If marathons were easy, then everyone would run them.

It's been an interesting week. I had a terrible mid-week run, and I told my friend Mark that I was ready to give up on NYC marathon training. I got lost in my new 'hood in the 'burbs, and I had a very long and slow uphill climb to face in order to find my way back home. It was a rough "run" that ended in a dead Garmin, a long walk home, frustration and one very, very late arrival to work. No good.

I tried my hardest to brush it off, but unlike T. Swift, I can't just shake it off. I went for an early morning Saturday run with my friend and running partner, Mara, in a somewhat unsuccessful attempt to right myself before attending the Church of Sunday Long Run. And if anyone thinks I am being flippant with that phrase, well, let me tell you, I had a real come-to-Jesus kind of run on Sunday as I battled the sun and hills at Valley Forge National Historic Park.

I was grateful to have company for the first 10 miles of my run today, but I still had some obstacles along the way. First, my Garmin took forever locate any freaking satellites. Then, about two miles in, I realized it had decided to be a stupidly expensive stopwatch instead of a GPS watch. Not cool, Forerunner. It is a good thing I was running a 5 mile loop with kind people, so I knew how far I had gone despite my watch. And a long run feels much shorter when you have someone to run most of it with you, so I really am beyond grateful that I had company today.

I am at the point in my training where I basically gave up last year, so this is the turning point. I will finish training this time, but the further I get in the training, the more I remember why I don't like marathons. I think I will be sticking to half marathons from now on. I have found a few things that are getting me through training this time, so I am going to do a short shout-out list to wrap up this little update.

Internal dialogue: I have found that just telling myself to calm down goes a long way. Yes, I talk to myself. At least MOST of the time I don't talk to myself out loud, right?

My coworkers: Thanks to Terry, Erin, and Mark for listening to all my crazy theories, and telling my when I'm full of it and to suck it up and get running. And sorry to my newest coworker who was left outside the store waiting for me when I got lost on my run the other morning! Oops!

My friends: Yes, coworkers, you are included here too. And to all my other friends as well who have listened to me talk about running every. single. time. I see you.-- Guess I should start blogging more frequently.

My family: Thanks to my sister Grace, for always being excited about my runs even when I am not. To my brother Joe, for all the crazy competitiveness that is him. My sister-in-law Katie, for balancing him out and reminding me that he is some non-human competitive machine and that the rest of us are normal. To my sister-in-law Anna, who is getting ready to run the KC 30K Series AND her first half marathon this fall! AND a big thank you to my husband, Matthew, who has made me dinners and breakfasts and bares the brunt of my ridiculousness.

AND

My running partners: Thanks to Sheila, BJ, Nancy, Jill, Erin, Mark, Mara, Jim, and Kristen! Each of you have run with me at some point during my training so far, and whether it has been a few miles or many, once or once a week, I am deeply appreciative and moved to be able to be a part of such a great community of runners. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I would likely not have made it this far with out you.

So here's to a strong second half of training and hopefully an enjoyable race experience this fall.

Racing Recap: Valley Forge Revolutionary Run

After running two half marathons this spring, I was a bit thrown off guard running the Rev Run today at Valley Forge National Historic Park. I have been having some trouble over the past week or so with shinsplints. I have pretty much figured out that these are due to tight calf muscles, so I have been spending time with my lovely foam roller. (Yes, "lovely" was sarcastic.) Heading out for this race was tricky for me from the beginning, so I am just going to break this review down into Pros, Cons, and Racing Edition Runner's Rambles.

PROS

I got to run a race in a National Park "with" one of my friends, Mark, and his awesome wife and super adorable son cheered us on. My boss Terry did his run in the park today running in the opposite direction, so I got a little bit of on-course cheering as well. I almost stopped to stretch and walk a little more than really necessary, but seeing Terry coming toward me made me keep running. Thanks, Terry! The Fast Tracks running club had a high-energy and peppy water stop at the half way mark. There was also quite a spread at the post-race tent. And lastly, at this particular time, it was nice to just have a five miler.

