Hello, everyone (she says sheepishly). I know…it’s been a while. Suffice it to say that wedding planning has been taking up a LOT of my free time lately.

I know I’ve been gone for FAR too long, but I miss blogging (and all of you guys!) and actually have some exciting things going on, so I figured now is as good a time as any to rejoin the blogging world, right? Things have calmed down a bit as far as the wedding planning process, and I promise I’ll be back with (somewhat) regular posts…and I’m also working on catching up with all of you guys!

So since my last post a million years ago, wedding plans (and, um, finding matching “Just Married” Disney-themed shirts to wear in the parks afterwards, lol) have pretty much consumed my entire life. The actual process of coordinating our super-small “Escape” Disney wedding has actually been relatively painless, but I think the stress of trying to make sure our guests (all close family members) will have fun and not feel like our destination wedding is some sort of inconvenience/obligation was starting to take its toll on me.

I allowed myself to become obsessed with making dining reservations and booking special activities (like an amazing Wishes cruise!) and planning itineraries and wanting to make everything just right for everyone…until I realized that the only person I needed to focus on was my groom.

So I’m trying to force myself to chillax a little bit and keep in mind that it’s OUR day and trust that everything will work out just fine for our guests. Fortunately, things have been falling nicely into place, and I’m proud to report that just about everything is set…and, needless to say, I am SOOOOOOO excited to marry this guy in the most MAGICAL place on Earth. <3

A little “engagement” photo, courtesy of my sister, haha

Anyway, let’s talk about running. Todd and I did complete a half marathon this spring — the Asbury Park Half Marathon — which I actually busted my butt to train for as a potential PR race. For a time, I even had my sights set on a potential sub-2. (Ah, gotta love the optimism).

It was my first non-Disney half marathon in 2013, and I still have yet to beat my time from that race (sad isn’t it?)…so I thought it would be the perfect local race for us since we’re trying to keep expenses low and save every extra dollar for The Big Day.

But, of course, due to higher temperatures than predicted and an untimely little visit from my period, I felt like complete CRAP and completely bombed the race (couldn’t manage to get to the finish line in anything faster than 2:15). A full recap will be forthcoming, I promise!

Todd, however, totally KILLED IT (as I knew he would) and has a shiny new PR: 1:55. I was disappointed in myself and hated the fact that I trained so hard (I even did speedwork for crying out loud) for pretty much nothing, but I’m super proud of him!

But here’s the even BIGGER NEWS. As I’ve mentioned a number of times in the past, I’ve been wanting to compete in a triathlon FOREVER…but a paralyzing fear of swimming in the ocean has been holding me back, and every summer I’ve used the “well, I’m training for XYZ race right now, so I really should just focus on that” excuse.

Thing is, the thought of training for another marathon right now could NOT be any less appealing to me. I just…can’t. I want to focus on taking care of myself (read: dropping a few pounds so I can look particularly radiant in my wedding dress, lol) and enjoying this exciting time before the wedding, and marathon training in the summer months has a tendency to damn near KILL me. I’m always exhausted and starving and cranky and MISERABLE, and with the excitement/stress of the wedding in November, I thought it would be just too much for me right now.

Plus, since the dates of all of the SUPER EXCITING fall marathons were wayyyy too close for comfort to our date (and I didn’t get into the NYC Marathon this year), or would be too costly for us to justify the trip right before the wedding, I thought it could be a great time to try something else.

So…this happened.

I finally decided to face my fear and I will definitely be taking on my first triathlon this summer!

In preparation, I thought the first and most important thing I should do was sign up for a local open water swim clinic. I even invested in an insanely-priced wetsuit since the water is still so freakin’ cold, so I figure I HAVE to give this my all, now!

Wetsuits = flattering, lol

I’ve done two beginner clinics so far and you know what…I didn’t do half bad for someone who really isn’t much of a swimmer. Even more surprisingly, I actually found myself ENJOYING it! The group swims have been in the Navesink River and start on the beach in a GORGEOUS park, so it’s easy to forget about the idea that I’m swimming with the fishes and who-knows-what other creatures.

I also went out and bought myself an athletic bathing suit (didn’t think my little skirted bikinis would hold up so well in the river/ocean, haha) and I’ve really been enjoying having lots of different workouts each week, from running to biking to swimming to strength training…oh, and of course, Taekwondo.

