The End of an Era

I just called the last 18 months of my life an ear. No, wait. Typo. Era. An Era. "A time marked by distinctive events." Running. Lots and lots of running. And some yoga. And a little bit of parenting. A smidge of work. Stir it all together and what do you get?? A sub-four hour marathon in Philly. BAM!! 3:54 to be exact. That is a 12 minute PR from Chicago. This is a big deal for me. Huge.

It is tough to go from a marathon as epic as Chicago to the one in Philly. I mean, Chicago is so.... grand. I shouldn't blame Philly, it's really not her fault. Chicago would have ruined it for any marathon even close to it.

Pre Race
Shake Shack. Dunkin Donuts. Philly Cheese Steak. Beer. That pretty much sums it up.

Race Day
This is where I got serious. And by serious I mean focused. Like, super focused.

I'm a believer in visualization. I think if you truly believe that you can achieve your goal and you stay focused on it, you can totally achieve it. Like, totally, man. Disclaimer: I'm not crazy. I didn't wake up one morning and decide I could run a marathon at a certain time. I trained for a long time. So yeah, don't be stupid. You probably can't wake up one morning and run a sub-four hour marathon. Unless you're Dean Karnazes.

OK. So a friend of mine ran one of her many marathons at some point in time. Clearly. Anyway, so she posted a picture of how herself after this particularly super tough marathon and it really stuck with me. I kept thinking, "that is how someone looks when they run a marathon. That is how I should feel when I cross the finish line." I would say that is how I should look when I cross the finish line, but in all honesty, I will never be that photogenic. The point is, it was a reminder for me to leave it all in Philly, to really push myself for 26.2 miles, and as a reminder that this is my one chance to do what I set out to do.
So thank you, Rachel, for being my reminder during the last few miles when my right butt cheek felt like it was going to explode and my feet hurt like bitches, that it's all part of the game and that it's ok. It's ok to be spent at the end. And isn't nice to know that someone thinks of you at mile 23 when they have an intense pain in their ass? ;)

The very vague ins and outs of the Philly Marathon:
The half and the full started together. I counted down the miles until the half runners split from us. The aid stations were only 2 tables long and it got a little crowded. It was much better once we parted ways. I really want to make a comparison here to Chicago, but I'm pretty sure you got the picture from the first paragraph.

There were hills. Philly Marathon people need to stop saying this is a flat course. Chicago is flat. Philly has hills. Not HILLS, but hills. Enough of them for it to not be considered a flat course.

Philly does win over Chicago in 1 part (surprise!). Because the last half of the marathon was, more or less, an out and back, it meant I was able to see the top finishers go by which was super cool! Everyone running with me was clapping for the first few dudes and the first few ladies as they basically sprinted past us on the other side of the road. And man, talk about pained faces. Those runners leave everything out there. It's intense. And awesome.

Post Race
Not much here. We flew home the same day as the marathon. The first and longest leg of our trip was in first class. I highly recommend doing this if you're flying home after a marathon. All they do is feed you and fill up your wine glass.... for the entire flight. It's amazing. Did I mention they feed you?
By the time we got home I had discovered a whole new level of tiredness. And this is coming from someone who's had two kids. I can't even put into words how tired I was... but I sure will try. You know that time, usually around 4am, when you've been up all night because your tiny child has decided they are incapable of sleeping unless they are in your arms and you are standing up? It was sort of like that kind of tired. Except mix in a pinch of drunk, a smidge of drugs (I didn't take any but it sure felt like either I did or I should have), and 26.2 miles. Eghbleh.... that about sums it up.


It was so great to see old friends (Maja!) and meet new ones in Philly. The food was great, the company was greater and I laughed a lot. It was a win for sure. It feels awesome to be able to travel to a city you've never been and meet so many super people. What a blast.

I have two more races on the books. A Thanksgiving 5k and another one in December. After that, it will be on to a new adventure. I'm not quite sure what it is yet, which is a little (a lot!) scary. But I am excited to pass the reigns onto the Husband and see what sort of awesomeness he can accomplish in the world of marathons!!

Philly Marathon Countdown- 5 days!!

The Final countdown has begun. Philly is in 5 days. Yikes! I'm super excited about this marathon. I'm feeling good- like I can totally run 26 miles in under 4 hours. This is a vast improvement over my feeling for the past 2 weeks of just wanting it all to be over with.

I've been doing a lot of reflecting on running over the past few weeks. I think about how far I've come and how long it's taken me to get here. Perspective is a funny thing too:
A year ago my legs about fell off trying to do a 10 mile run. Sunday morning I was super excited because I only had to run 12 miles.
A year and half ago my pace for running speed sessions wasn't even listed on the board.* Now my pace is three quarters of the way up the board.
*(So at our speed sessions there is this neat board that has all these different paces/distances so you always know, no matter the distance, how fast you are supposed to run. It goes as fast as about 4 minute/mile and as slow as about 10 minute/mile. It's awesome.)
A year ago I didn't think I would ever be able to run significant distances at a pace that begins with an 8. Shoot, I was just trying to get my 5k splits down to that pace. Now my long run splits are fairly consistently at an 8-something pace.

Running is fun. Watching other people on their running adventures is fun too. My dad is starting his running adventure again and it's hilarious to see how excited he gets about it. We'll be doing a Turkey Trot this year together with one of my brothers.... I'll kick both of their asses but it'll still be fun ;) A friend of mine just did a 50 MILE trail race (crazy!).  And my husband is starting to plan out his next marathon adventure. I love it.

I think my own adventure is going to start winding down after Philly. I want to focus more on halfs, 10ks, and 5ks. And yoga. And sleeping in. And doing laundry less often.

Lessons learned from Chicago to take note of for Philly:
-keep track of my damn silicone YurBuds covers. It's just not the same without them.
-Audiobooks are fine for training runs, but Jersey Shore fist bumpin' songs are way better for races
-Remember the Glide. I actually did remember this for Chicago I'm just afraid I'll forget in Philly
-S-caps are your friend. Almost as much as ibuprofen.
-Find a place for the chapstick. For some reason I really need this when I run.
-eat