My Marathon Journey
Last year (2018) while my mom and I were running in the Ogden Half Marathon, we joked about doing the full marathon the next year. It had always been on my bucket list but I always felt like it was way above my skill level. My mom loves to run but had also found the full marathon to be very intimidating. So as soon as we finished our half with our runner’s euphoria, we signed up for the full marathon for the following year.
I had no idea what I was getting myself into. You see, with any race I had run before I could potentially not train and I would be completely fine after. For a marathon, that just isn’t the case. You have to prepare your body to be able to sustain itself for the time it will take you to complete the race in. This includes things like buying new shoes that are a size larger than normal so your toes don’t rub the ends and that will stabilize your foot if it is even slightly unstable, learning about nutrition so you can fuel your body with the extra energy it will need, a specialized training schedule so you aren’t pushing your body too hard which could create injury, and training your mind to get through the tough spots.
I remember telling my sister I had a trip planned to Europe eleven weeks before the race and I remember her telling me that I better be ready to run while I am gone in order to be ready for the race. I was shocked. How could I have to train for so long when I was already in such great shape? At least I thought I was at that point. I really trusted my sister’s judgement though because she had run the Ogden Marathon the four previous years. She was always prepared. Plus, she works in a running shop so she has to know what she is talking about.
In the nine weeks leading up to the marathon I ran 262 miles. When I first saw the training plan my sister set up for me, I was very intimidated. I didn’t think it was possible to make myself run those long runs on Sunday (between 10-18 miles). The longest I had ever run prior to my training was 13.1 miles for a half marathon. Knowing that I would be doing these training runs alone and finding my own routes was tough. I can say I never once cheated on my training plan. I gave it my all and it really did help me prepare for the full.
The day of the race, we got to where it begins and it started snowing. I had worried about the rain but I couldn’t believe it was actually snowing. Thank goodness my mom was prepared and bought us ponchos. We didn’t have to stay there very long and it started to rain lightly. My mother and I had the goal of finishing in under five hours since it was our first marathon ever. We ran together the entire race. We crossed the first half mark at about 2:10 and we were ecstatic. We knew that we could finish the race in under five hours and maybe even under 4:30. We kept it up until we got to mile 22. My mom’s ankle was in such excruciating pain that she could no longer run on it. Every time she tried to start again her leg would give out. We decided we needed to walk for the rest of the race. She told me several times that I could go ahead and finish then come back for her. I decided that there was no way I was going to do that and that we were in this together. I don’t know if you’ve ever walked after running for more than twenty miles but I can tell you that your legs start to cramp up badly. We finished the last 4.2 miles hand in hand. Ashleigh (my sister) met us about 0.1 miles from the finish and crossed the finish line with us! Ashleigh finished in 3:20, almost two full hours before my mom and I! We all did it!
I have been asked several times now if I will ever run another marathon. Currently, my answer is no. I do not believe that marathons are for me. I do see why people love to run them and I loved the motivational vibes that many runners gave me, with that being said, I did not enjoy the process of getting where I needed to be physically to run that far. I personally would like to spend the three hours I was running every Sunday with my husband either snowboarding or weightlifting.
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