the marathon
On November 11th, I ran my first marathon on the route of the first marathon ever! After 6 months of training, tripping and falling in the rain in Chesterton, tripping and falling and spraining my ankle in Athens, and lots of time spent running, I finally did it! I really enjoyed the entire experience through all the highs and lows.
training
I started from a pretty average base-line. I ran a bit on the treadmill at ND, but never went longer than 20-30 minutes. My workouts at ND included more spin classes/yoga sculpt classes/strength training with a bit of cardio. Before training, the longest run I’d done was 6 miles.
Begininng in May, I ran at least 5 days a week. I’m really grateful that I had a lot of flexibility in my schedule over the summer, because I definitely had to carve out a lot of time to make sure I was getting my miles in.
In the summer, I mixed in a bit of strength training (15-20 minutes) with my running workouts.
Once I arrived to Greece, I stopped strength training and only ran (I would do this differently next time)
I planned to do my runs outside once getting to Athens, but that was impossible to do. So instead, I got a 3-month gym membership to use the treadmills, and I completed every run except for 3-4 short runs (2-4 miles) that I did outside while travelling to other parts of Greece, and 1 longer run (9 miles) that I did around the track in the Panthanaic Stadium. Every other long run (10+ miles) I competed on the treadmill.
training lows
During my first longer run of training in June, it started raining and I was running on a dirt path in Coffee Creek. I slipped and fell right on my face lol. I managed to get up, walk it out a bit, then I was able to keep going with my whole body covered in dirt which actually felt pretty motivating. But I did get a hole in my lulu leggings so that kind of sucked.
During my very first run in Athens (day 3 of being here), I tripped over an bumpy spot on the sidewalk, fell, and sprained my ankle. I took 5 days off and iced, elevated, and rested my ankle and was able to ease back into the training.
training highs
I really enjoyed my training at home over the summer. I mixed up the training with treadmill runs at home, treadmill runs at the gym, and outdoor runs around the neighborhood/coffee creek.
One of my favorite parts of training was when I got to do outdoor runs on trips and explore the area a bit. My first explore-new-area-type run was in Manitowish with Cole and ran through the beautiful Wisconsin forest scenery. I also explore-ran in Paros (Greek Island), Crete (Greek Island), and Naxos (Greek Island).
Even though it was kind of hard to complete longer runs on the treadmill, I did have a pretty view outside the window in front of the treadmill. I would just stare out the window during my run and watch cars on the street, or just stare into the trees in the park.
pre-marathon
My dad came on November 7th (3 days till marathon). On November 8th, we visited the Marathon Expo Center at one of the more recent Olympic stadiums. We picked up my race bib (#16470) that had a tracker in it, a race shirt, and some other goodies. It totally helped to hype me up by seeing a bunch of other runners getting excited and it was so fun to walk through all of the race gear shopping stands.
On November 8th and November 9th, I probably should have rested more than I did, but I wanted to walk around Athens with my dad so I ended up getting 15,000+ steps each day. However, my body was still in pretty good shape because I basically did absolutely nothing other than walk for 2 weeks prior to the marathon (taper period).
I did my larger-meal carb load on November 8th (pasta and chicken). I found I do better with a solid mix of carbs and protein so I stuck with what worked for me. On November 9th, I ate 4 sparatic meals through the day and kept everything plain and simple. One of my favorite meals here was my night-before meal - gnocchi and chicken. I also ate a banana and banana-chocolate granola bar before I went to bed.
marathon day!
schedule
5:30am wake up and get ready
5:45am leave for bus pick up
6:00am bus picks me up
7:00am bus drops off at race area
9:45am race starts
12:00pm meet dad at 15ish miles
1:30pm meet dad at 20ish miles
3:00pm finish race
mile breakdown
Miles 1-14 went amazing
The incline started around mile 6 or 7, very hilly route
I was well on track with my ideal pace (10:30 mile)
I finished my half in 2 hours 22 minutes.
Mile 15 I hit a wall
I got to see my dad here which helped a lot
I had to stop and walk here
Mile 16 I had pretty bad cramping
This was probably my worst mile
I listened to my body and slowed down a lot
Miles 16-20 were a blurry struggle
I saw my dad one more time here
Miles 20-26 were a hopeful struggle
At mile 20 my apple watch died 🥲 it was fully charged too! I think it was probably because I had it on at 5:30am. This really sucked because this is how I was timing myself/counting down the miles I had left. Next time I will have to remember to turn the watch all the way off until it’s time to record the race.
I kept reminding myself that I run 5-6 miles all the time! I just had to do that one more time then I’d be done
I got a really painful blister on the bottom of my foot, but I was able to stop at the medic stop and they quickly bandaged my foot
The last 2ish miles were so exciting with so many people cheering closer to the finish line. Everyone was saying “Bravo, bravo” and little kids giving high fives were so sweet.
I saw Kristen (my roommate) right outside the stadium and at that point I knew I was basically done! I pulled out my last bits of energy and powered through into the stadium and through the finish line.
Seeing the stadium as my finish line was soooo cool. I walk by the stadium every day and every time I would think about finishing my marathon there. Finally getting to that moment was amazing!
Finish time: 5 hours 20 minutes
weather
The weather was perfect! High 50s/Low 60s and sunny. I had my fake Dior sunglasses on - thank God - because it helped prevent me from getting dizzy/blinded by the sun. I had tan lines from my race shirt and apple watch after lol.
link to apple music playlist:
Zach Bryan, The Lumineers, and Black Eyed Peas got me through it
takeaways
Absolute 10/10 experience. I really enjoyed every part of the experience from first starting training to crossing the training line. I realized how much time it takes to commit to something like this, so I’m very thankful to have had a flexible summer schedule and flexible schedule this fall to have had the time and energy to get my miles in.
The hardest part was definitely having to prioritize training this fall while being in Greece. I had plenty of time to train while being in Athens, but I had a few field studies where I’d be away for 3-4 days at a time and I had to find ways to squeeze in some training even though I was on a group’s schedule.
Some things I will change for next time:
All long runs outside
More interval training / incline training
More 16+ mile runs
Use the liquid gel packets instead of the chews
Turn my apple watch all the way off until the starting line!!!
Goal for next marathon: Sub-5 hours! 20 minutes to shave off!
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