The Art of Second-Guessing & The Power of Overcoming

It’s crazy to think that my second marathon is just days away. All of my training runs are done – woohoo! – and I have officially logged 433 miles since the last week of December/first week of January.

Celebrating the fact that I reached 433 miles and that my training runs are done, as of this morning!

 

So I’m happy, right? I can’t wait for the race on Sunday, right?

Well, kind of.

But lately my mind has been running a million miles a minute (kind of like how fast I wish I could run on Sunday). It’s provided me with all sorts of not-so-lovely flashback to last year’s marathon, which, as you might remember, didn’t go nearly as well as I’d hoped. It’s also decided to question everything I decided to do and decided not to do over the past four months. Second-guessing myself, it seems, has become more than just something that happens. It has become an art.

You see, I can just be minding my own business – at work, shopping, at youth group, eating, anywhere and anytime – and all of a sudden my mind does this: “Hey. Hey. Are you really ready for this marathon? Do you think what happened last year is going to happen this year? What have you done differently this year to make sure what happened last year doesn’t happen again this year? Did you over-train? Did you under-train? Did you cut yourself too much slack? Were you as intentional as you could have been in all of your runs? Should you really have skipped your 7-mile long run on a Sunday afternoon during Week 6 when you got back from a weekend-long youth retreat and were exhausted and took a nap instead? Have you been fueling properly? Has your nutrition been as good as it was last year? Did you eat too much junk food? Did you have enough fruits and vegetables? Did you practice carb-loading enough? How about your cross-training? Did you vary your workouts enough? Did you really put forth the effort you should have in cross-training? Should you have done more? Or what about less? Should you have gotten new running sneakers? Did you log enough miles on the treadmill to get you used to running when it’s really warm? Do you think you’re going to do OK pacing yourself? How will you make sure you don’t go out too quickly? Too slowly? Did you pace your long runs correctly? What about your short and medium midweek runs? What’s this marathon going to be like? Do you have any idea? Are you mentally prepared to hit the wall? How are you going to overcome the wall? And another thing…”

And my answer to pretty much all of those questions: I don’t know. It’s true! I don’t know. I’ve only done one other marathon, and I don’t think my results were indicative of what I’m capable of. So really, I don’t know.

But here’s what I do know:

1. I want to run the whole thing, no matter how slowly I run. (Ideally, I’ll finish faster than I did last year.)
2. I’m going to sleep on the most comfortable mattress in the history of the world the night before the race. Yes, I love you, Cambria Hotel and Suites!
3. I’ve practiced fueling before, during, and after my long runs, so I should be able to avoid the whole feeling-like-I’m-going-to-puke-for-the-rest-of-the-day thing that plagued me last year.
4. God’s got me. It doesn’t matter if I run, jog, walk, or crawl…He’s there! And that’s all I need to know!
5. I have people – and a duck – cheering me on, both in person and from afar.
   

   Check out http://www.twitter.com/creeperduck if you want to see more of what this duck is up to.

6. I’m going to run my race and not compare myself to anyone else.
7. I’M GOING TO HAVE AN ENJOYABLE TIME. (Yes, that needed to be in all caps.) Even if/when I hit the wall, even when I wish I wasn’t running, even when it’s too hot – or too rainy, as the forecast is indicating – for my taste, I will be grateful that I have the ability to run and to accomplish something as crazy as a marathon!

Since I haven’t really given updates on my last few weeks of training and since I’ve just been blabbing on about what I know for sure about my upcoming marathon, here are some quick blurbs of wisdom and fun facts that I gleaned from Weeks 11 to 18.

Week 11: Long run: 16 miles
-Words of Wisdom: When your body tells you that you had better stop or else something bad is going to happen, just listen, OK? Don’t question it, don’t ignore it, don’t try to push through it. Just stop and make the necessary adjustments. ‘Nuff said. (But if you really want to know the story, just ask. Privately.)
-Fun Fact: I finished running my 16-miler and then went to the 16th birthday party of one of my basketball/youth group girls! It truly was a 16-themed day.

Fudge shaped like a 16 (obviously) that was part of the present I took to the party

Week 12: Long run: 12.1 miles
-Words of Wisdom: Never trust a decade-plus-old iPod. Despite charging for an eternity, it will last anywhere between 2.8 and 14 miles, and you have no way of predicting how it will behave. (Yep, my iPod died about 5 miles into my 12-mile run.)
-Fun fact: I did this run the morning of Palm Sunday. My church starts at 10 a.m., so I had plenty of time to get my run in and then get ready for church. What I hadn’t taken into consideration, though, was that my running route took me by a bunch of churches that were dismissing right as I was running by. So I was trying not to spray my sweat on everyone who was walking by in nice church clothes!

