Thoughts on the Last Year of my 20s | Personal

Thoughts on the Last Year of my 20s | Personal

Well, it’s finally happening. I’m staring down the last year of my 20s, fairly unsure of how exactly I got here and what comes next. The first few years of this decade in my life held more than I could have imagined - it started with a wedding over 9 years ago, moved into a several-year tenure of working for a non-profit, then changed drastically when we lost Joel and I quit my full-time job to pursue wedding photography.

The worst birthday of my life was when I turned 25. I was still deep in the midst of grief from losing our first adopted child, and I had had dreams of being a mom by this point in life…dreams that were made very real when Joel’s mom chose us to be his parents. All of that was gone, and I had no idea where I would go next. I woke up that morning and cried in bed for awhile before I stood up to face the world. Then I walked into the place I had worked for 5 years, a place I had loved for the first few years until so much had changed, and I turned in my two weeks’ notice. It was a strange and awful day with a tremor of excitement beneath. I’ve never felt so sure of a decision in my life while being completely unsure of what would come in the future…

The Marathon is Almost Here... | Personal

The Marathon is Almost Here... | Personal

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but the One City Marathon is almost here. I’ve been thinking about this and planning for almost a year (a drastic departure from the LAST time I ran the marathon!), and the training has been intense and hard…but fun in so many ways. I’ve had a LOT of time to think and listen to podcasts over the last few months, so I’ve done a bit of self-reflection in the midst of all my training. I have, of course, many thoughts on the subject.

First, I can honestly say I have done everything I possibly can to reach the qualifying time of 3:30 for the Boston Marathon. I’ve had long runs and easy days, speed work and strength workouts, gym time and foam rolling and everything in between. I’ve changed my diet, I’ve slept a lot more, and I’ve done everything I can to stay healthy. If I don’t make the qualifying time, it won’t be for lack of trying…

On the Road to the Boston Marathon

On the Road to the Boston Marathon

Many of you who clicked on this probably thought, “hasn’t she already started training for a marathon?” In some ways, that’s true. As soon as I finished the One City Marathon back in March, I knew I would run another. I told everyone I was done because I wanted to test whether I truly wanted it, but deep down I knew I would be back for more. I bought Hanson’s Marathon Training Program, started doing my research, and jumped in with two feet with the goal of qualifying for Boston – which for me, means finishing the marathon in about 3 ½ hours, or the equivalent of 8 minutes per mile for 26.2 miles.

Even though I’ve been running for years, I’m a relative newbie to the idea of training. I’ve always just set a daily goal, run that, and gone to the gym a few times per week. I didn’t pay much attention to my pace, I never tracked anything except the distance, and I would often semi-frustrate other people when I would tell them I had no idea how fast I was going during a group run. In the last few months of digging into what a good training block should look like, here’s what I’ve learned…