My Unsuccessful Attempt to Run a Marathon

Several years ago, I made a New Year’s resolution to train for and run a marathon.  Jason and I both ran half marathons and decided we wanted to push ourselves to run this distance.  After deciding to tackle this feat, we did the first and most important step in competing in a race; we found one and signed up for it.  We wanted to run a late spring/early summer race, well before the summer heat would be setting in.  We picked the Lincoln Marathon, scheduled for early May.

Use a fuel belt, one with a small pouch for a snack,
any time you're going for a long workout or the
temperature is very warm.  On the coldest days,
consider wearing lobster claw gloves.

We decided to complete a four month training schedule since neither of us had run past 13.1 miles before.  We followed a plan similar to (not exact) this first-time/casual marathoner schedule.  We counted 20 weeks backwards from our race date and started training in mid-January.  We had a vacation already planned and ran our first 10 mile long run in Hawaii.  The following week, upon returning to the cold, Iowa winter weather, we ran our first 14 mile long run in -5 degree temperatures.  That particular run will go down as the coldest, most unenjoyable run I’ve ever done.  I already don’t like running in cold weather and I almost wanted to quit on that day alone.  However, I didn’t let it stop me and we stuck to the schedule, rarely, if ever, missing a scheduled run.

Running became our life.  Our entire schedule revolved around when we’d be able to work in our run.  Our entire weekends were consumed by waking up, eating a very small, digestion-friendly snack, running (sometimes for hours), stretching, eating, recovering, napping, and then taking it easy the rest of the weekend.  I was sore, tired, and I dealt with tummy problems many times following a long run.  Despite all of this, we were still excited about competing in our first marathon.

We learned different tricks and tips during our training.  First, if you don’t want your water bottles to freeze five minutes into a cold run, fill them with very hot water.  After the first couple of miles the water will already be cold.  Depending on the length of the run, they may well be frozen by the time you finish.  Also, make sure to have appropriate layers on during Iowa winters.  I recommend wearing lobster claw gloves on the extremely cold days.  Having the skin-to-skin contact of a few fingers inside the gloves helps keep frostbite out.  I also learned that a big part of distance running is learning that you’ll give up mentally before your legs give out.  The practice long runs do help with endurance but more importantly help you prepare and practice how to tell yourself you can do this when the miles start blurring together.  I tried to come up with phrases and mantras to repeat to myself when I wanted to mentally give up.  Those thoughts helped carry me through to the finish during many training runs.

Thus, neither Jason or I could prepare ourselves for the colossal running failure to come.  Three months into our training schedule we were moving along, completing all of our scheduled runs and thinking about our goal finish time for the race.  Then came our first 18 mile long run.  We had to strategically and carefully plan out an 18 mile route, one that would accommodate us (aka sidewalks or a place to run) and challenge but not hurt us (the right amount of flat vs. hills).

Post workout, I need water, a KIND bar,
and a foam roller!

Around mile 14 I stopped.  I needed a snack and I was feeling a lot of pain, maybe more mental than physical.  I was exhausted.  Once I ate my snack I started picking up the pace again.  Less than a half mile later, I stopped again.  I had an unbearable pain in my knee.  I walked it off for half a mile and tried one more time unsuccessfully to start running.  I walked the rest of the 3.5 miles home and cried a good portion of it.  I was so angry and disappointed that I couldn’t do it.  I would still have 8 miles left to go in the actual marathon and there was no way I could run all of it.  About a half mile from home, I saw Jason.  We stared at each other, scowls brewing on our faces.  I burst into tears and told him I had to stop at mile 14.  He said he struggled and walked the last few miles too.  We both looked at each other and said we stopped having fun running.

That was it.  I love running, so the thought that I disliked it more than anything in the world at that moment was devastating.  I wanted nothing to do with it.  

Once we were able to stretch, eat, and relax, we had an honest conversation about our plan.  We decided that we had pushed our bodies a little too hard and that trying to recover and still train wasn’t the best option.  This wasn’t our time to run a marathon.  Instead of completely forgoing the race, we dropped down to the half marathon and each ran PRs.  The training had been effective in improving our race pace and endurance and we were both extremely proud of how we raced that day!

We have yet to run a marathon and maybe we never will.  It doesn’t mean we’re failures or that we’re not competitors or athletes.  The fact we were able to recognize that the training was too much for us and that we were no longer having fun was an important lesson to me.  Running the marathon wasn’t a requirement of my job or something, it was a personal goal.  Just because I couldn’t meet that goal doesn’t mean I can’t do anything.

I talk to people all the time about adjusting and recalculating goals.  If someone can’t lose the last 10 pounds they want, despite best efforts, they should think about adjusting the goal.  If they wanted to lose weight to look better in a bathing suit, maybe they’ve put on a few pounds of lean muscle and thus have great overall body tone and look great in the swimsuit.  The original thought was that losing 10 pounds would achieve that goal but instead the hard work presented itself in another way.  If you trained for and couldn’t complete a marathon, did you achieve anything else along the way?  I ran farther than I ever had before, I stuck to a challenging training schedule, I ran a half marathon PR, and I increased my endurance for other challenging sports as well.  That sounds like a winning result to me :)  

What challenges have you dealt with in working towards good health and wellness?  Have you failed to reach a goal?  Did you evaluate and make any necessary adjustments?  No matter what, I have confidence that if you’re making real effort in trying to achieve health and wellness goals that you will achieve them, even if you don’t reach a specific metric you defined.  Whatever you do, don’t give up!

Keep up the good work!  And by the way, if you’ve ever run a marathon, congratulations to you! I’m still in awe of that distance and the people who have the endurance and fortitude to finish :)

Miss FitGab