So, yeah…I’m pretty much obsessed. I’m joining local triathlon clubs and stalking triathlon Facebook pages, and I’ve even dusted off my sad little hybrid bike and have swapped my Sunday long runs for long bike rides (while Todd runs behind me at the park…ha, sucks to be him).

I think the Jersey Girl Triathlon will be the perfect first triathlon for me; it’s a 300-yard ocean swim, 11-mile bike ride, and 3-mile run. Assuming I don’t drown in the ocean or get eaten by a shark or anything, I’m hoping to do at least one more in the early fall with some longer distances.

I’m really excited about the idea of becoming a triathlete, and as a side benefit, hopefully all of the cross-training combined with my now twice-weekly strength training sessions will mean I’ll have to take in my wedding dress.

So, that’s my story for right now. Like I said, I PROMISE I’m back and will be a more active participant in the blogosphere! Thanks for your patience and support, as always!

Who has triathlon tips for a first-timer who has NO CLUE what she’s doing?!

How did you manage the stress of wedding planning?

After the previous morning’s traffic fiasco on our way to the half marathon, we set our alarms for even earlier (ugh) just in case of a repeat performance. After getting dressed in our Rapunzel/Flynn costumes and doing some last minute safety pinning (to make sure certain chameleons stayed put for 26.2 miles, lol), we were out the door…and ready to sit in another hour of traffic. That morning took us even longer to get to Epcot, and if we hadn’t left by 4am we could have missed the start of the race.

(Obviously in hindsight we should have just taken the runner buses, but I like having our car in the parking lot so we don’t have to deal with bag check and we can park hop, etc. at our convenience for the rest of the day.)

So, once again, we made it to the corrals with just moments to spare, and before I knew it we were about to begin another 26.2 mile journey.

The temperatures that morning definitely felt warmer, and yet maybe slightly less humid (thank god). It was definitely wayyyy too hot for running a marathon, but I was in Disney…so, you know, whatevs.

Our early miles were pretty much an exact replica the previous morning. Running in the dark. Forcing ourselves to keep our pace slow and steady to conserve energy for later. And sweating our asses off.

We skipped the characters who appeared before the Magic Kingdom because they were either repeats or characters we didn’t especially care about (I’m still not into The Nightmare Before Christmas).

By the time we reached the TTC, we both had to make a pit stop, and we were soon continuing on to the Magic Kingdom: THE BEST PART OF ANY RACE, ANYWHERE, IN THE WHOLE ENTIRE WORLD.

Running down Main Street was AMAZING as always, and that morning was even better because we weren’t running through a cloud of fog. We could actually, you know, see the castle.

And, as a bonus…we were getting LOTS of attention for our costumes.

You know what’s even more glorious than running down Main Street? Running down Main Street when the castle is still all lit up for Christmas.

Our first character stop that morning was for Lilo & Stitch. Because, I mean, c’mon. It’s Stitch. And I loves him.

And then began the most magical part of the marathon. The reason I wish I could run this race every single year for the rest of my life. There are no words to describe the elation of running through the Magic Kingdom. If you took the “high” of crossing the finish line of every single race I’ve ever completed and added them all together, it still wouldn’t compare to how I feel when running these 1-2 miles through the park.

Call me a dork, but…it’s the truth.

And this year was THE BEST YET because, unbeknownst to me, the course had been changed quite a bit (due to the closure of the speedway, I presume).

Suddenly I found myself running by Splash Mountain and through new Fantasyland and spending way more time in the park than ever before. It was AWESOME.

And there were some amazing characters out along the way, including my favorite princess ever. When we jumped in line, Sebastian was posing with Ariel and I was SOOOO EXCITED. But, of course, he was escorted away by a cast member when there were just a few runners in front of us. Boo.

I wish we could run all 26.2 miles through Magic Kingdom. Not even lying.

Before I knew it, it was time to exit via the backstage area and start making our way over to Animal Kingdom. This stretch of the course isn’t especially exciting. I was still feeling just fine, but Todd had been complaining of some tummy issues so I was hoping he would start feeling better.

Obviously, the good part about starting in an earlier corral for a Disney race is the comfort of knowing that you can stand in line for some characters and take pit stops as needed…and little did I know then just how much we were going to need that extra cushion (spoiler alert). I was feeling especially grateful that I damn near killed myself to score an almost-PR at The Love Run last spring to submit for corral placement for this race.

