It wasn't an early run on Saturday, I met my original running buddy Katie (she was pretty much one of my first friends/running buddies when I moved back to this town). We even realized on Saturday that we've been running together for five years now. Hard to believe. I call her old faithful (i mean that in the best way possible of course)! She has a running group from work she runs with Saturday mornings, and is running the OKC HM. This week our mileage finally aligned, it was like MAGIC. A few from her running group didn't show, but two of the guys did. One a veteran runner, who knows how many marathons this guy has done, dozens and dozens it seemed. The other one a fairly new runner. It was fun to run with these guys because they were a bit speedier and the conversation was just plain entertaining, different than running with a group of women. We spent a good portion of the run we did with them (they took off after three miles for a shorter run) talking about marathons and triathlons and half ironmans (which i'm considering getting into, maybe).
My favorite was when the veteran was talking to me about the Chicago marathon (which he has run five times) and said it's not so crowded or bad if you can enter a fast marathon time from another race (i.e. OKC) and get into a good corral. I laughed at that. A lot. Explained how THAT last marathon went and I wasn't hopeful of swinging that, and I loved his response. "Oh." Yeah, just "oh." Enough said. It still makes me laugh. So I told him all about how I'm out for marathon
The good news is I think I've found my summer Saturday running group now too. Katie and I have a goal for the summer. Speed. Which is what I say every summer, maybe this time it will happen. I'm looking forward to having some speedier people to push me on an average "long" run this summer. So it's settled. Find new summer early morning running buddies. Check. Find a fast Saturday running group, check, check.
All of this summer running business is of course to distract myself from the marathon crazy that's been happening in my head the past week and has no sign of stopping. I'm good at distracting myself when I need to, so I just plan my summer running. Perfect, right?! Yeah, it's only semi-working.
The good news in that is that I do have a plan for the OKC marathon, before, during and after, which is something I need. I'm a planning nerd. The other good thing is that I'm consistently sleeping well lately, which is rare, so that's a plus. I'm feeling strong and ready to go overall. It's just the doubts stacking up in my head that I'm an idiot for thinking I can do this again that are getting to me. I worry. It's natural, right?! My biggest dilemma right now is how much to cross train (yoga, weights, spin) and how much NOT to. I think that's driving me crazy more than anything. So any advice on that front veteran marathoners, would be greatly appreciated.
And I'm spent. Twelve days.
17 comments:
Woohoo! Obsessive running nerds rule! At least that's what I'd like to think. I think spazzing out leading up to the race is a good thing. You're right on track.
I feel like I've been dumped for the speedy people. :-P But that's okay, pretty sure I'm not going to be working on increasing my speed any time soon! Just hoping to survive this next race without any serious injuries. And lord knows I do not feel confident about that at all right now.
I am not a veteran marathoner so I am not even going to try really. I'm not sure what you've been doing but I know we tell our athletes don't switch anything up too drastically before a big game aka race. Your body isn't use to it and you'll be sore. Hope it helps and stay positive!!!
12 days! I'm so jealous. I want to runa marathon, like, now! I still have 30-odd days to go.
Glad to hear you're feeling good and sleeping well and all that. Now squash those doubts! You've got this, girlfriend!
you can totally manage to get into a corral for chicago! i bet you're going to surprise yourself in 12 days, robinson....just sayin'...
anyway, i'd only cross train as much as you WANT to these next few days (not that i'm necessarily qualified as a veteran...particularly since i don't cross train at all, such as slacker), if your body's saying meh, i'd skip it guilt free; if it feels good, go for it. but DON'T do anything crazy that could potentially get you into an injury situation; you've done too much amazing training for that! 12 days, you're going to rock that marathon!
Yeah...it is almost here :) You are going to do great!
You are gonna rock that race for sure! Its gonna be sweet redemption in a 11 days and counting!
Best thing you can do to prepare for running is to run. I would only cross train if you have an impending injury and need an alternative way to work out, or if you just want to mix things up. By the way, my first marathon was a horrible experience. Ran out of gas at mile 18. Literally focused on not passing out/puking for over 5 miles. Then the next day I wanted to do another one. :)
Just stopping by to be supportive. :)
Looking forward to reading your race report! You'll do great.
Hope your marathon is amazing, and even better than you expect it to be!
I'm glad I'm not the only one who plans/stresses/spazzes like that. You're going to do great. :o)
12 days will fly by. no worries, you're ready.
I hope you have a fabu time this weekend!! Can't wait for your report
Good luck at the marathon this weekend!
Thank you very much
Thank you for your wonderful efforts
Thank you very much
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