This is about how I felt on Mile 17 of Saturday’s long run–in need of a solid bathroom break and with no finish line in sight. But I did it! I really did it! I ran 20 miles straight without having to stop to walk once! I’m still kind of in disbelief, actually. As a matter of fact, the only thing that makes me believe that I actually did it is the fact that my hip hurts so bad that I’ve been waddling like I’m 8-months pregnant ever since. Matt’s been about to ask me multiple times today why I’m walking so slow all the time, but then he’ll laugh as soon as he remembers. Mean.
So we are now officially less than one month away from Marathon Day, and after being able to successfully complete this first 20-miler (trust me, I was nervous before–I wasn’t sure I could do it), I’m finally feeling confident that I can really do this whole marathon thing. And major bonus: lately I have started to notice some serious changes in my body. I mean, for the first time ever, I can really feel some abs coming through, and my legs have some serious definition coming into them. I didn’t start all this training to lose weight or anything and I was actually pretty happy with where my body was before all this, but marathon training has made me start to discover what my body is really capable of. And I’m loving it–every day as I’m out running, I send a prayer of gratitude up to my Father in Heaven for the blessing of having a strong, energetic body that is capable of such a heavy load. I can’t believe how quickly my body has been able to adapt to the increased mileage, and it makes me want to try out all sorts of new things when the marathon is all said and done just to see what I’m capable of. I can’t wait!
High Point: Getting past the 18-mile mark on my 20-miler; I was so nervous to do another really long run just because my 18-mile run a few weeks ago had not gone over well at all–I felt broken and beaten at the end of it, and I was seriously doubting whether I would be ready for a full marathon. But on this last run, I was able to get past all that fear; I knew I was going to be fine when I was still feeling pretty good around Mile 17 (on the last 18-miler, I was losing it around Mile 14). And even though I didn’t run it as fast as I would have liked, I sure am proud of myself for doing it!
Low Point: My Thursday run. I was supposed to do 8 miles, but I had to cut it short after 4.5 because I felt so sick and in dire need of a bathroom. I’ll have to watch my diet very, very closely right before the marathon so that I don’t run into that problem again. If any of you have any good suggestions of things that have sat well with you before a big race, let me know!
# of Miles Run: 29
Avg. Time Per Mile: If you go by my 20-mile average time, about 11 minutes/mile. I know that’s quite a bit slower than normal, but hopefully if I can pick up the pace slightly, I’ll be able to do the marathon in just over 4.5 hours.
