Well, life is interesting. I started to get this itch like hmmm I could do it... I could maybe run a full... I'd like to do a full before I'm 26 (26 miles by 26.. I think I'm clever). It's not like I kept up my running after the half either. I went back to only being able to run about 3 miles at a time again. 13 steps forward 10 steps back I guess. I had visited Chicago about 5 months after the half marathon and though well this place is amazing and flat; so I stuck this idea in the back of my mind about Chicago being the place to run a full if I ever decided to do it. Well some time passed and I decided to just look and see when the next Chicago Marathon was and saw that registration was a few months away. So there I was 25 and fully considering doing a full marathon. I set a reminder to register and when the time came it ended up being by a lottery system. I thought well if it's mean to be I'll get picked and if not oh well. I didn't make it in via the lottery and decided to forget about it (what a cop out).
Then the Boston Marathon bombings happened and instead of afraid I felt inspired. I thought I could channel all that negativity into something positive for myself and others. I decided to sign up for the marathon through a charity organization. I chose the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society because of my Great Grandma Mabel who died of leukemia. By the end of training I had raised $2,500!! Running for a cause bigger than myself was extremely rewarding and encouraging. Every time someone made a donation it was a reminder to keep training and keep pushing even when I wanted to quit. Come race day I am SOOOO happy that I ran with LLS's Team in Training! Every mile or so was one of the coaches who would jog next to you, encourage you, chat it up, or give you salt caps, GUs, or whatever you needed. Their little bits of encouragement go a loooong way especially at mile 23.
So I signed up, trained, and did it! However, I definitely had some set backs along the way. I didn't quite stick to my training plan as well as I should have. I let life and relaxing get in the way some days but I was able to keep up with my long runs for most of training. Then the last couple weeks of long runs I ended up getting sick and had a nasty cough that hung around for an extra week and a half. I wasn't able to do my last long runs before tapering began. The furthest I ran before race day was a training 13.1 miles... :-/ not what I had wanted to happen. But, I made a commitment to myself and LLS that I would do it. I made sure I carb loaded, hydrated, planned all my fuel and electrolytes, and told myself I would finish.
And I did! I finished 26.2 miles. Did I go as fast as I would have liked? No. But my real goal was to finish. I ran majority of it but did take quite a lot of walking breaks toward the end. And crossing the finish line I had tears in my eyes and was so happy and proud of myself. So now I am in recovery mode. The soreness has finally subsided but my foot is still killing me. I am nervous I had a stress fracture in my right foot but since I'm not working yet I have been able to rest all week and stay off of it, hopefully it starts getting better soon.
I will write a few more posts soon about specific training plans, how I fueled, and what I learned along the way.
The day after the race! Hobbled around the city for some last minute site seeing before heading home.
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