Things I Learned From My First Full Marathon:
1. A marathon is more mental than physical.
Although it does require physical training,
a marathon is truly more about mental toughness than anything else. Even while
training for the race, the grueling training schedule requires more mental
toughness than physical toughness. Throughout the fall, I would teach from
7-2:30, and then coach soccer every day after school. If we had practice, I
would stay at the park to run from about 5:30-7:30 after practice was over, or
drive straight to a park and get my run in there. If it was a game day, I would
run during whatever time we had before our game, or use the workout room and
get some alternative in, just do whatever I could. There were many times that
my brain told me to go home and get a 30-minute nap in rather than go straight
to Clayton and run. But once I started the workout, my physical body was
usually fine. Gotta be mentally tough to
get past those things. Race day, as well, is all about mental toughness. You
are smart early on, and go out at the right pace. Mile after mile, you make
sure you’re hitting your pace. Not too fast, not too slow. At about mile 22,
you continuously tell yourself that you feel great even when you want to lay
down on the street and curl up in a ball.
Mental, mental, mental.
2. The human body has an amazing ability to block
out pain.
As I am typing this, I am looking down at
the boot on my left leg. I hate wearing a boot. I hate answering the same
question 50 times per day about “what happened to my foot.” I should really just make a sign that says, ‘it’s
actually not my foot, it’s my shin.’ Some time during my marathon training, I
developed a stress fracture in my left tibia. I thought it was just shin
splints for a long time, but sure enough it turned out to be a fracture. On
race day, I could feel the exact pinpoints of pain in the places that the bone
is fractured. Mile after mile, pounding on pavement, I could feel that specific
point in the bone. But somehow, when you really want something, your body has
an ability to just block out the pain. It’s almost like my brain knew that I
wasn’t going to stop running, so it just ignored the pain signals that the
tibia was sending it. When you’re really determined, you can’t be stopped.
3. I’m not the
exception.
Continuing on from my last point, I developed
a stress fracture from running a few too many miles. I remember developing my
training plan and looking up a lot of information about how to best train for a
marathon. There are tons of guidelines to follow to help prevent injuries. I
remember thinking, “I’ll be fine. I know it happens but it won’t happen to me.”
Why do we always think that we are the exception? As I look down at this boot
on my leg, I am reminded that I am not the
exception. I increased my mileage by way too much and way too fast. I ran on
pavement rather than soft surfaces. I’m not invincible.
4. Encouragement from others makes a huge
difference.
I can’t even begin to explain how
helpful it is to have people cheering you on when you’re trying to do something
difficult. No matter what it is, knowing that you have people on your team who
want you to succeed makes a huge difference. The first ten miles were filled
with people yelling and cheering, holding up posters and encouraging runners to
keep going. Then, around mile 10, the half and full marathons split. The
halfers went back downtown for their final 5k, and the full marathoners headed
toward Forest Park for a second 13-mile loop. There was a stretch of about 4-5
miles where there were no bands set up, and very few people cheering for you.
You were starting to get tired, and couldn’t even begin to see the light at the
end of the tunnel yet. The adrenaline slowed down when no one was there
cheering you on, and you ran quietly alone along the side of the highway. The
best thing that I had going for me is that I knew that my friend Kristina would
be waiting for me around mile 17 or 18, and would join the race and run the
last 8 or so miles with me. Knowing that was coming up was so motivating for
me. Then, when I saw my mom and my aunt, and Kristina joined me in the race,
it’s like I got a whole new wave of energy. We are made for relationships. My
secret weapon took me through the home stretch, and even helped me to pick up
the pace without realizing it. I’m so thankful for her. As we neared the
finish, I knew that my family would be waiting to watch the finish. I knew
they’d be there cheering me on. I can’t even put into words how big of a
difference encouragement makes! Always encourage those around you.
5. Running is truly a science.
This one I didn’t necessarily learn
from the marathon. I really learned it from the cross country coach at Arkansas
State University. He taught us all about the way that sleeping and eating and
heart rate zones and blah, blah, blah all affect how fast you are. We needed to
do certain things to develop red blood cells and increase oxygen reuptake and
build mitochondria and so on and so forth. But it’s really true. The human body
is like a machine that can be programmed and made to be very efficient.
