Pre-Marathon Blog

"Life is short... running makes it seem longer." 
-- Baron Hansen


"The difference between the mile and the marathon is the difference between burning your fingers with a match and being slowly roasted over hot coals." 
-- Hal Higdon


"If you want to win something, run 100 meters. If you want to experience something, run a marathon." 
-- Emil Zatopek


So.... I have 3 miles left of training before I run 26.2 miles! I've had this goal for 9 years. It feels so good to be so close to achieving it. And I feel like I've already won. I feel like the hardest part is over. I made it! I trained for a marathon. I wanted to do a pre-race post about my training experience, and I thought it would be fun to document my experience as far as what I've needed/learned about equipment, injuries, etc.

Running Clothes: My philosophy on running is not to buy anything unless you're hurting. Ha. So this is my hodge podge running attire:

Shirt: Zooma race t-shirt (it is perfect. Light, breathable)

shorts: Maroon Cross Country warm up shorts. I've never had a reason to get spandex or any fancy shorts. These are the perfect length and even on my long long run, I've been totally happy with them.

Bra: cheapo bra from Wal-mart. I don't know the brand. It's been worn off. 

Socks:  Swiftwick compression performance socks. These were 15$ for one pair. And I've loved them. I also tried Adidas athletic performance socks, and they are fine too. But for the long long runs, I always wear my swiftwick socks.

Shoes: Brooks Adrenaline. Love, love, love them. I was using Ryka shoes, which I think were good shoes, just not the perfect fit. I broke down and went to a running store (Fleet Feet) and got fitted for shoes. Worth it!

Products used:

Stroller: Babytrend Expedition Jogger: Love it. Got it at a secondhand store. Quick shout out to all you mothers out there who make running with a stroller look easy and romantic, and fun. Running with a stroller is HARD and it took me about 7 months to get used to it!

Hyrdation: Gatorade in a plastic water bottle. Just any old plastic water bottle. And I just carry it in my hand. No fancy belt necessary. I actually really like hearing the rhythm of the water swishing around as I run, and switching it from hand to hand. I didn't use Gatorade until my 14 mile run, and it made a HUGE difference. I would carry the powder in a ziplock bag safety pinned to my shorts, and refill at the drinking fountain along the trail

Recovery Drink: Muscle Milk for the win! I love muscle milk, and started using it after mile 14. Only for the long runs, but it helped me not be ravenously hungry and fill up on junk.I also noticed a difference in muscle tone. Got the powder form from Costco and have used almost the whole thing! 

Icy Hot muscle rub: A lifesaver.

Ibuprofen: started needing to take ibuprofen before and after the long runs starting at miles 9 or 10. This is why I probably will only run 1 marathon in my life. I just think that my running form and biomechanics are poor enough that I would ruin my joints if I were to run marathon after marathon. 

Glucosamine and Chondroitin: Just started taking this in the past week. My knees were starting to feel achy all the time. This helped. 

Mulitvitamin: I used NatureMade Prenatal Multi + DHA, They're horse pills and sometimes make my stomach upset, but I have  150 of them, so I will use them.:) I do notice a marked difference when I don't take them

watch: none. I either just looked at the clock before I left or, used my cell phone. My friend Shannon ran with me almost every long run and she ended up getting a cheap watch. So I benefited from her purchase.:)

Tracking Mileage/Routes:

I ran every long run and then eventually EVERY run on the blessed Greenway bike trail that is miraculously 1 mile from my house. So I would just get up and run from my front door and then once on the trail it marks every 1/4 mile. It is beautiful and scenic and tranquil. I love love love love it, and feel so lucky it is so close to my house.

I started running in January after a bad bout of the holidays and inactivity. I started running 6 days a week to get into the habit of it. 1 mile on January 1st! Then I started running 4 days a week as the mileage increased. As the mileage got more and more I realized I needed another day of rest after the long run, so I dropped to running 3 times a week.  I kind of just ran my own schedule until Mid march, then I looked up the BYU Novice Marathon schedule online and started following that, but just cut out the Monday run, because I needed one more day to rest. As I got injured, I stopped doing the tempo runs but I would do the mileage, because that aggravated my injury and I was struggling to get the miles in at all. I kept track of my miles on my calendar, and only missed 2 weeks of running this whole time. Both times because of injury. My longest run has been 19 miles.

