The marathon is five weeks away!!!
Whoa, that is SO close!! It's really amazing how fast time has gone by—and how quickly what we have been waiting for will be over. Just another reminder to appreciate every moment...
Like 9 MILES yesterday! Woo-hooo!! Here we are (and, why yes, that water belt I have looks just like a fanny pack :))....
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| Niner :) |
Someone said it again yesterday: how amazing it is that so many of us get up and go out there to run every Saturday morning. (I might add that we are now starting at 7am, and it was finally cold.) But I think we all keep going because of each other, and that is a really cool thing. My family is super encouraging as well. Just one example: my sister calls me every week with her boys in the car, my two sweet little nephews, for my weekly pep talk—I love it! :)
Once again I was worried and wondering all week about how I was going to pull out another mile farther than I've ever run... and once again it happened! I don't know how long it will take me to get over how crazy it is, the way that this training works... but it just does. What's even crazier? The group I was pacing with kind of had a little adventure (OK, we were sort of lost as far as knowing all the twists and turns of our route)... and we ended up doing almost 10 miles!!! I couldn't believe it! I just think back to that 7-miler when I was so tired at the end, and I simply cannot believe how "relatively" good I felt at the end of this one.
So let me back up just a bit right there. This past week, following our "scale-back" Saturday, was pretty normal: three short runs, no shorter than 3 and no longer than 5. But I have been SORE! There's been a tenderness under my feet/heels and a soreness back behind one of my knees. Nothing bad, but I paid close attention to it and tried to be really conscious of how much I was on my feet when it wasn't necessary, especially the day before Saturday. (Can I just interject right here: I don't know HOW my teacher friends have trained or are training for a marathon! Wow! They are on their feet ALL the time!!!) I have to admit, I was nervous about our long run because of this. I made the "pre-decision" to STOP and walk (oh to the horror of my silly pride) and not push it if it got worse during the run. But I didn't end up feeling any abnormal or extra pain, so I was able to do the whole thing. :D (Slow moving the whole rest of the day, that's for SURE—probably what 9 miles will do to you—but I had no real red flags about anything during or after we finished running.)
Now, just a few things to note about yesterday's 9-mile milestone...
Rain!
We got rained on during our run just before halfway. Not a big deal, just a "first." To be honest I was more worried about possibly getting sick (let's face it: I am drenched with sweat while exercising anyway—SUCH a sweater!!!). But it felt kind of "hardcore" for some reason, so I have to admit: that was kinda fun. :)
New scenery once again (some of it by accident, for those of us who were/are directionally challenged, HA!).
I loved running up part of the north end this time. Just a cool change of scenery while still running right near the beach (you can't beat a sea breeze). And even though taking Summer Rest Trail is not new, it is always such a gorgeous section in the early part of our runs when we come up parallel to the waterway and get to peek at all those dream homes facing it. One of these days I'm just going to run with my phone and take pictures, lol.
Slower pace.
I ran a bit slower than my long runs have been recently, at least for the first half, and I think it was a contributing factor to not feeling like I was completely exhausted during the run... ya think?! ;) I realized just how much trying to keep up with a few of my faster friends plays into how hard the run feels. Don't get me wrong: I love being challenged by them in this way and most definitely enjoy their company, but it's almost good in a way (at least in thinking about the actual half marathon) to realize that I really can do this, and even be comfortable, if I simply "run my race at my pace." (But I can't help it and will probably still want to "keep up"... friends just make you better—in more ways than one!)
Break it down.
No dance moves here (YET—I do think we should all be practicing our "touchdown dance" for crossing the finish line, haha!). I'm talking about breaking down the run mentally. I read from Runner's World that you should break a half marathon down into three segments: the first five miles (easy does it; get into the rhythm), the second five miles (hold steady; concentrate), and the final 3.1 (time to push—and there's less to go than the first segments you've done!). So yesterday I thought about our run as just three 3-mile short runs... and it really helped!
New GU gel.
I ran with "food" and my water belt for the second time yesterday. Again, I was amazed by how easy it is to run with a water belt. Just make sure it is nice and secure so it's not bouncing around, and you'll be fine! It's actually fairly easy to pull the bottle out, take a swig, and push it back in, all while running. I'd much rather have it and run with something around my waist than not have it. There is a zip pocket in the belt where I stashed a new flavor of gels... and the verdict is... two for two!! Strawberry banana was good, too! :) I am very happy that I seem to NOT be with the majority on this one... No big deal, and they are great fuel!!!
From the facts to the "epiphanies"... A while back, when I very first started pushing myself to run farther—when the half was just a consideration and training had not yet officially begun—I was starting to absorb the thought in my mind that through this type of challenging myself and discipline and determination, the half marathon might actually be attainable. I think yesterday, for the first time, it actually FELT doable. Physically. I ran close to 10 miles and could only think: Just a little over three miles more, and this thing is in the bag. What an amazing feeling!!! I was busy the whole rest of the day yesterday, but I would randomly think about it from time to time and just BEAM on the inside... Did that really just happen this morning?! Feeling physically able to run that far is great, BUT it is definitely still just a bonus to this whole thing. I will say it forever: the physical aspect of all this training is only just the beginning—only scratching the surface.
One LAST thing to note... (I know right; how can I possibly have this much to talk about every week about running?!)
Last week at small group, as we are studying the great big topic of insecurity (who CAN'T relate?!), the question posed was about what area(s) we may have a lot of pride in. (Pride, of course, being in the exact same boat as insecurity—rowing it, in fact—not its opposite.) One of the girls in my group immediately exclaimed, "Training for the marathon!!" She is training for the FULL marathon, I might add, which HECK YEAH is something to be proud of... But I got where she was going with that. I could relate to how doing something like this can totally tap into your pride. Very easily, actually. For me, whereas I'm not nearly on her level, my conviction instead went straight to idolatry. "Too much of a good thing is a bad thing," our pastor has once said (paraphrasing). Training has been a wonderful thing—physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually—but if it becomes an obsession, if it becomes greater than God in my life, then that is a horrible thing. There is a balance to strike for sure, especially when I think something in human beings is wired to desire greatness. We see athletes on TV, or whatever it may be, and there is an attraction to that because of the spirit in us that is enkindled when we see it. We want to become great, or even just be part of something great, which is all fine and good—until we start taking all the credit or losing sight of what it's all for. Those golden calves are harder to see when they aren't inherently bad, right? (And I'm not talking about the golden calves you build up on your runs, HA.)
To keep that in check, I must be in a continual state of gratitude to God for this gift. It is not something I am doing on my own, working hard to earn for myself, pulling myself up by my bootstraps to boast about. I am not entitled to an amazing half marathon after all this training—I am not entitled to anything. All of it, every moment until the day of and after, is a gift. I have to thank God for it every day, recognizing that He is both the motivation and the source... and the one who gets all the glory. I keep an earbud in one ear even during runs just to have that praise music flowing in as a background. I want to finish that half, finish this blog for that matter, and give the glory to God by showing everyone that He took a non-runner and did all of this with her Himself. I just get to be the recipient of the journey, the process, of getting there. And can you believe He gives us these moments and these opporuntities every day to be a part of?! For me lately, it has been running, but we ALL have something we can use or tap into within our "sphere of influence" to magnify God through the scope of our experience. Rather than ask "how," we can be free to say "how cool"... Because it really is.
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