First Marathon Back after Baby!
Being a mama is hard work, ya'll! Its the most amazing job that I could ask for and I am so thankful to have such a spirited, high-energy, little boy. Because of my life and work obligations, I haven't felt that I had the time to train for a marathon until now. I had fought the mom guilt and it crushed me hard for a long time but now, I know for my own sanity and happiness, I need to carve out time just for myself. I feel that I am so much stronger for it! I followed my Impala racing team's 18-week marathon training plan as well as the Crush the Marathon Train Like A Mother program. I chose to pay for the program because I wanted to chat with a like-minded community. Its a group of mothers who are also training for marathons while trying to balance the family-work-training life :)
I can say I did a majority of my training plans. It was difficult with 3 summer trips (all involving flying) and just trying to stay motivated to do long runs alone. I admit that I did not follow the training plan to a T. I did my long runs super slow and I did not often do tempo or speed workout (at least not the amount that I used to do before my toddler was born). But I felt confident that I was going to complete the marathon. I was not confident at all that I would hit my A Goal pace (goal was to finish in 3:30 - slower than the previous 2 marathons but I felt obtainable with where I was at physically).
As for the marathon, it started out just as I had planned. The weather was cold and sprinkles (not my favorite but I assumed it would warm up and my muscles would warm up with it. The the first half, I was hitting my pace, I was feeling calm and I was smiling. I kept chanting to myself "I belong here". Through mile 20, I was still hitting 8:00/mile pace or faster...
Then I felt defeated and crushed once I got halfway through mile 20. I lost the woman who was running my pace with me the whole time. My hamstrings were shot and my glutes were so tight. I blame the cold and that I had not run further than 21 miles during my training. My body was thinking I was crazy! I ended up allowing myself a walk for a few minutes at the start of every new mile then pushed to "jog" until the next mile marker. It was rough! It was so hard. I wanted to give up! But I couldn't! I was determined to at least stay close to my goal.
I finished the marathon and cried once I saw my husband and son! (My son was so excited to see me - cause he wanted to nurse! I plopped down a few feet from the finish line and just sat and nursed my little boy as I weeped). I finished in 3:38. I gave every bit that I could during that race! I was happy with my finish time but so disappointed in myself for not getting the time I wanted. But instead of letting that hurt me, I allowed it to burn my fire within. I was already signed up for the California International Marathon in December and I cannot wait to put it all out there and see what my body can do! I really believe its about my body knowing I could handle that distance and now I can work on crushing it!
And this time, I have a whole fleet of teammates hitting up this race and I am loving the training so far!
