Four Weeks to Go

So, I have four weeks to go until I run my second marathon, the Twin Cities Marathon. I have always wanted to run a marathon, but if someone had told me at this time last year that I would be running two marathons next year, I probably would have laughed. This time last year my husband and I were getting excited about our local wedding reception...marathons were FAR from my brain. I was just excited to wear my wedding dress again! So as the weeks before I again line up at the start line in the wee hours of the morning start to fly by I find myself thinking back on how I got into this in the first place.

As I started training for my first marathon, Grandma's Marathon, up in Duluth, MN, I realized how much I liked the distance, the focus, the routine. I ran the Twin Cities 10 mile race once before, back in 2005, and I 'trained' for about 4 weeks, and was pleasantly surprised to do much better then I had planned, finishing so much sooner then I EVER thought possible that my then boyfriend and roommate hadn't even left Dunn Brothers Coffee yet to meander over to the finish line at the Capital to watch me come in. I was so startled that by actually following a training program of some sort my body could actually perform better in a running race. Why this was such a realization to me I'm not sure. I have spent most of my life engaged in some sort of competitive sport or another, swimming on youth swim teams and then in high school, and cross country skiing in college. In all of these sports I 'trained' with the goal of performing well in certain events, peaking at the right times, and improving strength, agility, speed, and fitness over time. However, never during all those years of activity did I really stop to think about an overall training plan. I had coaches who told me what to do, and I didn't question it, I just showed up at practice, put in my time, and did my best and meets and races. I had known how to swim and ski since I was very young, and I knew I could ski or swim, even if I hadn't gone for a while, but runnning- oh no- running was a whole different beast. And now, as a funtional adult, done with school, and laden with the associated responsibilities, I was suddenly my own coach, and thus my own source of knowledge and training.

As I said in my profile, I have run most of my life, but never considered myself a runner. In my first year of law school I started running more as a way to jump start my weight loss and get exercise. By the summer before law school I had already lost 30 lbs (with 30ish more to go)...and had plateaued for a while-though thrilled that that I was leaving my heavier self behind. I wanted something more intense to help shake things up. So I went to Run-n-Fun, my favorite running store in the Twin Cities and oogled the running clothes and gear and bought a fresh pair of Asiacs. That was the first time I remember actually 'thinking' about running for running's sake. Not merely as a means of getting to point A to point B faster, or as part of a team workout, but to just go running. I started running 2-3 times a week, and to my amazement I really liked just running alone, running in its pure form. It definately helped with the continued weight loss and toned my legs in ways skiing never did. I kept running up during law school as a way to stay sane and to keep losing weight, although that got a little harder in law school! It required minimal equipment, and I could usually get on a treadmill when I couldn't read any more case law. I started running some 5Ks, the Get in Gear, the Race for the Cure, and found myself thinking more about times and pace and splits. However, I still didn't really consider myself an athlete, I think because I was heavier, and had always been a heavier athlete. At that point, in my mind athletes were for the most part lean, toned, women who looked amazing in spandex and ran in just a sports bra. And I didn't fit the part. I knew I was fit, but an athlete?

During my last year of law school I was waitressing at Sydney's restaurant on Grand Avenue and had the fortune of working the breakfast shift the morning of the Twin Cities marathon. I stood on the sidewalk on that misty morning, remembering watching the marathon as a college student at Macalester as the runners inched up Summit Avenue, and I thought...hmmm, could I do this?! To say you had run a marathon, how cool would that be! I knew I had endurance, I knew I was tough, I have skied many 20-30 Kilometer races in my life, some while fitter then others, and several in severely cold, sub-zero temperatures. I had endured numb and frozen fingers and toes, gotten frostbite on my chin and hips, and still lived to talk about it (and still liked skiing after all that!). But, running 26.2 miles....that sounded hard, and, unlike nordic skiing, there is NO glide in running.

That was about two years ago. I (wisely) decided that training for a marathon and studying for the bar exam was probably not a good idea, so I put it off. After the bar exam my amazing friend Kim joined Team in Training and ran the Rock N Roll Marathon in Arizona-she is truly one of the most amazing people I know. I thought, if she could do it while juggling a job, a 2 hour commute, a kid, a spouse, and a house, I could to, with only myself and a cat to really feel responsible for. So, I signed up for Team in Training, to do the San Diego Marathon, thinking it would help me get in shape ( I was hoping for an engagement ring sometime soon). However, I quickly realized that dealing with relationship stress, trying to find a job post law school, recover from the bar exam (ie. figure out my life) and training for a marathon didn't mix well. I promptly got injured from trying to run too far, too fast, too soon and ended up with tendonitis in my right foot for 6 months. The best part of that whole experience was I ended up buying my first pair of Keen shoes in desperation at REI because they were the only shoes I could find with removable insoles so I hobble around in my orthodics, and I've been hooked since.

