked me out less this time. BUT, I still hit the same wall at mile 21/22. Granted it was slightly later than last year but it still happened. I felt dizzy, lightheaded, my legs were refusing to do more than plod along. The last couple miles were really tough, but nowhere near the horror that was last year.
There are some things I can only learn by doing a race more than once. What I learned:
26.2 miles is far. Like really far. And that last .2 counts.
My body has a running time limit. Both years I hit a wall at around the 4 hour mark. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't fully trained last year. And I won't go so far to claim I was fully trained this year either but I was leaps and bounds ahead of last year. The major difference was my level of post-race soreness. Last year I was hobbling around like Frankenstein. This year, I had a bit of tightness and light soreness but nothing beyond a tough strength workout at the gym. The real pain was in my knee joints & my ankles from consistent pounding on the pavement for nearly 5 hrs. Less time on the course means less pain after? Maybe.
Long training runs are important*. If I would have done a few 4+ hour training runs, I would have known how my body responded & could have learned the above before race day. *HOWEVER, I do not think long training runs have much benefit beyond that. By doing an abundance of cross training, my legs muscles were more than capable of carrying me 26.2 miles. Running a ton of mileage at a super slow pace is going to do nothing for you. I think lower mileage at a higher intensity will prepare you just fine for a marathon. Being able to run faster will limit your time on the course and prevent a lot of the suffering I've mentioned above (this, of course, is just my opinion). Less time on course= less pounding on knees/ankles.
Run in a group. Having people with me the entire time was amazing. I felt like we were all struggling at different times and helped each other through it. A marathon is an extremely trying and emotional race and having a support system of people I care about by my side the whole time was pretty incredible. People on the sidelines cheering you on is also important, but a person that is taking every step you are, battling with the same fatigue, wrestling the same demons..THAT is truly amazing. (The music didn't hurt either)
Know how to suffer. Know that it's going to be hard. Embrace the pain and know that you are strong enough to overcome it.
26.2 miles is really f*cking far
After this race, I realized I have a lot to work on before our ironman next September. A marathon is no joke. A marathon after biking 112 miles is downright terrifying. I'm thankful that I've learned the lessons above now and can structure my training accordingly. Also, I know that I need to run at least one more stand-alone marathon to test my training before IM Lake Tahoe. Wish me luck.
Newlywed marathoners
