Say what????????????
When a couple of my coworkers—aka crazy bartenders—told me they wanted to run the 2011 Marathon, I laughed in their faces. I have always considered myself a "runner" but never exceeded six miles. I decided to go along and nod my head in agreement as we shot back Jameson with a regular client who was pouring his past experiences of running the 26.2 miles on the bar. A couple weeks later we started with the Coogan's 5k on March 7th, 2011, a 3.1 mile run that was semi-easy for all of us. We started registering for more races, none being more than 5k's or 10ks, on NYRR.com (New York Road Runners). Even though we had started running as a group once every couple weeks, I still didn't believe we would actually run the New York City Marathon. In June, I found out that our notorious bar regular had gotten in contact with multiple charities who wanted us to run for their cause. Once I started receiving emails from my charity, The Queens Center for Progress, it became real to me. I was REALLY going to run the Marathon....and I was terrified. It was now June and I really needed to get my ass in gear. I had been on vacations and out brunching running jogs here and there, but nothing worthy of marathon training. I had five months to condition my body to run a marathon. SHIT!
I think we have established the fact that I am not Sally Mae, with a nine to five job, and a prefect lifestyle for marathon training, but I will say if I can do this, you most definitely can. One of the best apps I downloaded on my phone is called MapMyRun. It lets you record your runs and a very nice lady tells you every time you hit a mile (which you can set to half mile, mile, etc) and what your pacing is. You can actually look at the map and see where you have run. You also can see other peoples runs, share your runs with friends, and pre-set up a route. Anther great tool is Nike Marathon Training. You can download a calender to your phone that takes you through a training regimen week by week. It helps you slowly add mileage to your runs.
Why didn't anyone tell me these things????
- Buy a brand new pair of good running shoes when you start your training. These will be the shoes you run the marathon in. DO NOT change them a week before. Yes, the shoes will be beat up and look terrible, but your feet will be used to the shoe. New shoes will cause serious blisters. There are a lot of great running shoes, but my favorite are Asics. http://www.asicsamerica.com
- Speaking of feet, try to avoid pedicures. This one was hard for me, but if you must go get your piggies painted, do not let them scrub or "shave" skin off your feet. Those calluses prevent more blisters and must stay where they are. You just need to except that your feet are not going to look super cute. Also, keeping your nails short will help prevent black toes.
- Black Toes. Ew gross, but it happens to all of us runners. I lost my big toe nail after running the marathon. Sorry to share the gruesome details, but you can try to prevent this from happening by buying the right size shoe. Since black toes are caused by the bumping of the toe forward, more blood is pushed under the nail with every step. When you are buying shoes, make sure to buy them a half size or full size larger then you normally wear. Your feet will swell when you run and having room in your shoes will help prevent your toes from being shoved into your shoe. Even with the proper shoes, you may still see some of your toe nails turning black, it is normal, and the nail might fall off and grow back. Try and look on the bright side. My group of friends and I eventually looked at it like a bragging right: The more black toes you had, the more of a bad ass you were.
- Once you start getting up to the "long" runs, you realize how boring pounding the pavement can get. Music is great and distracting, but running ten plus miles still takes a while. I started listening to books on tape. I would download a great book from itunes and listen while I ran. I honestly enjoyed this and listening to a story sometimes was the push I needed to go the extra mile.
- Staying hydrated during your runs is so important. You must take in electrolytes DURING the runs. When you run, you lose electrolytes through your sweat. Your muscles need that nourishment to control your muscle contractions. I was a huge nerd a bought a hip pack that has two bottle holders (one large bottle and one small bottle), and a small zipper pouch. The larger bottle was for water and the smaller bottle was for electrolyte water. I bought Nuun Electrolyte Mix Tablets. They dissolve in water and taste like watered down Gatorade. In the zipper I kept Extreme Sport Beans. These tasted like yummy jelly beans. During the marathon, there are water stations at every mile that supply you with Gatorade and H2O. Sometimes they hand out Jell Packs (jelly substance filled with electrolytes and vitamins) but this can upset your stomach if you have not trained with them.
- Don't get upset if you have a bad running day. This is normal. Just try to push through. If you need to walk some, do not beat yourself up. Its hard, but you will be surprised how fast your body starts to condition. I remember my fist "long" run of nine miles. I was so proud I cried!
- You are going to be hungry. Really hungry.
The physical endurance it takes to run a marathon is only half the battle so get your mental self ready!! It is OK to start at the very beginning. Start slow! Your body is an adjustable machine and it gets in shape faster than you would think! I ran the New York City Marathon in 4 hours and 58 minuets. I was met afterwords with a Guinness, a shot of Jameson, and some wonderful and supporting friends. It was one of the most challenging and amazing experiences of my life. I felt indestructible and fearless for weeks after!
If us crazy lushes can do it, so can you!
