Marahon #2 in one week

I can't believe the Chicago Marathon is one week from today, in fact, one week from right now I'll be running. And probably wishing I were blogging instead.  If you've spent anytime with me in the last four months, you know this training season has been long, painful and somewhat disappointing.  I've had to cut back my mileage several weeks and cut back my goal for the race.  I've spent lots of money and time in physical therapy trying to strengthen my core and prevent an injury.  I've felt sorry for myself and thought about quitting more times than I can count.  And sadly, I haven't been blogging about my training.  I was pretty sure I didn't want company at my pity parties.

Thankfully, I have amazing friends, coaches and running mentors.  Brandon, my PT, and Tammy, my running coach, have been telling me there is plenty of time.  I wanted to believe them, but struggled to.  Two weeks ago, I finished a 20 mile run.  And, they were right, trusting the training, I realized I am ready. I didn't worry about time or anything else and just had a fun run.  It was the first time I really, truly believed I would be able to finish this race.  And what a difference that little bit of confidence has made! 

Last weekend I ran the Women's Half Marathon here for the third straight year and had a blast.  And best of all it was pain free!  Last week and this week are both for tapering, dialing back the mileage.  I feel like my mileage has been dialed back all of training, but I'm still doing only what the training plan calls for and not more (even though more is really tempting).

I think marathoning for the second time is harder than the first.  This time I know what to expect.  I know at mile 13 I will wish this were just a half...that I could be satisfied with only ever doing that.  At mile 16, I will think there's not a chance in hell I can do 10 more miles.  Then I will quickly push that thought out and force myself to read signs and look at buildings and anything else to keep me from thinking about what's left.  At 20, I will be ready to curse the day I started running and every run since.  At 22, I will think 4.2 miles away might as well be Australia.  At 24, I will begin to think I might actually be able to do this.  At 25, I will say just 1 more mile - no 1.2 more miles, damn it.  At 26, I will pause (mentally, not actually) and just feel the last .2.  And at 26.2, I will feel on top of the world and ready to slay dragons!

Training for and running a marathon is the hardest thing I've ever done physically & mentally.  But it's also by far the most rewarding thing I've ever done for myself.  It's amazing how strong and confident you feel at the end of 26.2 miles. Now I'm just going to keep telling myself this for the next week.

Keeping Promises to Myself

One of my favorite things anyone has ever said to me about running was said by my friend Bill Evans, he said, "I quit 137 times in the first mile."  This statement describes exactly how I feel about the first mile of a run.  I despise it.  But when I get past it (or the first three miles, usually) the rest of the run is awesome.  That is except for the last few weeks.  I've developed a terrible pain in my hip/butt around miles 6 - 8.  I'm doing exercises, yoga, foam rollers, prayers and anything else I can think of to help it go away. 

Last year, training for the Dublin Marathon was easy (you know as easy as training for a marathon can be).  The additional miles came easily and I didn't really have any extra aches or pains.  This year has been an entirely different experience.  The Chicago Marathon is 60 days away.  It seems so close.  But in running time I know there's still lots of time to train.  I just need to get my body on board with this plan. 

I guess I shouldn't be terribly surprised by this training being more difficult.  The entire year has been has been more challenging than the last few. I would list all of the ways it's been difficult, but I'm trying to derail the pity party train.  I attribute some of my problems in my training now to breaking my arm in May. I broke it on trail run.  I swear runninng is not a dangerous sport, except for the two incidents this year that have lead to broken bones for me and Mark.  I had to take a few weeks off and pretty much went right into marathon training (not the way I suggest starting off your training program).

Check out some of my friend Paige's Fosterisms

On this past Saturday's 15 mile run, which was particularly difficult physically and maybe even more difficult mentally, I thought multiple times about quitting.  Quitting that run, quitting the marathon training, at a few desperate times I even thought about giving up running altogether.  I went so far as to talk to Tammy about riding back with her at the next to last water stop.  But there was something that wouldn't let me.  It was the promise I made to myself to train for this race.

I love to run.  It makes me a better person.  It relaxes me and energizes me at the same time.  These are the things I tell myself when I want to give up.  Keeping promises to myself is something our late pastor, David Foster said a lot. It's a motto I've adopted. And when there's something I don't want to do, it's what I tell myself. It's one of the reason I choose to start again when I want to quit.