If you’ve read my blog for a while you know that I blog perhaps too much about the trials and tribulations of my training for the Big Sur International Marathon. I complain a lot and talk about how I don’t like running but clearly we are just in some sort of a slightly dysfunctional relationship because no matter how much it hurts me I end up running right back. I am considering seeking treatment for my addiction to pain or perhaps just signing up for another marathon when this one is over.

I have talked about the first phase of training—the honeymoon phase, where everything seems awesome and you still think that signing up to run 26.2 miles was a good idea—and the apathy phase, where you just kind of get bored and what’s really exciting or impressive about running 11 miles anyway. Today I introduce the third phase: PURE PAIN.

After a few weeks of running, your body starts to feel it. I’m not just talking about sore here, people. I’m talking about feeling like you would perhaps rather die than run one mile further.

It’s something new every time. On my mid-training runs, my IT band (which has always been a concern) started giving me problems. On some runs, my feet would lose all feeling (what the heck??). my personal favorite was on my 15-miler when my arms fell asleep and then got the pins and needles feeling and felt prickly for half of the run. Then a week or two later, I strained my PCL and about a mile into each run it would feel like my leg was going to separate at my knee and the bottom portion was just going to fly off, and that might have been a relief considering the pain I was in.

And don’t get me started on the toenails. People talk about losing toenails, and it hasn’t happened to me yet. But since I run and blog here’s a gross picture of marathon feet. I’ll make it slightly smaller to be nicer.

Marathon training does NOT make you sexy. I go into work with wet hair and halfassed makeup when I’d rather look professional and put together, but I had to run this morning, and you have to choose. Sometimes I waddle like a penguin rather than walk due to residual soreness. My hair is dry and gross from washing it too often. I haven’t painted my toes in 4 months (instead of ALWAYS having polish on) because when you expect to lose some of them, what’s really the point anyway. No matter how much Glide I put on, sports bras rub my skin raw leaving raw wounds that serve as more of a mark of shame rather than a battle wound to be proud of. I’ve got thunder thighs, and they’re all (okay, mostly) muscle but who can really tell. Meanwhile my formerly decently cut abs and upper body have become a mushy reminder laughing in my face about how in shape I USED to be.

So on top of all that, then I’m spending several hours of the week running and feeling like (insert random body part here) is going to fall off.

HOT.

Okay, I’m exaggerating a TEENSY TINY bit… but really only slightly. Everything is true. But aren’t these the EMOTIONAL phases of marathon training? You’re just complaining about training’s effects on your body.

Oh no, my friend.

It’s said that running is mostly mental. The physical, I mean, come on, you just put one foot in front of the other and then repeat. In terms of sports, this is far from the most difficult one to learn. But the mental game in running is INTENSE. And I feel like in this middle stage of marathon training is where that emotional and mental preparation gets painful.

You’ve been going for a while. Months, in fact! But there’s no end in sight. You’ve played out all the good songs on your iPod. You’ve run around the same damn running routes where you live what seems like thousands of times. You have sacrificed a lot to prioritize training like this.

And you’re getting sick of it.

Runs become a battle, your mind becomes your enemy. Knowing that there are weeks upon weeks of this to go makes it harder. Your body hurts, and your mind hurts, just knowing that you today are the SAME IDIOT who thought this was a good idea a while ago.
Every run is a struggle. This is it. This is where the magic happens.

PURE PAIN.

**

I’m not in that phase anymore—I’m in Phase Four, which will be documented in short time. I have to fully experience these emotional phases to recognize when I’m no longer in them!

Today though, was MUCH more pleasant than everything else I just described. Well, it still was pretty painful at times, but that’s where the magic happens… right?

I went out for a “long run” today without a distance defined. See, last week I ran 20 miles and felt great (well, minus the PCL thing that gave me the aforementioned foreboding that my calf and foot were going to rip right off, but what does that matter) and my marathon is now one month from YESTERDAY, but that means I had today’s long run, then THREE MORE SUNDAYS, and THEN the marathon on May 1. So, I knew the last two long runs would be taper—13 and 9, probably—but that left today and next week for legitimate long runs. I figured after doing 18 and 20 the last two weekends, that I should maybe run 16 today and then 22 next week, but was just going to see how I feel. Well at 16 I felt really great, so I decided to go for the 22 and knock out the huge run today. It was easy to feel good at mile 16, however, because I was on the Golden Gate Bridge. WIN.

So San Francisco isn’t really that big. I ran from my neighborhood (the Haight) down to Market Street in downtown, into SOMA (south of market where I work), down to the embarcadero, ran all the way up THAT past fisherman’s wharf, through the marina and into the presidio, and coming up towards the GG bridge entrance I was only on 11.something miles. Um, IT’S HAPPENING.

I had THREE times during training that I attempted to run the GGB (and by “attempted” I mean “I woke up and it was foggy so I didn’t actually attempt, but it’s the thought that counts). Today it was sunny and beautiful. Okay, so I’m always cold and it’s always windy and I was freezing in my Nike long sleeve fleece over another running top with capri pants as I ran by chicks in booty shorts and sorority tank tops, but I figure I could ball up and run across the bridge.

“Run” was a loose phrase at times—it felt more like an extreme sport involving attempting to weave between tourists taking pictures without taking anyone out, but I made it successfully. And I played the tourist too, as you can see from my pictures.

Ran past the GGB into Marin, then turned around, ran back over, ran through the presidio, got lost in the forest, ran through Sea Clif, down into the outer Richmond, through Golden Gate Park. I love this city. Running is a great way to explore it, too.

I didn’t really plan it well (it’s really hard to plan long runs in SF with traffic and lights and hills and other factors) so I was still pretty far away when I hit 21. I intended to stop at 22 but right then Enter Sandman came on so I pretty much had to run 23.

It was a SLOW 23 but probably what my marathon pace will be like, and I totally could’ve knocked out another half hour today and just ran a marathon and I thought about it, but I didn’t want to risk injury. Good thing too. Once I stopped and started walking the remaining <1mile towards home everything started to seize up, so I took the bus the five or six blocks back towards where I live. Me who walks EVERYWHERE. Whatever, I have an excuse to be lazy after a 23-miler.

I only had a small breakfast beforehand and ran right through lunch—I took in gu, gu chomps, Gatorade etc. during the run but the weird thing is that now six hours later my appetite NEVER came back, which is horribly weird. I ate a huge protein bad after—made myself—but now I feel weak and I NEED food. I’m just going to go force myself to eat whatever is in my sad excuse for a stocked kitchen.

Overall I’m proud of myself for knocking out 23 today. If anyone has advice on what I should do for the next run, please tell me. I still have three Sunday runs before the marathon. It’s nice feeling like I accomplished something—that is DEFINITELY a gift marathon training gives you. Confidence that arises from seeing yourself improve tangibly, at your own pace. 325 miles down!

Post run, I decided to take a few advil and go get a beer while my laundry was at the mat.

Perfect ending to a pretty great weekend. Which I will mention more later.

Have a great Monday everybody!

What was one of your weekend highlights?

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• Marathon Training Emotional Phase Four: MOMENTUM.
• My Unconventional Road to the San Francisco Marathon
• This is it: Big Sur Marathon is here.