Fast forward to the Winter of 2006. The snowfall in the mid-west had been pitiful. I found myself once again uninspired to ski or train for skiing when the snow nearby was so pathetic. Not having the time to travel long distances to snow and being sick of losing entry fee money to races not happening due to the warmth I began to hazily think of another challenge. In the meantime my sister and I basically scared each other into entering the American Birkibeiner. We were nordic skiers after all. Skiing the Birkie was like going on a searching for the holy grail, something you had to do, something to legitimize your committment to the skiing world, or at least we thought it might instill us with a new found love for skiing and inspire us to train. I had skied the Korteloppet (the half Birkie) in college, and whiled I was exhausted at the end, I felt sort of disappointed that I wasn't doing the whole thing (sort of like when I did the Twin Cities 10 mile run on marathon weekend). However, with minimal snow to ski on that winter, and my sister finishing her last semester of nursing school, sking the glorious Birkie didn't quite work out. As fate would have it, the Birkebeiner approached and I hadn't really trained. Now, even though I knew I could ski for several hours and probably emerge unscathed and still smiling, I knew it would be too fun-we're talking about a 56 K ski race. I knew I should have put in a whole lot more training then I did. In the end, my sister got sick, and I think we both just felt too tired (and probably lazy) and uninspired to drive to Wisconsin and ski on not so great snow for no official results. They ended up not officially timing the race because of the poor conditions, so we could have just gone up for a nice ski. But, for us the whole point was to be able to go all that way and finally ski down the streets of Hayward, WI and cross the finish line...so that challenge will have to wait. I am still waiting for my change to ski down Hennepin Ave in Minneapolis to finish the Lake Loppet. (one year canceled, last year I dropped out due to painfully freezing my hands close to death! Lesson Learned: Never re-warm your hands in the warming hut and then keep skiing. Your gloves will freeze solid with your hands inside of them, which results in a lot of pain and an inability to even hold your ski poles. Not my idea of a good time. )

So, I decided to find something close to home. I decided this was the time to finally do it. I signed up for Grandma's marathon, and so did my sister. I was still worried about the training, because I knew I couldn't just run all the time. My past experiences had taught me that my body did best with lots of cross training, and less running. My friend Hilary told me about Jeff Galloway's method of run/walking. As soon as I read his book I knew it was the golden ticket for me and marathoning. I followed his training plan and did run/walk on all the long runs. Since it was the dead of Minnesota winter, running outside for hours at a time did not always appeal to me. I had finally bought a treadmill and was learning about the joys of watching tv while you run. Who knew! I watched episode after episode of Sex and the City, and any action movie I could find. Charlie's Angels and Mr. & Mrs. Smith were my favorites.

I soon realized that I didn't think I could run much farther then 12 miles on my treadmill alone or I would go crazy in the stuffy little apartment workout space where my treadmill was stowed. I had just started posting on a marathon message board on weight watchers.com when a woman on the board (Thanks Supermel!) suggested I check out the Salubrious Running Club. It was the best suggestion I ever got. I joined, took their first marathon class, and couldn't believe how fun it was to run with a group and have support! Marathon day came and I knew I had trained and I was ready. I surpassed my expectations and finished under 5 hours, to my utter astonishment (again finishing so much faster then I had planned that my husband did an about face and sprinted back towards the finish line as he heard them announce my name) I still run with Salubrious and love the community and friends I have made there.

The sneaky kicker to all of this was that you had to sign up for the Twin Cities Marathon before you had even completed Grandma's Marathon and could decide if you would ever wanted to do a marathon again! Taking Jeff Galloway's advice, to wait at least a week before you decide if you'll do another marathon, I figured why not. I didn't have to run it...what was the harm in signing up? The $85 entry fee would probably motivate me to do it anyway!

In training for Grandma's marathon, I thought it would be a great way to lose the last bit of weight I was hoping to shed. I thought it would be so easy! How wrong I was. I ended up gaining at least 5-7 lbs training for Grandma's marathon, leaving me (still) with about 10 more to go to lose. This time around, training for Twin Cities I decided to focus on losing weight, and maybe not run quite so much. Things were going well, however in the last month, I've faced many challenges. My injured foot from Grandma's training has flared up and my knee has been bothering me. I've been running less so I wasn't sure why. My food choices weren't so healthy and I think portion control temporarily was forgotten. Perhaps the long runs were harder because my base was different? I'm not sure why, but so far I haven't had a good long run. I've also been doing more running on a treadmill which I'll have to stop.

So, with only 4 weeks to go before I venture back out into this marathon thing, my goals are to cross training more, eat healthy foods to fuel my body and prevent injury. I'm already looking forward to taking off after this marathon and focusing on other active pursuits, and maybe, oh, another marathon....

Today I went on a wonderful hour long bike ride along the Gateway trail. We had the most beautiful weekend here in Minnesota. I'm glad I got to take advantage of it.