Not at all pleased with the behavior of the ancient iPod

Week 13: Long run: 18.1 miles
-Words of Wisdom: Always make sure you have snacks waiting for you when you’re done with a long run. I felt fine during the run, but then I finished. And I was HUNGRY. I was so glad that I had some sort of chocolate granola breakfast bar and some other treats waiting for me in my car.
-Fun Fact: I felt so good when I kicked it in at the end of this run that I decided I was going to do a barbaric Tarzan scream as I approached my stopping point. Well, I was halfway into the barbaric Tarzan scream when I decided that it was a very ridiculous thing to do (considering that I was in the middle of civilization and not on some deserted back road), and so I started laughing at myself uncontrollably. It sounded something like this: “RRRRAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUGHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Feelin’ like a poorly posed superhero after my 18-miler

SO HUNGRY.

Week 14: Long run: 14 miles
-Words of Wisdom: When you’re using Hal Higdon’s Novice 1 Marathon Training Program, 14 miles may seem like “only” 14 miles because you run it between an 18-miler and a 20-miler, but it’s still 14 miles. And that’s still a long way. So don’t underestimate it! (I didn’t underestimate it, but I was tempted to!)
-Fun Fact: I sweat a lot. I had my sleeves pushed up, and I even left a salty sweat mark on part of my sleeve that wasn’t even touching my skin.

Salty sweat mark. And now your life will never be the same. You’re welcome.

Week 15: Long run: 20.2 miles

-Words of Wisdom: When planning a 20-mile route, make sure it ends where you want to end up, not 1.5 miles away from where you want to end up. Believe me, you will not really want to walk an extra 1.5 miles. (Thankfully for me, my mom called me and told me she was coming to pick me up, so I didn’t have to walk! YES.)
-Fun Fact: I ran this on April 9…and it snowed that day! For a huge chunk of this run, I kept obsessively thinking about how much I really wanted to juggle snowballs. Um, I don’t typically juggle anything, so this was a really weird recurring thought. So, naturally, when I finished running, I had to indulge and juggle some snowballs.

Mom and I before heading out for our 10- and 20-mile runs, respectively

Finally, after many hours of wanting to juggle snowballs, I was able to!

Week 16: Long run: 12.1 miles
-Words of Wisdom: Driving a route and running a route are two completely different experiences. The same route that seems moderately hilly while driving suddenly becomes MUCH hillier when you’re running.
-Fun Fact: I hit 400 miles of training during this run! Woohoo! And, for once, I was actually aware that I’d reached the milestone and remembered to celebrate at that moment!

The approximate spot where I hit 400 miles of marathon training

Celebrating Mom’s 11-miler and my 12-miler on a beautiful day

Week 17: Long run: 8 miles
-Words of Wisdom: Enjoy the process of tapering! You’re supposed to chill and go more slowly than usual, so do it. Don’t be stressed about it. Trust the process! And just relax.
-Fun Fact: This was my last long run! YEAH!

Long runs are done! Can you tell I’m excited?

Week 18: Long run: Well, the marathon (26.2 miles), but I obviously haven’t done that yet, so…
-Words of Wisdom: Don’t panic. (Hello, pot calling the kettle black.) You’ve done the hard part and you’ve put in the time and effort. Now relax. Don’t do a whole bunch of extra activities. Give your body a chance to really rest and recover and get ready for the marathon.
-Fun Fact: We’re doing a step challenge at work (you know, where you keep track of how many steps you take in a day). Well, I’d been doing really well until I started tapering. So this week, I took my break at work and started walking a mile at a brisk pace, just to get some extra steps in. I hadn’t gone very far when I suddenly was like, “What are you doing? You’re supposed to chill this week!” So I walked a shorter route. I can make up my steps in the following weeks! My focus right now needs to be on the marathon!

 

So there you have it. Training is done, the marathon will be here before I know it, and I’ll soon get to answer all of those questions my mind has been throwing at me. I’ll answer them by crossing the finish line on Sunday. See y’all on the flip side, when I’m a two-time marathoner!

No Sense in Being Monochromatic!

Months ago, my friend Joy asked me if I’d be interested in doing a color 5K (specifically, the Color in Motion 5K (CIM5K)) with her and her husband, Patrick. I’m always up for trying new types of athletic events, so I checked the date: April 23. Eight days before my second marathon. I briefly weighed my options and decided to give it a go. Why not, right?

