Moments ago, I officially became registered for a marathon.
Marathons are one of those things where a very elite group of people do them over and over, but for most, it is a Bucket List item, a challenge to take on, to prove to yourself that you can indeed accomplish this feat once in your life. I definitely fall into the latter group, and realized that early next year (when I am going to be living at home for a few months not doing anything particularly stressful besides readjusting to America post-Mozambique) would probably be the best time in my life to do it. I searched on Runners World for marathons around the time that seemed good (between the end of April, to have enough time to train, but before Memorial Day Weekend, since I will be in Vegas with my friends and NOT running). And then I found the Big Sur International Marathon. It was close to home, it was at the perfect time, and it’s on the Pacific Coast Highway, my favorite road in the world. Perfection. Minus the whole having to run 26.2 miles on hills part. And my mommy is going to come with me and run the 10.6 miler! And I am going to convince my sister to join in on the fun, too…
I am glad I have MONTHS to mentally/physically prepare for this. Physically, I am NOT meant to be a runner, I don´t think. I have suffered from runner’s knee problems for a LONG time and it took me MONTHS of running in the Moz to not have knee pain. I am going to be doing “marathon training” from the first week of January up through the Marathon on May 1st, which is 17 weeks, and hopefully running a half in there too. Between now and then, I am going to keep up my current exercise schedule, which is running twice a week (one 1-hour run with speed work, and one long run between two and three hours at a slow pace ) and DVD workouts/P90X four days a week, with lots of walking thrown in. I figure in November/December I will try to move up to three or four days a week of jogging (well, the best I can do, as I will be backpacking Asia for some of that time) to start strengthening up my knees a bit for the more frequent running, and then start training in January with a beginners plan running four days a week. But I really have no experience with this so if anyone has any advice it would be VERY welcomed! But again this is so far away… I just need to be thinking about it because I have learned how sensitive my knees are to overtraining and increasing mileage too quickly, so I cannot just jump right into this without getting totally bonked.
This is forever away but I am already really excited and it is nice to have a HUGE, looming challenge several months ahead of me. I haven’t had something like that to look forward to/get really anxious about (!) since finding out I was going to Peace Corps. I hope it will also inspire me to really prioritize my health and fitness during my traveling and also when I get back home.
I am giddy just thinking about how hard this is going to kick my butt… remind me to come back to this post around April when I am on the verge of throwing my running shoes off this same cliff. Hah. But really, I am ready to take on something big.
Have you ever run a marathon? Any tips? Or do you want to someday?
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i think if i ever did a full marathon, this would be the one i would LOVE to do! look at the views, i mean how can you not want to run that!!
im signed up for a half marathon in october, it’ll be interesting to see how that goes.
happy running <3
YAY! This is so exciting! I’ve never run a marathon, but I had a great time running a half. I’d like to do a full someday.
What cool news….I’m so excited for you! I think it’ll give you a way to structure and focus your life once you get back to the States, which will be a good thing. I sooo want to run the Big Sur Marathon at some point in my life. It looks absolutely spectacular! Congratulations on signing up for such a huge challenge….as you know, I’m prepping for my first marathon this coming in October in Denvah. I’ll let you know how it goes…:)
you get extra points for the altitude
When I lived at Estes, I ran and climbed a bunch and was sooo excited to move back to sea level and be in the best shape EVER… ummm, I was drunk on oxygen for about two days and then completely back to normal. Not fair! Considering that I was in the best shape of my life when I moved to Estes and the first day out I couldn´t even jog for five full minutes 
what an experience this will be! Congrats on signing up. I haven’t run a marathon, but would LOVE to some day. Keeping pushing towards your goal! We’ll be cheering you on
Hi Courtney! I just found you blog – I love it!!
Congrats on signing up for a marathon! That’s such a huge step. I’m definitely in the latter group you mentioned too, I plan to run a marathon once in my lifetime. I can’t wait to read more of your blog and follow along in your training! Good luck!
ps. I have runner’s knee too, do you have any strength training moves in particular that you think are really helpful?
It´s different for everyone, of course–some people claim that X or Y exercise will really help strengthen your knees, but I have done a LOT of strength training, all the basic sorts you would express (lunges, squats, etc. etc. etc.) but the only thing that has worked for me personally is CONSISTENCY. If I went two weeks without a run, my knees would literally be killing me if I tried to run three miles! I am not quite sure why this is and am going to talk to someone about it when I get back to the States/before marathon training–but right now I am only running twice a week, once short with sprints and one long run, with cross training on the other days, and feel great! A week off though, and it feels like starting over.
I’m so excited for you! I wish I had the guts to go for the full marathon right away. My best advice is to ease yourself into it. Once I signed up for my half I went into running full force without a lot of cross training. Bad decision. I just stated to get back into running and lost a lot of my legs endurance. No matter what just have fun with it!
I have never ran a marathon or a mini. I want to run a mini someday, but I’m really a long distance runner. I hope someday I have the desire too. I am very proud of you. Cannot wait to hear about your marathon journey!
Ah! Well congrats to you too!! A whole marathon is a BIG deal! That scenery looks outstanding though. That’s the way to do it, I say!
congrats on registering!!! That’s so exciting.
Oh my gosh, congrats! You’re going to do so well! One day I’m going to run a marathon. It’s going to be many many many moons from now, but it’s going to happen, I swear. Seeing women like you register and rock ‘em is incredibly inspirational, and I’m dying to join your ranks of the 26.2 club
Oooo exciting! I’m also jealous….I don’t have the nerve to sign up for a full marathon once I’m back in the States (in roughly 7 months or so). I think I’m going to stick with a half first and then maybe (MAYBE) head the full marathon direction.
Good luck with the training! I’m excited to hear how it goes.
Wow congrats on registering for the marathon! I trained for a half and my biggest advice is to CROSS TRAIN and also give yourself enough rest! And I don’t even have t sya it, but those photos = GORGEOUS!!!
*to say it. (sorry.. i just woke up! haha)
Yay for the marathon! I’ve just started training for my first one
Happy running!
happy running to YOU! Good luck and I can´t wait to read about it!
That’s so exciting you signed up for a marathon!! I think it’s a good idea to ease into it & take it slow, given your knee situation. I followed Hal Higdson’s training plan online and modified it a bit (so I was never running more than 40 miles a week). My best advice would be to not slack on the stretching/strength-training! Seriously, it makes all the difference
awesome. Great advice… I want to modify it a bit too. Cross training I hope won´t be a problem because I will be dying for days of NOT running, I bet… we will see
congrats on the marathon! i signed up last week for the cleveland marathon (5/14/11). i ran the 2008 flying pig marathon in cincinnati. this is the training schedule i used: http://flyingpigmarathon.com/training_information/2009_training.html my best advice would be to just keep up with the stretching and do cross-training to not exhaust your body.
Congrats on signing up for the marathon! It is definitely a great accomplishment to be able to train for and finish one!
I’m in the last couple of weeks of half marathon training- which has proven to be challenging at times, but has left me with an overall feeling of accomplishment. I can’t imagine doing a full at this time, but maybe someday!
I read about Big Sur in Runners World. It looks like an incredible race. You are going to do awesome! Congrats on registering!