Hey guys! Long time, no see! I’ve been literally running away from my followers for the past few months. But honestly, I couldn’t even see you in my wake because of all the sweat in my eyes, so whatever.
If you have no idea what I’m talking about because you voraciously jumped into this blog post without reading the title… I’M TRAINING FOR A MARATHON! And I broke the very first cardinal rule of training: TELL EVERYONE YOU ARE RUNNING A MARATHON. There, I said it! It’s true! New York Road Runners already has hundreds of my dollars, they have many hard hours of my work, and they have quite a few blisters on my feet. Ok, they don’t have the blisters, I do.
I feel like every time I write a blog post, I start by apologizing for not writing more often. I am not apologizing anymore! I have been BUSY! If you’ve been following along for a while, I ran 9 races last year so that I could qualify for the NYC Marathon this year. It’s a long road to running the 26.2 miles through 5 boroughs of New York. Maybe they make the process so long so the race itself seems short. I literally just had that epiphany while typing this. I think that’s what Oprah calls an “A-HA Moment.”
Anyway, I took you guys through my journey 3 races at a time last year, with the first 3, then the next 3, the volunteering (+1), then I think I gave up on blogging about it because I got very involved in a new hobby – hair braiding. Although I ran 9 races last year, the longest distance I ran in one single race was a 10K, or 6.2 miles. I do not know how that qualifies me to run 26.2, but I set out to figure it out.
Back in 2017, which seems like ages ago, I ran one half marathon. I remember when I finished that race, someone said to me, “what’s next? A marathon???” And I remember saying “Hell no, I am not psycho.” And it’s true! I am not someone who enjoys running, and therefore, running more than 26 miles seemed like idiocy to me.
However, a small part of me always wanted to run the NYC Marathon. Ok, a big part of me. I have loved the 1st Sunday in November ever since I moved to New York. I love the vibe of all of New York’s citizens heading to the streets to cheer for complete strangers. Us New Yorkers, we get a bad rap. It’s really not fair. We are nice people! We are also BUSY people. We don’t have time to hold doors or walk slowly. But on the first Sunday of November, we have time. Time to cheer for our neighbors, our countrymen, and visitors from across the world who fly to our city and spend astronomical amounts of money on hotel rooms. Time to drink beer at 9 am so we are toasty when the pro runners speed by mile 17 at 11 am. Time to make scrappy signs to show our support for runners’ dedication and training (or AMAZING signs in my case). I LOVE being a part of the crowd. But I also had a strong yearning to be in the street, not on the sideline. To high five everyone and to cross the quiet, no spectator zone on the Queensborough Bridge and hit the “Wall of Sound” on 1st Avenue. I tried to enter the lottery many times to run the race, but I officially committed in 2018 by running the 9 races, volunteering at one, and earning my 2019 race entry.
Unfortunately, I hit a roadblock. Right before my 9th race in 2018, I sprained my ankle for the FOURTH time. I knew that if I was going to train for the full marathon, I needed to take some time off. So I took a full 6 months off from running. I did a lot of Spinning, I did a lot of swimming, a lot of ankle exercises, and I bided my time. Then in May, I started running again. First with short distances, then slowly adding up to a mile, 2 miles, etc.
Back in 2017 when I ran my half marathon, I told you guys how I prepared for my training runs by double tying my shoes, filling my water bottle and braiding my hair (OMG guys… foreshadowing??). And I will say, some of those things have remained the same. Most days I do not leave the house without my #FastBraids for a run. But some things have changed. For one – THE CHAFE LIFE IS REAL. I promise not to give you many details here, but I will say I have some weird scars, like a straight-line rug burn across my chest, redness on the inside of my upper arms, etc. I have tried all of the things: glides, lotions, cremes… I give up. Also, I no longer eat eggs before my runs. I eat nothing. If it’s more than 8 miles, I have a Gu. And definitely do not drink coffee. Coffee is a strict no-no when bathrooms are not guaranteed. As I once said in my own marathon sign, I leave the bacon and coffee to the spectators.
I meant to write this blog about my actual running training, but as I was free-flow writing, I realized that it is a very boring topic to a majority of people. I have learned, over the past few months, that people’s eyes glaze over once I start talking about my training. I will just leave you with a few bullet points about my actual training:
- I’m loosely following Hal Higdon’s Novice 1 Training Schedule
- Even though I am in shape from teaching fitness classes, I still considered myself a novice 1 because I never ran a marathon before! Also, I am recovering from a recurring injury.
- No, I did not buy the Higdon program because I am cheap. I just copied a photo from google images and put it in my own Excel spreadsheet.
- Yes, I put it in my bullet journal.
- Yes, I’m still bullet journaling even though I know I told you I quit.
- Due to my ankle injuries, I did a lot of research and many people recommended the Galloway Method – basically doing running and walking intervals.
- I have done a majority of my training this way – running for 5 minutes and walking for 1 minute. I use an app on my phone called “Interval Timer” which beeps very annoyingly at me. This has helped both with reducing injury and mentally breaking a 3 hour run into manageable time chunks.
- I have realized that I sweat a LOT. I already knew this, but it’s very important when running. I now always bring supplements with me on long runs, specifically Clif Bloks (the extra sodium ones – margarita flavored!)
- They actually taste like lemon lime Gatorade, but margarita makes it sound WAY more fun.
- I also have a Gu with 25 mg of caffeine in it before I start a long run. This helps for energy and is a substitute for my lack of coffee.
- No, I am still not enjoying training.
As my last bullet point said, you may be wondering if I officially like running. The answer is no. I do not. I enjoy being outside, but in the summer, it is HOT. Too hot. Too hot to walk, nonetheless run many miles. Also, Fall is my favorite season and it now has this huge black cloud of the marathon hanging over it. Also, no drinking on Halloween. Also, no drinking many weekend nights during college football games due to long runs the next morning. So no, I am not thrilled with the training, but I AM excited to finally take part in something amazing here in NYC. I’m all about the bucket list items, and since I’ve already been in the Macy’s Parade, this seemed like the next logical (illogical?) step.
Most likely, I will continue to write in my blog about Marathon Training, because it’s the biggest thing going on in my life, and it’s MY BLOG, SO BITE ME! I hope to make it semi-entertaining. And interactive. So here I will ask for your participation: What should I write on my shirt for the Marathon? Just “EMILY”? Should I put “Braid in Manhattan” on the back? Should I put it in Duck Tape? Fancy Duck Tape? Should I order fun, sparkly, iron-on letters from Etsy and commit to “ruining” a nice lululemon shirt? I did that for my half marathon and I do not regret it. Let me know in the comments!
