I miss writing, processing, using my brain for something besides household management. So here I am, back in this space.
Boston 2017 was a heartbreaking, soul searching, hard experience. Yet still incredible because it’s Boston. From mile 11 or so to mile 19, all I could think of was GET TO 19. I knew I would see my friend’s mom and I was fully planning on getting in her car and quitting. When I saw her, I walked to her and buried my face in my hands crying. I said I wanted to be done, cried again and said I’ve never quit a race. It’s true. I’ve never quit. I thought, how will I explain to my kids that I quit because it was hard and I hurt. I was mentally defeated, but not physically. I decided I WOULD finish. Even if I walked the last 7 miles. I started walking, and soon was running. For the next 7 miles, I RAN. I allowed myself to walk the water stops, but ran the rest. I even felt ok up the hills.
I finished in 3:51:11. My slowest marathon by 17 minutes and 22 minutes behind my training partner who I ran step for step with for the bulk of the training cycle.
There was nothing explicitly wrong. It just wasn’t my day. While I can point to things in my training and race day that I did differently that probably weren’t smart, the biggest culprit was ME.
After Boston, I took a mental and physical break. I ran because it’s what I do. Yet I was inconsistent, and that was what I needed. If I missed days, it didn’t matter. When we traveled over the summer, I didn’t always run. It was exactly what I needed.
Now that school has started for my kids and life is in more of a routine, I am working on consistency. My biggest goal right now is all the other stuff. Weights, PLYO type workouts, core, etc – strengthening all the other muscles that enable me to run better and faster.
Right now, I’m running 4 days a week, mileage in the upper 20’s. I’m planning to run 4 days a week at least through October, perhaps longer. Through the end of December, the goal is strength. Starting in January, I plan to add in speed.
