Marathon training update: the big 2-0 is now behind Steph!

Posted By Steph | July 6, 2009

As you all might remember, I am going to be running in the San Francisco Marathon on July 26th. It’s hard to believe that I have been training for this race since the beginning of March. It most definitely has not been easy, and it’s not so much the running part that has been hard. Don’t get me wrong, convicing myself to wake up at 5:30 every morning before work to run is not a bit easy in the least, and running an increasing amount of mileage is no piece of cake. But that’s not what has been the hardest part. You see, I haven’t spent the entire 5 months training alone. At the beginning of the training I had a partner, Ryan. Our plan was for us to run the marathon together as a “we should try to do something really cool together before we get married” sort of thing. If you recall we posted a video of our first “long weekend run” on our blog towards the beginning of the training. It’s always so much easier to have a partner in any sort of training program. Although I love running and have been running since I was just 12 years old, I often have times (like at 5:30 in the morning!) when I honestly could care less about running. It always helped to have Ryan there to push me to get out and run with him, and to stick together on our long runs for support and encouragement. But all did not go according to our plan and unfortunately, Ryan hurt his shoulder and has been out of the running game for about 3 months now, and will not be running the 26.2 miles by my side in a few weeks

Since I have not had Ryan by my side it’s been a tough road to run during these last few months, but surprisingly enough, I’ve made it to almost 3 weeks left to go and I’m feeling better than ever! This is my first marathon and I’ve been following the Hal Higdon’s training guide religiously. It’s been a great program to follow and I would highly recommend it to anyone that is trying to complete their first marathon. He also has programs for intermediate and advanced marathoners as well. As you can see from the chart, at week 15 the long run is 20 miles. That is exactly what I did yesterday, 20 miles… I still can hardly believe it. It’s funny how when you run that far it’s almost like an out of body experience. It’s truly surreal to push your body to that level, and It’s an incredibly exhilarating feelings once you’ve finished (minus some major body aches and dehydration).

I’ve never felt a “tired” like the tired I felt yesterday. I probably would not have felt so bad had I planned more accordingly and brought some money to buy water or packed some energy gels for the trip. I actually ran the entire way with only taking a few swigs from a couple water fountains that I ran past around miles 13 and 17. What I didn’t know is that Ryan and Frank had actually been searching for me with water and power gel in hand, the entire time! Ryan decided that as soon as I left for my run he would head over to the Sports Basement to grab a couple bottles of water and some Gu to give to me while I was running. He figured that since I was running an out and back course there would be no way that he could miss me…. well… turns out he was miserably wrong. For some reason, we missed each other. No matter how hard Ryan and Frank tried to find me, we somehow missed each other amongst the traffic, tourists, and farmer’s markets. For almost 3 and a half hours those two searched for me, bless their hearts. When I got home and nobody was there, I just figured that Ryan had walked down to pick up a couple chais at Peet’s. Little did I know that they had been on a crazy adventure throughout San Francisco the entire morning! I truly appreciated their efforts, and although they didn’t find me, it was almost worth it because Ryan made a great video of their trek across the city in hopes of saving me from exhaustion. It’s the thought that counts, and I know that those two really tried to help me out

Now that the big 20 miles is in the dust behind me, I’ll be in the process of tapering off on mileage for the next few weeks up until the marathon. Ahh it feels good to make progress, and I’m eagerly anticipating the day when I’ll wake up and run an entire 26.2 miles!

Filed Under 50 Goals For 2009, Frank, marathon chronicles, san francisco, video