Character lines hadn’t been TOO outrageous at that point, but we did stop for a TON due to the extra time in Magic Kingdom, and of course we spent time taking pictures in front of the castle — which is why those 1-2 miles in the park always take us AT LEAST 30-45 minutes, if not more. Our pace was muuuuch slower than our usual race pace, of course, but we were still generally running around an 11:30/mile, if memory serves. So I wasn’t too worried at that point.

When we leave the park, we tend to get stuck behind a cluster of walkers on narrow paths before the course opens up (a little bit) again closer to the golf course. We just did the best we could. It’s not like we were trying to PR or anything (obviously), but we did try to weave around other runners whenever possible and if the course got too congested we’d walk a bit until we could find an opening.

And, fortunately, we found this guy and jumped in line right before he was supposed to switch for Donald. Lucky day.

The stretch leading up to Animal Kingdom had some surprises for us this year. It seemed every half-mile or so had a different character…and they were all really RARE characters, with lots of VILLAINS! Never knowing what character you might spot up ahead is a GREAT way to keep your mind off the agony of, you know, running a marathon.

I thought it was pretty much the coolest thing ever, so we jumped in line for pretty much all of them. Couldn’t help myself.

They also had some animals out for us as we got closer to the park. Seeing this guy was pretty much my favorite part of the entire day, not gonna lie, lol.

We made our way to Animal Kingdom for a short stretch of course inside the park. It was time for another potty break and some more silliness.

Todd still wasn’t feeling quite right, and truth be told my stomach wasn’t 100 percent either, but that tends to happen when I’m a.) running in the heat and b.) when I’m traveling and haven’t been sticking entirely to my “normal” food.

The Animal Kingdom part of the course is over sooo fast, and I knew the next several miles might be a bit of a struggle. So I enjoyed our time in the park as much as possible…especially when another runDisney photographer grabbed us to pose us for pictures in front of the tree.

Before I knew it we were back on highway, it was warming up…and things got a little boring. Especially since I know we were headed to the Wide World of Sports, and that’s just not a highlight of the course for me.

Halfway there!

This is probably where things started to take a turn for the worse for Todd. Now it wasn’t only his stomach, but his feet were starting to hurt big time and I knew the previous morning’s half marathon (and all the walking we did around the parks) was catching up with him. I’m used to tackling back-to-back races so I guess I knew what to expect, and I worried this might happen to him because it was his very first time with any sort of multiple-day race challenge.

So it seemed only appropriate that this was our next photo stop, lol.

We kept plugging away, but I could tell our walk breaks through water stops were getting longer and longer, and as we approached Wide World of Sports and Todd kept asking to take impromptu walk breaks, I knew we might be in a little bit of trouble. Unfortunately, we both remembered that it was right around this point last year when Todd lost his mojo, and this time we had the added fatigue of running the Goofy Challenge thrown into the mix.

I was feeling perfectly fine at that point; a little bit of fatigue in my legs and feet, obviously — and I still don’t do well in the heat, pace-wise — but when I’m in Disney I just don’t feel pain. It sounds ridiculous but it’s so true. So I tried to do my best to keep him in good spirits.

My high school yearbook quote, lol

We ran/walked through Wide World of Sports. I was encouraging Todd to conserve his energy as best he could, and unfortunately all of our tomfoolery earlier in the race had caught up with us. Though we started in corral F we had fallen wayyyyy behind the runners with similar running paces, so we were getting trapped behind walls of walkers. Because there’s really just no room to run on the narrow paths at Wide World of Sports, we opted to just walk whenever it became impossible to weave around other runners. Todd said his legs/feet felt a little better after each walk break, so that’s what we did.

And, you know, we rested our legs standing in line for pictures. How do you NOT stop for a photo with Goofy when you’re *thisclose* to completing the Goofy Challenge?!

Wide World of Sports felt like it went on forever, but we did pick it up a little bit for our victory lap through the stadium.

After we left the complex we kept plodding along towards Hollywood Studios. It sort of felt like we were moving in slow motion at that point. Because this section of the course is something of an out-and-back, we could see that there were no other runners headed into Wide World of Sports…which I knew meant we had fallen a bit further back than I thought.

