I have been meaning to do a write-up for my marathon for a while and just haven't had the time. This is a month late, but I wanted to write my thoughts on my marathon to be able to keep and look back on. A lot of this information is for me to go back and look at so sorry that it is long!
Back in January 2016 I started to get this idea of running a 3 hour marathon. Bergen was going to turn one in May and so I knew I would have the summer to train (breast-feeding free). I wanted to do a fall marathon but knew that Utah marathons would be pretty hard with the elevation. So I did a little research and looked up all the marathons in the states that were in October/November timeline, on Saturday and sea level. There were surprisingly not a lot. I saw this Revel Canyon City one in Azusa, California and decided to sign up for it and try running it. I also was looking to run a canyon run since that is all that I am really used to with running races in Utah. So I bought "Advanced Marathoning", started getting advice from running friends and other books and decided to look up a training schedule to start mid-June. So in April after my Brother-in-Law Jim passed away, I decided to sign up in memory of him. They asked what I wanted on my BIB when I signed up, and I had it say "For Jim".
In June I started training for my marathon. I joined a local running group and did a speed workout with them each week. I met some really cool people doing the speed workout and long runs on Saturday. I am really grateful for those friendships and for the people that would push me every session. I would also run some mornings with my friend Sharra and do some other runs with my friend Lizzie. Lizzie actually signed up for the marathon too and was on a training schedule as well so we could, from time to time, talk about our training and how things were going. My speed workout really helped me. The coach pushed all of us and there were some really fast girls in the group that helped me become faster as well. There was a few of those people that also did the long runs that were my same pace, so I would meet up with them on Saturdays to do our longer run. Looking back now, when I first started I was pretty slow. I was about an 8min pace.. by the end of my 4.5 months I was down to a 6:50 pace. It's amazing what our bodies can do!!
So I had my 18 week schedule started and was running most days each week. My usual week looked like this. Monday: tempo run, Tuesday: Speed (usually 800's, 5K, 2 mile and 1 mile repeats, 400's), Wednesday: rest, Thursday: hill repeats, Friday: easy run and Saturday was a long run. I tried to do a fairly good pace on Saturday and it helped running with others from my running group. I also got to see a lot of New York as they would run different routes each week, which I loved!
Tuesday/Thursday I would also do a weight workout. I had 4 different arm workouts I would do and about 8 different leg workouts I would do. This was just at home with my 10lb weights. Then I would do a 5 minute plank at the end of it all. Later on in my training cycle I started face-timing with my sister Dani and we would do an ab workout together.
I felt like throughout this training program I was really in the best shape of my life! I was really determined and focused on my goal. I thought about it every day when I was running. I really wanted a 3 hour marathon and knew I could with some training and patience. In September I ran a half marathon near DC with my friend Sharra and didn't do very well with my time, but still got first place! It was a pretty hilly run. It wasn't a PR for me so I wasn't that excited about it, but still happy I was first over-all.
I also had a few injuries this training cycle which was no fun! I had a really bad hip pain a few months before my marathon and started going to PT for it. My PT told me to really focus when I was running on not arching my back and to basically try to do a keegal while running. I would also use a tennis ball and massage around my hip area to help the blood flow which helped healing. Luckily this summer I didn't have any hamstring/butt pain which was what had happened with my Boston Marathon a few years ago! After a few times going to PT and really working out my hip pain it stopped hurting and I was still able to keep training for my marathon. I know it was from the many prayers and faith that I was healed! Spencer and I (and my family) prayed so much for me and for my injuries and I really feel and know that Heavenly Father was listening.
Side note: Before my training began I made a few spiritual goals in hopes that Heavenly Father would bless me and help me thought his training cycle. I KNOW he did too. I had a goal to attend the temple once a month. I also had a goal to read my scriptures EVERY day for at least 10 minutes (which I bumped up to 20 about half way through my training cycle). I also started a goal to follow the word of wisdom more closely and only eat meat once a day. I noticed we were having meat for almost every meal (since Spencer doesn't low-carb diets and that is basically what you eat). So I decided I would cut out the bacon in the mornings and the chicken or ham for lunch and only have my meat for dinners. It was surprising how hard it actually was to really only eat meat once a day. Anyway, I feel through those goals that Heavenly Father knew I was really trying my hardest and hoping to receive His help too and really did help me!