So on April 22, the day before the CIM5K, I did my final marathon training long run – only 8 miles – and headed over to the local running store to pick up my race packet. Never did I ever expect the line to be so long! Despite the fact that the line wrapped the whole way around the side of the building and continued snaking along the back of the store, things moved fairly quickly. Before I knew it, I was equipped with my gray race shirt (to simulate a chalk board), a packet of color (I chose orange…because of basketball, of course), and a few other odds and ends.

On race morning, I woke up to the sound of…rain. That’s right. Ugh. But it wasn’t just rain. It was a cold-ish rain! But hey, when I pay money for a race, I’m committed, so I headed over to the race site, where I met up with Joy and Patrick around 8 a.m. Thankfully, the rain lightened up after a bit, so we didn’t end up getting drenched.

Ready to go!

 

The three of us were in the first wave, which left shortly after 9 a.m. At first, it felt like a normal 5K because the four color stations didn’t start popping up along the course until maybe a mile or so in. (That’s totally fine; I like normal 5Ks too! Plus, not having color stations right away means you have to accomplish something – going a certain distance – before being rewarded with color.)

When we finally did get to a color station, it was very cool! Volunteers ambushed us with colored powder, and we – if we chose – could “fight” back using our color packet. Very fun! Gotta say, I was glad I wore sunglasses like the organizers had suggested; it would not have been fun getting all of that color dust in my eyes. Nope, nope, nope!

Showing off our shades. Wait…who is that scary outlaw behind us with an umbrella? Oh, it’s just Patrick…

(Many thanks to Joy for letting me use a bunch of her pics, by the way!)

The course took us through a bunch of Lancaster neighborhoods, some parks, the Lancaster Barnstormers baseball stadium, and, of course COLOR STATIONS! I got blasted with color by volunteers each time, and on occasion I’d dump some of my orange powder back at them. I even tossed some orange on my aunt, who was doing the CIM5K with one of her sisters and nieces. So sorry*, Aunt Stacy!

*Not “sorry” as in “I really regret doing that!” More like “sorry” as in “MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!”

The second-to-last color station was the blue one, and it was set up in some park in the city. My favorite part about this station was that the blue drifted through the air and colored the basketball nets! It looked so cool! It also permeated certain parts of our shoes; it was almost like we had each gotten a new pair of sneakers because they looked so different!

These were gray/silver before.

 

I was having a really good time, but unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. And the CIM5K was one of those things. We crossed the finish line, high-fived each other, and took some “after” pics:

Post-CIM5K fun!

More fun!

YEAH!

We rock!

 

Joy and Patrick had to head out, so we said our goodbyes and they left.

Now, I don’t know if you noticed anything about these “after” pictures, but I look mostly unaffected by color! I have no idea how I managed to do that, especially because I know I got blasted at those stations. I’m sure the gray shirt makes it tougher for every little bit of color to stand out, but still…I looked much too colorless for my taste.

So I hung around at the Color Festival after the race for a little while until I thought maybe I’d been doused in some more color. While I didn’t get a full shot of color in my face during the festival (which I’m very thankful for, judging from the reactions of people who did receive that treatment), I did end up looking more Smurf-like by the time I left the Color Festival:

Much better!

 

I can’t speak for everyone, but the cleanup process wasn’t too bad. To be honest, I thought I’d done a really good job scrubbing all of the color away, and I was sure I hadn’t missed any spots…and then I blew my nose. Or perhaps I should say that I “blue” my nose…because that’s what color the tissue was when I was done with it. TMI, yup. You’re welcome.

I know some die-hard runners frown on “gimmicky” races – you know, anything that’s not straight-up running for a set distance with nothing happening between the start and the finish other than a few water stops. I’ve done my fair share of “regular races,” and I thoroughly enjoy them! I’ve also done a few unique events – Warrior Dashes and now the Color In Motion 5K – and I thoroughly enjoy them, too.

Here’s my two cents: There should always be some aspect of exercise that’s enjoyable. It could be something during a workout that’s enjoyable or even the incredible feeling you get when you’re done exercising. For example, if you despise running, don’t run! Find something you like to do (Zumba, walking, lifting weights, jumping rope, swimming, cycling, etc.) and do it! So that’s why I’m all about these types of events, like the color 5Ks and the obstacle races. Will all of these things stand the test of time? I have no clue. But if, for right now, they make exercise enjoyable, I think that’s wonderful.

So keep on keepin’ on, organizers of nontraditional athletic events! You all rock! I can’t wait for my next one.

Bring on the next!