I knew we had a little ways to go before the glorious Hollywood Studios/Boardwalk/Epcot portion of the race, and let’s just say Todd wasn’t in the best of spirits. His feet were killing him and his stomach was still upset. Since he has talked me down off the proverbial ledge many, MANY times in races before, I made it my mission to help him get to that finish line! We continued with our run/walk and made our way sllllllowly towards the final stretch of the race: the last 10K.

It was somewhere in mile 21 when I made a joke to Todd about how we were “almost safe” from the balloon ladies. Truth be told, we’ve never actually seen the balloon ladies, but if you run Disney races then you know that you have to stay in front of them in order to avoid being swept from the course for falling too far behind the time limit. Not 30 seconds later, a pacer on a bike rode by and announced: “just letting you know that you guys are about 2 miles ahead of the balloon ladies right now.”

And let me tell you I have NEVER seen a swarm of people all start sprinting at the EXACT. SAME. TIME. I knew well enough that we would be “safe” once we entered Hollywood Studios in mile 22, so I knew that we were fine. But Todd and I tried to pick up the pace nonetheless! We’ve never been that far back before, and it wasn’t the most pleasant of experiences to know that the “dreaded” balloon ladies were now chasing us to the finish line!

We made it into the park and runners were cheering and high-fiving and cast members were congratulating us on the way in, but since I’m such an experienced marathoner now (ha), I knew very well that these last couple of miles were still going to be pretty brutal. Even with all the distractions along the way.

I was thrilled to take on this final leg of the marathon because there’s so much park time and you get to run along the Boardwalk, but Todd was not having ANY of it. I knew he was hurting and I let him dictate whenever it was time for us to take another break.

The man still manages to smile for the camera, though…gotta love him, lol.

And what better way to take a break than standing in line for more pictures?

I have to say, I LOVED all of the “rare” characters this year.

I think his spirits lifted a little bit in the park because Hollywood Studios was already open for the day and thus there were lots of cheering spectators (as well as disgruntled park goers who made it clear they were pissed at us for clogging up all the walkways, haha).

My blogger friend Kim from Barking Mad About Running spotted us on our way out of the park, so it was awesome to have the personalized cheers.

The path leading up to the Boardwalk is basically a disaster because it’s damn near impossible to run. Everybody and their mother was walking, and because it’s so narrow you really can’t go ANYWHERE. Todd’s legs had basically fallen apart by then, anyway, so it was fine by both of us if we had to walk a little bit more.

But we were sooooo close to the finish and we had been out on the course for sooooo long…I was anxious to get to Epcot and cross that finish line!

We were able to run/walk/hobble/whatever you want to call it to the Boardwalk, with a few extra walk breaks. I knew for sure that he was struggling then because I heard a few expletives slip out of his mouth. And let’s just say that I’m the one with the potty mouth in this relationship, lol.

I knew we were going to make it, and I tried to be as encouraging as possible. I think he was kind of annoyed at the situation because I was bouncing around and making jokes and smiling and acting like an idiot and giving high-fives to people…and here he was in pure agony.

Seriously…I will say it again. There is NO SUCH THING AS PAIN when I’m running in Disney. I’m sure I was just as tired and in as much physical discomfort as he was, but I just don’t *FEEL* it the way I do when I’m running any other race. Why do you all think I’m so obsessed with this marathon?!

The views on the Boardwalk were beautiful as always, and with less than a 5K to go, I was feeling PUMPED.

At long last, we made it to Epcot for what is seriously the MOST INCREDIBLE marathon finish you will ever experience. Magic Kingdom is obviously the best part of this race for me, but the lap around the World Showcase is a close second. Between the spectators cheering you on and the absolutely EPIC music you hear playing in each country, there is NOTHING like it.

Oh, and the fact that there are a bunch of characters and absolutely no lines because we’re the only idiots who stop for photos in the last 2 miles of a marathon, lol.

As we ran towards Future World, I could feel my emotions bubbling up…and I almost lost it. Here I was running the race that started it all. It sounds corny but running the Dopey Challenge in 2014 as my first marathon really did change my life forever. Not the least of which is that it gave me courage and a level of confidence that I never had before…and it made me realize that I could accomplish absolutely ANYTHING.