About a month before my marathon I started having some bad knee pains as well. I went to my sports masseuse and she said I had really tight hamstrings, calves and IT bands which was putting some pressure and pain on my knee. I would have Spencer massage me out most nights and try to loosen my calve muscles. This helped a lot! But I still felt this knee pain on my really long runs after about mile 15. There wasn't much more I could do with the race so close so Spencer just kept massaging my legs and we hoped for the best!
Marathon week! We flew to California on a Thursday and drove down to San Clemente where our friends live. We stayed with them Thursday night and had an amazing Italian dinner that night. We also went to a nearby beach and watched the sunset! California sunsets are the best! The next day, Friday we relaxed on the beach in the morning and then we drove up to Azusa where I needed to pick up my race packet. Afterward we ended up driving the course which made me excited and scared all at once! I realized how steep those hills were! and and curvy the course was. Bergen actually threw up on the drive back down the mountain because of how curvy it was. :) After that, we went over to our Airbnb and set up for the night. Bailey and Justin drove down from San Fransisco which was awesome of them! Justin is the best and ran the last 6 miles of the marathon with me. We made dinner that night and talked about race details, then got some shut eye for the night.
Spencer and I woke up early around 3:45am for me to catch the bus to the start. I got all my gear on, breakfast on the go and he dropped me off at the bus line. The bus took about 45 minutes to get to the start. Once I got to the starting line, I put on an old DI sweatshirt and sweatpants that Bailey had found for me! (the night before she also wrote some words of encouragement on my arm from texts from my family!) I started heading over to the porta-potties and saw my friend Lizzie and her sister too! We chatted for a bit and tried to ease some pre-race nerves. After we used the restroom (which I took some selfies in to send to my family:), we had about 15 minutes before the start. I headed over to the front of the line, got my baggy warm clothes off and started up my watch. 5 minutes to go and my watch still hadn't found the satellite. 1 minute and my watch was still not finding it. I had to think quick. I actually didn't panic but just shrugged my shoulders and thought.. well here we go with no watch. I hurried and found a running app on my phone that I started but between that, playing my music and still trying to get my watch to work, the gun went off and I was running whether I was ready of not. I started out strong. My 6:30 pace felt easy and good. I was running with a pack of men and a few ladies and we stayed together for the first few miles. I had my music to pump me up and every so often I would look at my watch to see if it had started yet.. nope.
Since I didn't really know what my time was, I was running on feeling. I felt good. The downhill felt easy and I was felling really good about making 3 hours. Around mile 8 my knee started to hurt though. Right when I started to feel it I was so sad! It was too early in the race to feel it and I didn't want to feel it at all! Around mile 11 it was really hurting and by mile 15 I was struggling to keep my pace. I know I slowed down a bit, but was still not able to know my time with my watch not working. I saw Justin at mile 20 which was such a relief! I talked to him a bit and remember telling him I was struggling. He kept my spirits high and said we were right on schedule. So we ran together, him pushing me to try to go a little faster and push myself. I am really grateful for him and for running with me. A marathon is tough. It is mentally tough and physically tough. At a certain point in the race, it all turns mental and you have to be really strong to push through those thoughts of defeat, struggle and pain. Justin helped me with this! Around mile 23 we could still see my friend Lizzie a little ahead of me so he told me to focus on her and not let her out of my sight. Also around mile 23 my knee didn't hurt as much. I don't know if it was the adrenaline of almost finishing the race or if it really had stopped hurting, but I felt like I could pick up the pace a little so we did. The last 3 miles were exhilarating and exhausting. We made it out of the canyon by mile 24 and had the home stretch to go. Justin pushed me to go a little faster and I tried to push through those last 2 miles and give it my all. I finished the race at a 3:09! I was really happy with my time given the knee pain I was in and not knowing what my actual time was the whole race!
As I rounded the last corner of the race, I saw Spencer and the girls cheering! It gave me a little more push to the end. I sprinted to the finish (right behind Lizzie who got a 3:08) and was so happy to be done. I was exhausted and had to lean on a lady for a few minutes because I was light headed and so sore! I had complete my 8th marathon and a PR by a few seconds! I had to be proud of that. The whole race I had in my mind, "no regrets, give it your all", and I can really say that I tried to do that. There were spurts in the race where I was feeling down but I really felt like I tried my hardest throughout the race. I am so happy that I trained so hard and ran this race. I know there will be a 3 hour marathon in my future and that I will someday get that, but for now I am really happy with my time!:)