As of Thursday my total training miles will add up to the GRAND TOTAL of: 461.6 miles!! 

Running Buddies: 

Jeff: Jeff has been a huge support. He is not a runner but promised he'd do everything to support me, even running with me. He ran with me on the long run up through the 10 miler, but then Stake Bball conflicted with my saturday run times. I loved those long runs. We had some great talks.

Abi: Abi-girl has been a champ and through many of those 461.6 miles. Luckily there was a month earlier on when Jeff was job hunting, and a month later on, when my friend's husband was out of school, so I didn't have to take here everytime, but when I did she was so good. I timed it with her naps and she would just sleep! Amazing baby.

Shannon: A couple weeks before my half marathon, I told shannon I had decided on the Utah Valley Marathon so I wouldn't have to train during the summer here. It's too hot! It just so happened that she would be in the Utah the same weekend. So a seed was planted. She decided to go for it and came with me on a ten mile run, and decided she would do it. I am so glad she did. It was the perfect last hoorah, as she moved away last week. So glad I'll get to run with her one last time, and we'll both get to accomplish a huge goal. She is the best runner. She is faster than me, but would always run with me a really long distance before breaking off. She would retell books and stories to me and we would have many deep and not so deep conversations! We saw lots of wild life together! 3 snakes, one dead skunk, large and intimidating beetles and ants, lots of deer, redbirds, squirrels and rabbits!

Adrienne:
If it weren't for Adrienne, I might not have ever started. I told her of my goal in September, and then did nothing! She signed up for a half marathon and encouraged me too as well. We ran a few longer runs together in December and January, but her friendship and encouragement was just what I needed to get started!! Thanks Adrienne!

Injuries:

1 black toenail (very early on in training): No big deal

2 pulled inner thigh/groin muscles (one on each leg, both took about 5 weeks to heal) Very very very painful and frustrating. 

1 blister under the toenail= 1 toenail that fell off (moral of the story is CLIP YOUR TOENAILS before long runs) This was actually not too bad. It is growing back nicely. Totally gross looking though, when it happened.

1 runner's knee (started at miles 8, and stopped at mile 12, during training) my left knee

1 achy kneecap (right knee, just started in the last 2 weeks)


Expense:
I tried not to spend money, but it's interesting to keep track and see how things add up
179$- Marathon Registration (I know! This kills me! I waited too long and had to register under the VIP registration in order to have a spot. I "get" to ride on the last bus with all the elite marathoners.... how embarrassing)
112$ Shoes- Expensive, but worth it
16$ Two cans of Gatorade (Frost Glacier Freeze is way better than lemon lime flavor)
36$ One Gigantic jar of Muscle Milk powder
8$ One jar of Ibuprofen (It's gross to think of how many pain pills I've taken in the the past 2 months, but I'm not addicted... I promise)
15$ Socks
65$ Half Marathon Registration (totally counts towards the marathon)
372$ Plane Ticket
Grand Total: 803$ Quite a lot. And I think I did it economically. So, this proves that running is  not a cheap sport. Running a few miles, every now and then: Very cheap. Running a Marathon: Not cheap. I could have gotten a few gym passes for what this has cost me! Good thing we're turning this into a mini-vacation and we're seeing family also. It relieves my guilt. :)

Not too bad, if you ask me!

Am I nervous? No. Not really. 

Am I excited? Yes. I am. But mostly I already feel like I accomplished my goal.

Any expectations for the race? Yes. I want to run it without walking. That's it. My time doesn't matter. My guess is that I will finish in about 4 and a half hours, give or take 15 minutes.

Any worries? I am a little worried about my achy kneecap, and the downward track, and the altitude. 

So, that is my recap of training. I hope to put up pictures and a recap of the race .... after the race!!!