And I kept thinking about how Todd had told me so many times “I’ll never be able to do the Goofy or Dopey” because he legitimately thought he wouldn’t be able to finish. And here he was about to complete his first Goofy Challenge.

Everyone was cheering for “Rapunzel and Flynn!!!” and I was soaking up every second of it as we made our way towards the finish.

And, ladies and gentlemen, after more than 7 hours and 15 minutes on the course…WE FINALLY MADE IT to the finish line.

There are no words.

It was our absolute worst marathon time to date, but I didn’t care one bit. I enjoyed every second of it and I wasn’t the least bit sorry for all of the photos and characters and silliness along the way.

I’m not sure if I’m ever going to get Todd to agree to run the Goofy Challenge again. And he pretty much laughs in my face whenever I mention the idea of running Dopey together someday.

But I could not have been more proud of this guy for completing his first Goofy Challenge.

After some much-deserved chair time in the finish line area (um, and also, devouring those Oreos in the snack boxes…OMG I LOVE OREOS), we made our way…slooooowly…back to the car to hop to Magic Kingdom.

Because, yeah…obviously this had to happen, lol.

After a Shower Pill “bath” and a fresh change of clothes, we headed to Liberty Tree Tavern to stuff our faces and enjoy the rest of the night in Magic Kingdom. I know ya’ll probably think we’re gross (and also a little insane), but since it takes us so long to finish the race, if we went back to the hotel for showers, etc., the parks would practically be closing by the time we got back. And ain’t nobody got time for that.

So, for the record, after the race was over some clouds rolled in and temperatures dropped and suddenly we were both FREEZING. UGH — it couldn’t have been that chilly during the race?! So, anyway, this happened. Thank goodness for Snuggies.

Anyways, this recap has probably gone on long enough…so thanks for sticking with me, and, as always, for all of your support along the way!

Have you ever been in danger of being “swept” from a race course?

What’s your favorite part of the WDW Marathon/favorite Disney race?

Todd conquered his first Goofy Challenge, and I added another glorious Mickey marathon medal to my collection.

Though it was WAAAYYYYYYY too humid for me for both races, we had an amazing time running Disney. And — no surprises here — I still think the Walt Disney World Marathon is the best marathon in the whole wide world.

The half marathon was awesome because we had a blast running as some of our favorite ducks. We got LOTS of attention from cast members (I think a lot of fellow runners/other spectators had no idea who were were, lol) and also the runDisney marketing folks; they took some awesome pictures of us in front of the castle and at the finish line and already used it on social media. So, basically, I’m famous.

Photo credit: runDisney

Oh, and we also managed to find our third caballero, live and in the feathers (haaaaaaa), after the race.

The marathon was a bit tough for Todd. He definitely isn’t used to running back-to-back races, and he struggled in the second half of the marathon. But I think he got a really good look at why I love the Walt Disney World Marathon so much. Even though my feet hurt, I was tired, etc…it’s kind of like I just don’t feel it. I’m having WAY too much fun to truly feel the agony of running a marathon.

It was also our closest encounter ever with the dreaded “balloon ladies”…we started in corral F but stopped for a photo with just about every character along the course. Toss in a couple of potty breaks and numerous photos in front of the Cinderella’s castle, the Tree of Life, etc., and, well, let’s just say we barely beat the balloons into the Hollywood Studios gates.

Almost there…

Even though Todd wasn’t really feeling it in those final miles, we stuck together and made it across the finish line! And then hobbled our way over to the Magic Kingdom for our FastPass+ reservation with Rapunzel (I seriously could NOT be any dorkier if I tried).

I’ll be back with full recaps and lots (and lots) of photos next week! Happy weekend, everyone!

What’s your favorite part of the WDW Marathon?

Do you have a favorite half/marathon that you run every year?

]]> http://thefinalforty.com/goofy-challenge-2016-we-did-it/feed/ 31 http://thefinalforty.com/goofy-challenge-2016-final-thoughts-and-costume-reveal/ http://thefinalforty.com/goofy-challenge-2016-final-thoughts-and-costume-reveal/#comments Wed, 06 Jan 2016 17:33:27 +0000 Jennifer http://thefinalforty.com/?p=6225 Hey guys! So, um, yeah…Merry Christmas…and Happy New Year, too! (Seriously, I’m the worst with keeping up with my blogging when things get busy).