CONS

Did you see what I did there with the quotation marks in the first line of the second paragraph? Mark is way faster than me.... So I need to get myself in gear and really start training and working on speed if I am going to keep up with Mark at the NYC Marathon this fall. This course was seriously hilly. Why don't I learn to check these things before I sign up for THREE hilly races in one season? It was only five miles, so I was thrown off due to getting to mile four before I realized I was almost done instead of just starting, so at that point, I realized that I should have just pushed harder. We'll come back to this point in Rambles! And the post-race was packed with stuff, but hard to navigate to find anything. I kept SEEING people with bagels, but it took me nearly ten minutes to FIND the bagels. There were lots of people, and everything was packed into some fairly small tents. 

RACING EDITION RUNNER'S RAMBLES

One of my co-workers always asks me the same question every time I start whining... I whine a lot, which I think everyone has figured out by now. "Are you feeling discomfort or pain?" You see, discomfort is not the same as pain. My brother would say that pain is a good thing. Joe is one of those "No pain, no gain!" kind of people. I would say that's from being in the military, but he has been that way since we were kids. I am not that kind of person, thus the whining. 

But discomfort, that's a different story, and I didn't realize that until I was running today. And unfortunately, I didn't figure that out until mile four. You see, an oyster creates a pearl because a foreign object creates discomfort, and it begins coating the object with a substance that creates the beautiful pearl. Pain though, pain is the body's signal that something is wrong. Pain is not good, but discomfort can be. It can push us to make pearls out of problems. Did I really need to stop three times to stretch today? Eh, probably not, but better safe than sorry for now. But now I know that I need to pay closer attention to my body to figure out if it is in pain or just uncomfortable. It's time for this runner to start creating some pearls!

Racing Recap: Midsummer Night Series 5K

Hanging w/ Dad Pre-race!

I have finally done it. I ran a sub 30 5k race. I have no problem running sub 30 on a 5k run by myself, or with friends or family for fun, but I have never done it at an actual 5k race for some reason. (Note: I am not trying to imply that races aren't fun with that statement.) I have had a pretty good week in general, but I have been slacking some on my training lately because I have bitten off more than I can chew like I typically do.


So besides the new race time, nothing really eventful happened during this race. So instead I will share my usual thought process besides the Six Stages of Running that I have explained before. I'm not sure if I am the only one who does this, but hey, it's something to distract your mind from wanting to slow down or stop. I usually pick a person out, mostly at random, and I decide that I am going to either pace off them without letting up, or that I will pass them and run as hard as I can to make sure I don't let them get back in front of me. It's mostly at random because I usually try to pick old people, which tends to backfire most of the time, so I should probably rethink that.

Thanks for running with me Matthew!

The course for this 5k was a three loop course. I picked a lady to pace off of today about half way through the first lap. I waited until I got through most of the congestion of the start, fell into a steady pace, and picked out the nearest old lady in front of me. I lost her for a bit at the end of the first lap because Matt popped up next to me to tell me that I started out way too fast. He was right, but I ignored him, which also tends to backfire.

On the last lap, I could tell the woman realized I was pacing off her, and she didn't seem pleased. Then she pretty much left me in the dust. I'm not sure why she got so annoyed. I wasn't right up on her heels or anything, but I sped up a bit, and then she looked over, and I immediately saw a look of recognition and annoyance on her face. Then again, maybe she was just playing the head game I play when I decide not to let a random person pass me, only I was her random person. Who knows. Either way, I have a new official 5k race PR.

Exciting news: I am so happy that I am finally making the transition into a fitness related field. I will get to combine my passion for people and my passion for running! I was offered a job at a local running company, and I am so excited to begin this new journey. For a long time, I felt guilty about wanting to leave the education field because I have always wanted to do something that would make a difference in the world, but I have come to a realization. Leaving a mark on the world is all about the relationships you build, the way you live your life, and the way you treat people in general. I am grateful for all that I have learned during my years teaching, and I am grateful for the relationships I have built so far, but I am also excited to step onto a new path.