twenty six point two

There has been a longer gap in time since my last post. I admit, I have a bit of a history, when it comes to that. Far too often, my blogs end up in that cyber purgatory designated to pages with neglectful owners. If I were to select one quality that I hope to gain through marathon training, it would have to be commitment. Without it, I will not make it past the finish line in May, no question about it. However, the scope of that goal extends far past the race course. 

I suffer from a very serious disorder christened “Shiny Object Syndrome.” I was self diagnosed a few years ago, after I realized how fascinating literally everything is, if you just go pick it up for a bit. It causes feelings mild excitement and enthusiasm on most days, with the occasional bout of intense indecisiveness. By far the greatest setback is the constant underlying sense of being unfulfilled. It can be tempting to try to keep of the “shiny objects,” but the more you pick up, the more likely it becomes that the important ones will accidentally be dropped. How can you bring one closer to really appreciate it when your hands are full? 

So one could say that running this marathon is an experiment in commitment. Obviously the training will take a tremendous amount of that, but I believe that some will bleed through to other facets of life as well. Even now, I feel more focused. I’ve started working harder to plan lessons for my kids, apply to internships, volunteer, even keep up with my friends. Instead of searching for maybes and what ifs, just put one foot in front of the other. The trick isn’t finding the perfect opportunity, it’s working like hell to build it for yourself.

Phew! Now that I’ve gotten those philisophical thoughts off my chest, I can give you all some updates. Last weekend, I ran 9 miles for my long run. We had a massive snowstorm the day before, but it was bright and sunny and the smell of pine from broken branches mixed uniquely with the smell of the beach. Again, I surprised myself with how relaxed it felt. It was nice to have that much time to just zone out, think, whatever.

The rest of the week was spend in a sort of slump. Even the short runs felt tiresome and my motivation dwindled. I slacked off in my bodyweight workouts. I barely pulled through to finish an abbreviated version of my Wednesday core and arms exercises. On the bright side, I still completed all of the running work.

Yesterday, I began to bounce back. It was rainy and gross and I loved every second of it (or would have if I wasn’t too busy being paranoid that I was going to water damage yet another phone..). Speaking of phones, the music on mine has been on the fritz during my runs lately. I imagined that I would get bored without headphones in my ears, but it actually felt very therapeutic.

Tomorrow marks this week’s long run. I was stoked to finish nine, but tomorrow is a whole twelve miles! I have never run that far in my entire life, so I’ll admit, it’s a tad intimidating. Whatever, I GOT THIS.

Ello there!

I hope that your day has been as lovely as mine, dear reader. Although, if you, too, are a runner, I hope that it was a good deal warmer. Winter is finally beginning to creep in here and I can’t say I’m stoked about it. 

This week has been an interesting introduction to what the next 15 hold for me. To begin, I’ve been finding it extremely challenging to manage my time with the added workouts. Training is not a minor time commitment, especially if you like to include regular strength and flexibility training. As a woman of many interests (and who loves beginnings!), it can be difficult to figure out how to add new responsibilities to a busy schedule without sacrificing old ones (not to mention menial things, like sleeping and eating...). I currently work full time as a special education instructional assistant for fifth graders, but am still hunting for an opportunity related to my true professional aims, wildlife conservation. In addition to juggling work, applications, studying, and volunteer/internship/job hunting, I work with a friend’s horse, Sarge, as often as possible. The strain is already noticeable, but I think that with a little dedication and time management I can make it work without totally burning out. Even so, I thought it safest to take a sick day from work to complete my first 6+ mile run. You know, just in case it took me the full 10 hours of daylight.

I suffer from “runner’s knee,” officially known as Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome. I won’t go into all the specifics, but that basically means that an imbalance of strength or flexibility in muscles surrounding my patella causes it to improperly track through the femoral groove as my legs move. I have had problems with it in the past, but I have learned over time that I can train my body to overcome it by working my mileage up gradually. Since time is not a luxury afforded to me at the moment, I decided that the best alternative was intensive stretching prior to setting out for runs longer than 3 miles. By taking the day off work, I was able to incorporate thirty minutes of yoga before attempting this heftier mileage. I was also able to sleep until 10 AM and laze around the house until my guilt got the better of me. Sorry not sorry.

I love beginnings. They are always so full of anticipation of the new and unexpected, and I always feel as if opportunity is waiting just around the next corner. Today marks the official start of my marathon training, and as ever, I am excited and anxious all rolled into one.

My running career began in junior high, when I began competing for school cross country and track teams. I continued competing through graduation, training religiously, but found it took a back seat when I moved to college. During those years, it was thrilling to explore and experiment with new interests and groups of people. I branched out for a while, but always returned to running for peace of mind when things got stressful. My relationship with running has remained in that state since. Over the past few years, I have been toying with the idea of running a half marathon, but it always seemed to get swept up by new jobs, graduations, moves, cancellations, etc.

It was a friend of my sister’s, Chad, who inspired me to commit again. Chad, in addition to being an avid runner and veteran marathoner, is crazy smart, dedicated, and an all around awesome person. (He was recently accepted in to medical school, so yay Chad!!) He became friends with my sister, Alexandra, during the past few years when both were living in Boston. It was on our visit to the city over the weekend that we got on to the topic of the Sugarloaf Marathon in Western Maine. Over massive helpings of impressively unhealthy (but just as impressively delicious) breakfast food at The Friendly Toast, the three of us agreed to make a weekend of the race, using it as motivation to get back into the running groove (or, in Chad’s case, keep up the good work). So, on the weekend of May 15th, Alexandra, Chad, and I will be headed north to compete in the 15k and Marathon.

For me, most of today was spent creating a plan. With the magic of Google, and my knowledge from my high school career, I was able to compile a passable, if not somewhat rushed, training schedule for the next 16 weeks. If I weren’t such a last minuter by nature, I would be anxious about the time restrictions, but I tend to work better under pressure anyways. The risk of injury does concern me quite a bit, so I’ll just have to be alert of my body’s limitations and adjust as necessary.

My pilot workout started easy, if you call finishing a three miler on a 20 degree beach into head winds that, no joke, felt like they could carry you off into the Atlantic in a matter of minutes easy. If you have ever run in the cold, then you are familiar with the awful, gooey choking sensation that happens in the back of your throat when you breathe heavily in cold weather. Thanks to that wonderful experience, I returned to the apartment with my shirt spotted with frozen spit, but remained exhilarated. The weather may have been brutal, but the view of the angry waves in the setting sun made it well worth the windburn and spitstorm.

DB