I'm Running a Marathon?!?!

Me and my nephew, Theo, after a rainy stroller run with my sister, Sarah

Yes, you heard that right. Also... hey sorry that it's been a million years since my last post haha! So yeah, I am running the Detroit International Marathon this October! I am nervous and also very excited! I have been training for almost 4 weeks now. For the most part I have been sticking to my plan, but I have fallen lazy with strength training and mobility. I am keeping up with Orangetheory and have been enjoying it! The only downside is that I am definitely burning a lot of my membership because I'm not going as much as I was before. The best part of all of this is getting to learn a lot about myself, nutrition, and the habits that come with running.

First I am a Strava FIEND. I love posting my workouts and also giving Kudos haha! Follow my activity: https://www.strava.com/athletes/13538464 It's fun to also have my friends encourage and inspire me on this app. The things I am learning would most importantly include nutrition. Knowing what foods to eat before and after, what kinds of gels/fuel is best for during the run, and especially how to maintain basic caloric intake/energy throughout training. If you have seen me on instagram, I will simply eat tablespoons of honey before a run just to get that sugar. I have been trying to incorporate more protein into my diet, so that has been my go-to post-run food option.

Now, I am in no way a fast runner; I average 12-minute miles at best. Having to do walk-run intervals and especially with the heat, I have been needing to take it easy. Lately I also want to be mindful of previous knee injuries from my teenage years. With that being said, strength training has been cruicial to prevent injuries. As to not overtrain I have cut back Orangetheory to twice a week. Due to infrequent class attendance I get more sore in-between classes which makes me less likely to attend. It's the runner's catch-22, if you will.

As the long runs get longer and I continue to pray to God to make the weather more mild, I would say overall the training is going extremely well! I am excited to continue and see if I can get faster and build up my endurance. My recent takeaways has been to focus more on my breathing, have the music on a low volume, and lastly to remember why I like running in the first place. No matter what comes up and what challenges that will come throughout these 20 weeks I pledge to work hard but not take myself too seriously.