The Elusive Marathon

By guest blogger Kelly:

In January I decided I needed some motivation to keep me running through the winter months. I decided to run a marathon in May. As a recreational runner I had participated in many 5k’s, 10k’s, and 15k’s, however, with a family including 2 young kids I never thought I could run a marathon because there already weren’t enough hours in the day. All around me, however, many of my friends (many with children younger then mine) had recently completed marathons so I decided to dive in headfirst.

I steadily increased my mileage and incorporated speed work and tempo runs. It was all going well until my “long” runs went beyond 11 miles. I started to feel the pain of the strain my body was under and I was tired. I was tired of so many things; tired of the constant aches in my legs, tired of losing hours of time to running on Sunday mornings, tired of getting up before the sun to run, and tired of forced workouts because “I had to”. On the morning I was supposed to do a 14-mile run I quit. Yes, after weeks of hard work and time spent, I quit with part of me feeling guilty and part of me feeling like a gigantic weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I went out that morning and ran 6 glorious miles without a water bottle, without energy beans, without an ipod, and enjoyed every minute of it. I have never looked back and have no regrets. Afterall, I did train through the winter months right? Goal partially achieved.

What have I learned from this? Well, I think I will ultimately run a marathon. When? Maybe when my kids are older and I have more “time” to myself. Maybe when I have a committed marathon partner to encourage me and go on long runs with me. But really, it might never happen and that would be OK too since I am still a runner and still enjoy “long” runs even if they are 10 miles or less.

So anyone want to train for a marathon with me?




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