The 2019 Virgin Money London Marathon is three weeks away so this is a great time to update you on training. In going through the blog, I noticed that I have not updated in a while. I apologize for that. First, life has been busy and not easy to say the least. We sold our Monroe home and bought a new house in Duvall. Reading one of my very last posts regarding a broken toe and managing through our temporary apartment during which I was training for the Berlin Marathon brought back memories of how hard things were and how far I’ve come thus far in this training season. Losing my cousin in July broke my heart and then my grandmother took a turn for the worse and passed as well. A broken heart and toe, having to defer the Berlin Marathon, and at the time just being burnt out on everything was pouring out of the blog. A break was needed because I was emotionally and physically spent. Running and training wasn’t a priority nor did I really want it to be. My priorities were moving everything in the new house and getting all the kids on a routine in regards to new school, etc. And just letting the heart heal as much as it could. Just needed to some time for things to calm down and for the love of the sport to return to my veins again.
So here we are now and I’ve been training for the London Marathon for 13 weeks now and feeling good. I raised money for a charity called Back on my feet whose mission is to help combat homelessness by encouraging the homeless to start running to gain confidence. Once an individual has committed and shown up to a few runs, the charity then starts to help with school, employment, and housing. I had to write an essay months ago about why I wanted to run for this particular charity before gaining acceptance. This was near and dear to my heart as my dad had suffered before his untimely death from addiction and depression, which sometimes lead to unhealthy and or inadequate housing. But he actually ran his very first 5K with me and I noticed a sense of confidence and achievement in his smile afterwards. Unfortunately, the addiction lead to a terrible accident and he passed away two months later. I was devastated to say the least but if I can help one person for even a second gain confidence through running, my goal that I set out to accomplish is fulfilled.
Training has had its ups and downs this season but it has mostly been up. This time around, I’ve been relaxed with my plan and not stressing about missing a run. Mostly, because I just want to show up at the start line healthy and happy for this great cause. As I get older, I’ve been trying different approaches to training to try and keep injuries at bay. Some have included running long runs every other weekend, not running a full 20 miler but keeping it at 16-18, and really listening to my body. Acupuncture has been a blessing and really seems to be helping me. Nutrition has become so important too. Making sure I’m eating pre and post training with foods that fuel the body. Taking long warm baths with mineral flakes has become my new favorite. I have also been working with a coach who is so knowledgeable about every aspect of this sport that its incredible and mind blowing all in the same. I feel very lucky and fortunate to have this guy in my court. Swimming, cross training, strength training, drills and adding a weekly walk a day after a long run seem to be working too.
In the bigger picture, I’m on a mission to finish all six of The Abbott World Marathon Majors. London will be my fourth and later in September, Berlin will be my fifth, leaving Tokyo as my last. This journey thus far has been exciting, rewarding, but hard work. There have been bumps along the way but that’s life and I’m doing a better job of embracing them as they come. The reason I started this blog a while back was to hopefully help other runners out there with any and all tips of how we juggle and make it work with a large family and life. Logging long runs on the weekend and training during the week with five children is no small feat. It takes planning, sacrifice, and determination along with flexibility from everyone in the family and beyond. My husband is the backbone to my training. He watches the children on my long runs and supports me in every way. I seriously would not be able to do this without his love and dedication. It also takes a support system and a small village outside our family. Most of my training is done at the YMCA because of the support and childcare that is offered. And they are amazing with my children. All my children have grown up there since we became members nine to ten years ago. I’d also like to mention the support from other amazing women and moms out there doing the same thing. We have a circle of friends that have the same goals and support each other. It makes a huge difference to have friends around that support you and understand what you are going through because they are going through the same experience. They have been unbelievable role models to me.
With three weeks left of training until The London Marathon, I am very excited but cautious. There is one last long run before the taper and I’m literally shaking with nerves as I type this now. I do not want anything to go wrong or risk injury on that last long run. And I keep reminding myself that the most important thing right now is that I show up to that start line happy and healthy for a wonderful charity and an experience of a lifetime! Here we go!!!
Update: After writing this post last week and I have accomplished the scary 20-mile-long run and now on taper. Two weeks to go and I’m just trying to take it one day at a time until the start line. So excited to fly to my first international marathon. Simply amazing!!!