Lessons Learned

Kelly from 2010-Revived Runner is going to run her first marathon in 2011 (yay!) and asked if I had any advice. I am so excited for her because I loved my first experience and I hope she does as well! But, I don't think I would have enjoyed it near as much if I hadn't gotten so much great advice from so many of you and from other friends who have run marathons in the past. So, I thought I'd share my lessons learned from the marathon, what worked for me, and what I will change for the next time. I solicited advice from all of you a couple of weeks before my marathon and as I mentioned before, I really took it all to heart!

1. Sleep! This was my #1 priority the week before the marathon. Since I get up so early to run and workout, this is something I struggle with. I tried to get at least 8 hours each night.

2. Hydrate. Drink lots of water all week and Gatorade a couple of days before the marathon. I drank at least 3 liters every day and drank a Gatorade Thursday and Friday.

3. Trust your training. This was really hard! I got nervous with my last "long run" being weeks earlier. But, I had to trust my training, including the taper, and take that time to give my body a rest.

4. Relax and enjoy! I really focused on enjoying myself. I was really nervous but also so excited that I was running a marathon! Whenever I started to feel anxious I just reminded myself how long I had been training for this and how much I love running!

5. Don't start off too fast. I did this in the marathon and my last half marathon. I can't believe I did it twice, but hopefully I will never make this mistake again.

6. Find something to do during the race. Surprisingly, I barely listened to my music. I had it on most of the time, but probably had no idea what song I was listening to. For a while I looked at all the shirts people had on. I'm weird, I know, but I love seeing all the different race shirts. I really liked the one that said, "pain is weakness leaving the body." I said that to myself a couple of different times later on in the race. :) And then of course I thought about people who mean a lot to me and how they have helped me get to where I am today. I looked around at the scenery. One good thing about travelling to your marathon is that it's all new, and it's fun to look around. These things really helped pass the time. Honestly, it's hard to believe it was 4 1/2 hours! It didn't seem near that long.

I especially loved thinking about this cutie pie! (Jake, not Santa). :)





















Those were the main things, besides 3 months of training of course, that really helped me to have a great run. I still think I could have done better had I started better, but I'm still very happy for my first marathon! Thank you all for sharing what you learned and giving me some great advice. I appreciate it so much. I hope these help Kelly and anyone else who may be training for their first half or full marathon.

I really enjoyed this post from This Runners Trials. I liked the whole post but I really liked when she said, "You’ll almost always regret skipping a workout, but you’ll never regret doing one." I don't know about you, but that is so true for me! I decided that I would get back into my normal routine starting on Sunday. On Sunday afternoon all I wanted to do was sit on the couch and watch football, but I knew I needed to start the week off right. I went out for a 4 mile run. It was great to get outside and just run, not worrying about speed or anything but just enjoying it. Jen was right, I didn't regret it all but I definitely would have had I not done it! Monday I did Jillian's "No More Trouble Zones" DVD. I forgot how much I loved that video! Then today I did 4 miles on the treadmill focusing again on speed work and then did abs. I am anxious to get back to running outside again on Saturday mornings, so I was very excited when Justin told me today that he'd be ready after New Years! I can't wait!