Tag Archives: first marathon story

First Marathon Story: Shannon

Literally, all I have to say to you right now is that I am having a crazy week at work, I had a hard 8-mile tempo run yesterday and I’m going to see Madonna tonight (!!!), soooo, how about another first-time marathoner story? Yeah? Great.

This one comes from Shannon, a college student training for the New York Marathon. I can’t imagine having trained for a marathon during college (um, partially because it would have taken away from my beloved beer and pizza time), so mad props to her!



photo (65).jpg

Name
Shannon

Blog
Mon Amour (http://mon-amour-xoxo.blogspot.com/)

Years running
One

Marathon training for
ING NYC Marathon

Why I decided to run a marathon
I was a competitive swimmer up until my freshman year of college when injury forced me to quit. I felt like I lost a part of me and tried everything I could think of to feel like myself again. I decided to sign up for a half marathon but hardly trained for it. I had always been intrigued by the marathon but had never given it much thought until my cousin mentioned he could get me guaranteed entry in the NYC Marathon. New York is one of my favorite places so being able to run my first marathon there had me convinced almost instantly.

How is marathon training measuring up to your expectations? What’s better or worse than you
expected?
I was a little worried about the training since I had hardly any motivation to train for a half marathon. Luckily training has been going better than I could have imagined. The more I run the more I crave running. I finally feel like I am training with a purpose again, and that feeling alone is enough to make me love training for this beast. So far my hunger is much better than I expected. I was anticipating being constantly hungry and eating everything in sight but luckily that is hardly the case. I haven’t made it to the 16-20 mile training runs yet so we’ll see how my hunger levels are then. I wouldn’t necessarily say anything is worse than I expected, although training for a marathon as a college student is definitely proving to be a challenge.

Number of days running per week
Four. If I run more than four days a week my legs get cranky. I am also doing a fair amount of cross training (swimming, biking, yoga, strength training) to prevent burnout and injury.

What are you most excited about for the race?
I am most excited for literally everything about running a marathon. I want to take in the whole experience and enjoy every moment of it. I think I am especially excited about running a once in a lifetime race and feeling the pride of crossing the finish line though.

What are you most terrified of?
Probably of getting injured. I was frequently injured as a swimmer and already have had some minor IT band issues. I would hate to make it all this way and then be set back by an injury.

Do you think you’ll ever run another marathon?
Absolutely. I am from Pennsylvania and go to school in Maryland so I already want to run the Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh Marathons.

Number of black toenails so far
None! And I am hoping to keep it that way!
None! I did almost lose a toenail after my first half marathon, though, so I am trying to be careful to keep them all intact.

Leave Shannon some love, tips or tell me about your first marathon or long-distance race.


First Marathon Story: Valerie

Happy Friday! I just got out of work, and I am SO excited for a long weekend.

Here’s another First Marathon Story, from another one of my gchat besties, Valerie. I will probably say this any time I post one of these, but I am SO excited for her.

val disney.jpg

Name

Valerie

Blog

Zero to 26.2 zerototwentysix.tumblr.com

Years running

I ran my first 5K in March 2011 and have been running on and off since then, but only regularly since June of this year.

Marathon training for

Walt Disney World Marathon in January 2013

Why I decided to run a marathon

Other than because I’ve lost my mind? It’s something I’d been thinking about for a few years, and becoming friends with a bunch of runners only made the voice in the back of my head stronger. I’ve never been particularly athletic, and it’s something I want to prove to myself that I can do.

My fiance Kevin and I went to Disney World with friends a couple years ago, and ever since we’ve thought it would be fun to do the marathon there if we ever made the commitment to do a long race. With the Disney marathon’s 20th anniversary in January (and my upcoming 30th birthday later this year) I figured this year was as good as any to do it!

How is marathon training measuring up to your expectations? What’s better or worse than you expected?

First of all, running is HARD. It’s just not something that comes naturally for me. I started out with a nearly 17 minute mile and over 10 weeks have gotten that down to just under 15 on a good day. Thankfully we still have 4.5 months to go for me to get stronger and faster.

One thing that’s definitely easier than I’d anticipated is just getting out there and running four times a week. We just missed our first run this past week, and that’s because we were up in New York and our feet were worn out from all the walking. It’s been really great to have Kevin as my training partner and to help keep me accountable. As for anything that’s harder than I expected, I honestly expected this to be kind of awful and, well, it hasn’t been! It’s hard during, of course, but I always feel better once I’ve finished a run. We’re only up to 5 .5 miles, though, so I expect my feelings may change once we approach double digit mileage.

Number of days running per week

Four. We’re following Hal Higdon’s Novice Supreme training plan to the letter, except that I need to get better about doing cross training.

What are you most excited about for the race?

Crossing the finish line and having the volunteers place the medal around my neck! I have several friends who are also running the marathon and half marathon that weekend, so I’m really looking forward to seeing everyone down there. We’re making a vacation out of the trip and will spend the four days after the race hobbling around the parks, and yes, I will wear my medal every single day.

What are you most terrified of?

The sweepers. Disney makes you maintain a 16 minute per mile pace, or they politely escort you to the loser van. The idea of spending 7 months training, trying your best and then not finishing makes me want to throw up.

Do you think you’ll ever run another marathon?

Let’s see how I do with the first one before deciding! I’ve heard they’ve addictive, but time will tell.

Number of black toenails so far

Zero and I hope to keep it that way! But I have an extensive nail polish collection should the need arise.

Leave Valerie some love, tips or tell me about your first time. Running a marathon, that is.