Alright, so this blog is mainly an outlet for cool ideas and marketing/advertising topics that interest me but I would like to take a moment to write about a little experience called the Twin Cities Marathon.
Last winter a friend of mine asked me to run a 10k with her. Since I knew I could run a 10k, I figured I would push myself to do a half marathon. I
At the finish line of the Get In Gear Half Marathon last spring with my mom (my favorite/#1 fan)
had never run more than 7 miles so I looked up a training schedule and diligently followed the recommended mileage from February through April. Surprisingly enough, on April 30th, I ran my first half marathon with ease. On race day, I woke up feeling sick to 50 degree weather and pouring rain. Not gonna lie, I was dreading the race as my mom drove me to the start line at Minnehaha Park (a tradition that started a few summers ago when I began doing triathlons – thanks mom!!). As I got to the start line and saw the huge crowd of eager runners, I decided I better change my attitude otherwise it would be a miserable day. I stretched out and jumped around until the gun sounded and we were off. At first, there were lots of spectators and the crowd of runners around me was dense. After a few miles the crowd dissipated and the runners thinned out. The rain went back and forth between steady rain to heavy downpour. It was pretty incredible how much of a bonding force the weather was. It was cold and wet and everyone’s shoes were squeaky but when it really started to come down hard, everyone around me just laughed – it was hard not to smile. A few blisters and bloody heels later I ended at the finish line 7 minutes under my goal time. Hell yea! I was sore, but I knew that this wasn’t quite the challenge I was looking for. A couple of weeks later (after a few glasses of wine with friends) I decided to take a huge leap and register for the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon.
I took a break from running during May and started up the training again in June. Since Hal Higdon proved to be the perfect guide for the half marathon, I followed his entry level marathon training schedule for my next endeavor. I trained for 18 weeks. Every day of training, October 2nd (race day) seemed closer and scarier. In the beginning, it was easy to follow the mileage exactly and find time to run 4 or 5 days a week. But then the distances got longer and the weather got hotter. I mean really hot. I mean 100 degree, 90% humidity hot. During July and August I forced myself to wake up at 5AM in order to run before work when the heat was slightly tolerable but it was still difficult to find time to run as much as I should. Friday nights were always kind of a drag knowing that I should go home early so that I could get up and go for a couple hour run in the morning. The long runs (14, 15, 18, 20 milers) near the end were by far the worst. Long, hot, painful, and lonely. The marathon was a personal challenge that I wanted to accomplish on my own so I wasn’t training with a friend or running group. It was just me, my iPod shuffle, and many miles of Minneapolis running paths and sidewalks.
Here are the things I learned from the experience:
- There are SO many beautiful places to run in Minneapolis. Before training for the marathon, I had pretty much only run around the chain of lakes, but I started exploring and found the Minnehaha Parkway trail, West River Parkway, and some awesome neighborhoods near the lakes / south Minneapolis. The only important thing to remember is that for long runs, you should either stash water/gatorade along the trail, or stick to the chain of lakes (where there are plenty of water fountains). I made the mistake of running 13 miles along the river without stashing water and there were no water fountains anywhere! Dry/sour mouth is a horrible feeling that I wish upon no one!
That's me in the bright pink. Pretty excited to see my brother and sister-in-law at mile 14!
- STRETCH AND LISTEN TO YOUR LEGS. These are two things that I failed to take seriously and ended up paying for it. I had two pretty significant injuries during my training: First I tore a small tendon in my foot. Second I endured horrible shin splints. The first injury was apparently not preventable (but it still sucked). The second though, was due to a lack of stretching my calves and running too hard on my long runs. About a month before the marathon I started getting “shatter” pains in the fronts of my lower legs and was in extreme pain while running and even walking. It was horrible and caused more anxiety than necessary. The tendon recovered enough to run and the shin splints weren’t noticeable on race day due to all of the adrenaline but I had to lay low after the race in order for them to heal.
- Aquajog! While waiting for my tendon to heal, I didn’t want to lose out on important training runs. My physical therapist suggested aquajogging. When I first heard her explain how to run in the deep end of a pool I was not interested. But once she gave me the tip of tucking my iPod into my hat, I figured I could survive. I looked pretty dorky, but it was a great muscular workout without any of the harsh impact on my joints. I think it’s a great alternative even for non-injured people.
Sitting down after 26.2 miles. Feeling amazing (despite the look of pain on my face).
- Experiment with different energy gus. I had never needed to use any energy supplements for previous races so the whole realm of blocks, jelly power beans, powerade gu, etc overwhelmed me. There are a million different flavors and forms of energy gu and I tried a whole bunch until I found some I liked. My favorites ended up being Vanilla Clifshots, Fruit Punch Energy Jelly Beans, and Raspberry Clif Shotblocks.
- Get a fan club. My mom has been an amazing cheerleader for me for pretty much everything in my life and the marathon was no exception. But the thing is, 26.2 miles is a lot of ground for just 1 person to cover. So my mom organized a group of friends and family to be spread out along the course every other mile. They all had pink signs with my name on them so I knew what to look for (it’s a lot easier for runners to spot fans than it is for fans to find runners). I honestly have never felt so much support and love! It was great to see familiar faces and receive shouts of encouragement and excitement all along the way. I want to give shout outs to EVERYONE who wrote on my facebook, sent me “go get ‘em” texts, called to wish me good luck, and especially those who got up early and cheered me on from the sidelines. (Thanks to the following people for making it out to the course: Brian Hage, Erica Karasov, Jenny Lynes, Hanna Terhaar, Hilary Lund, Lucy Woods, Hillary Feder, Dan Feder, Karen Feder, Joel Feder, Melissa Mark, Shira Hanovich, Tamar Pentelnik, Joel Ribnick, Sally Almond, Eric Almond, The Hill Family, and Emma Folz – YOU GUYS ARE ALL AMAZING!)
- Get jiggy with it. While I did 100% of my training with my iPod shuffle, I was really glad that I ditched it on race day. There were so many cheering spectators, bands, dancers, choirs, stereos, etc along the route that I would have missed half of the fun if I had been tuned out. I definitely ran my heart out, but when I ran past some blaring music, I couldn’t help pump my fists in the air to the beat of the music. I definitely had more fun and got more people cheering me on by shaking my tail feathers.
- Take the day after a marathon off from work. I knew I was going to be sore. But sore and functional are two different things… The Monday after the race I was hardly able to walk around work and I was wishing I was home covered in ice packs. Lesson learned.
- ANYONE CAN RUN A MARATHON. I know people say this all the time, but I promise it’s true. There were old people, young people, big people and little people running the marathon. If you have the determination and discipline to train, you can do it.
- I want to do another one! During training last summer, I kept saying “This is a one and done situation,” “I’m just crossing this off my bucketlist,” “The training is too much commitment and anxiety.” Well, there was nothing as great as crossing the finish line. It is a feeling that I can’t describe other than I want to feel it again.
Tagged in: Half Marathon, Marathon, running