Training for the marathon, it was pretty cool to see my resting heart rate go
down as my fitness level went up. The more I train, the more I realize that
everything I do, everything I put in my mouth, my level of stress, all of my
decisions, play a role in the science of fitness.
6. Accomplishments only come with self-discipline.
This one’s pretty standard for a
marathon follow-up, but I just can’t leave it out. In all areas of life, success
requires self-discipline. If you want to get good grades, study hard. If you
want to make a lot of money, you have to earn it. If you want to be a good
runner, you have to train hard. This means finding a way to get your workout in
when you’re crazy busy. This means eating healthy food. This means getting
proper sleep. This means looking like a “loser” because you drink water at the
bar. But I’ll tell ya what, the feeling you get when you cross that finish line
makes any “sacrifice” well worth it.
7. Realize where you’re at.
During the marathon, every mile was
different. Some were flat, easy, and filled with people cheering you on. Others
were uphill, quiet, lonely and filled with thoughts of suicide. But each one
was unique. We’re constantly faced with new seasons of life. We live in
different places, work different jobs, take different classes, try new things,
go through phases of favorite foods, meet new people, and have different
routines. It’s important to take the time to realize what season of life we’re
in while we’re in it. It may be a season we really enjoy, or it may be a struggle
that we need to push through. No matter what, realize where you’re at.
8. If you want it, go and get it.
When I run, I listen to Pandora on my phone. I
love Pandora, and am not going to complain over free music, but it tends to
repeat songs pretty frequently. One particular song that seemed to always be
playing during my training was Selena Gomez’s “Come and Get it.” The real
lyrics say, “when you’re ready, come and get it” and I think they may be
talking about sex. However, I changed these lyrics in my head to, “When you’re
ready, go and get it.” That slight change made this song a total pump up song
for me while I ran. My goal was to qualify for the Boston Marathon. Boston,
Boston, Boston. When I didn’t feel like running after a hot, August soccer
practice, the song would always seem to come on at just the right time. When
you’re ready to achieve your goal, go and get it. Go ahead, get started kind of
thing. If you want it, go and get it.
9. Accept advice from older, wiser folks.
I love old people. When I talk to them, I just want their
wisdom to soak into my pores. I went downtown the night before the race to pick
up my runner's number from the expo. With what started by asking which
direction it was to the closest restroom, I somehow got into a conversation
with an elderly man who was running his 37th marathon. This wise man told me
something that I'll never forget: "When you cross that finish line, you
just have to know without a shadow of a doubt that you gave every ounce of
energy inside you. You've done your training and you are prepared, now go out
and truly give it your all." That conversation replayed in my mind and
encouraged me throughout the 26.2-mile race. Those words also apply to a
career, or to anything we do in life. Each day, you have to finish your work
knowing "without a shadow of a doubt that you gave every ounce of energy
inside you." This was wonderful advice.
Proverbs 13:20 “Walk with the wise and become wise.”
110. Set
goals. And pursue them wholeheartedly.
I remember my first ever cross country meet
as a sophomore in high school. My goal was to finish the 5k without walking. I truly
didn’t care if I finished the race in five hours, as long as all of those five
hours were spent in some type of jogging motion. We accomplish our goals, and
then set the bar higher. Eventually I ran my first half marathon, with my goal
being to finish in under two hours. Since then, I have run many more half
marathons, and got into 5k’s and 10k’s as well. No matter the distance, we work
to improve. For my first full marathon, I had two goals. The first was simply
to finish the race. I didn’t know what would happen, but I knew that I wanted
to finish, even if it meant crawling over that finish line. My second goal was
to qualify for Boston, meaning that I had to run 3:35 or under. Having this
goal in mind is what allowed me to focus my training. In all of my distance
training runs, I tried to hit about 8-minute miles to learn the pace and get
used to hitting it. I wanted to qualify for Boston so bad, I would think about
it often during training runs, and it provided motivation. Setting a goal also allows
us to develop a game plan of how to get there. We set goals, and we pursue them
wholeheartedly. Fall down seven times, stand up eight. I seriously can’t wait
for Boston 2015!!!