But since I’m working on catching up on all of your blogs, I thought I’d offer a quick recap before we go into the *real* reason for this post.

Which is, of course, revealing our costumes for this weekend’s Walt Disney World Marathon!

So, Christmas was good. Lots of holly jolly fun and whatnot. And LOTS of dressing up my four-legged son and making him pose for corny Christmas pictures. Hahaha.

In terms of our training for the Goofy Challenge. Well…let’s just say it didn’t go EXACTLY as planned. Then again, does it ever? After my brief hiatus after the Richmond Marathon (which I STILL owe you guys a recap for, sad to say) we jumped right back into training. My goal was to do a few long runs and at least a handful of shorter runs each week to get myself back in “marathon shape” as quickly as possible. And, of course, complete some few back-to-backs so I could prepare myself for Goofy.

I literally do run on Dunkin’….

Long story short, we only made it up to 16 miles. This is the least prepared I’ve ever been for a marathon, and I don’t like it. I can honestly say we did the best we could given the time constraints. We were also careful not to ramp up so quickly that either of us risked an injury (let’s just say I considered jumping from a 13-miler to an 18-miler because we ran out of time, and Todd put the kibosh on that one, LOL).

After our last long run…and enjoying a new festive (and super sparkly) Christmas gift from Todd.

Do I think we’ll be okay? Yes. All of our runs went quite well, and I’m actually feeling a lot stronger than I thought I would. But I know it’s not going to be pretty, and we’ll probably have to do a fair amount of walking towards the end of the marathon.  I wish we had gotten up to say, 18 miles, but I’m still pretty proud of the fact that we ran two marathons in November and then went immediately into another round of training for Goofy. I’m obviously not there to PR, so I think as long as we run smart, we’ll be fine. It was sort of a last-minute decision to do the marathon in the first place, so time was not on our side…but I know we’re going to earn those medals.

Plus it’s Todd’s first “challenge,” so I’m excited for him to have the experience of “going Goofy.”

Okay, so without further ado, I wanted to share a preview of our (still not entirely finished, lol) costumes for this weekend! Especially since runDisney costumes are such a hot button issue right now thanks to the “new” rules released yesterday…which, to me, seem like common sense. Probably nobody should be running in Jedi robes, no? I do think the timing of the announcement was pretty horrendous and really unfair given that some runners are already IN Florida with their costumes. And they definitely could have been just a teensy bit clearer on their choice of words (now people are thinking SparkleSkirts are forbidden because it’s a skirt “layered” over shorts…).

Fortunately, since I like to focus more on altering actual running clothes to look like a costume, I’m thinking we should be fine. And by “I,” what I actually mean is “Nancy”…because Todd’s mom once again saved our butts and helped us pull together what I think are going to be FABULOUS race costumes at the last minute!

For the half marathon, we will be channeling our favorite parrot and rooster, lol. We’re both obsessed with The Three Caballeros, and since it’s technically the Donald Half Marathon, we figured it was appropriate.

And just in case you were wondering where the third Caballero will be…

Found this bad boy on eBay. And, yes, my crazy ass will be carrying him through 13 miles.

For the marathon, I wanted to go along with our costume theme from last year and go as another one of my favorite princesses — since I don’t think it’s likely I’ll get Todd to run the Princess Half Marathon anytime soon. Guess who…?!?!

I have a few more bits and pieces I’m still pulling together, but I’m beyond excited to head to Florida tomorrow and conquer another Goofy Challenge!

Sooooo…what will you be wearing this weekend?! If you see us, PLEASE do say “hi” — hoping to catch up with some of you this weekend!

Have you ever gone into a race feeling under-trained/unprepared?

We woke up around 3am (ugh) on Sunday morning to start getting ready. I was going to drive to my parents’ house (who live closer to the Meadowlands), and then my dad had the pleasure of dropping us off at the bus stop in the wee hours of the morning. We arrived a little after 5am and jumped on a bus, and made our way to Staten Island.

Right from the beginning, I loved that I wasn’t feeling so anxious. This year would be different. This year, I knew exactly what to expect from the race, from the wait at the start village to the toughest parts of the course to the glorious finish in Central Park…so there was really no need to be terrified. I could just sit back, relax, and soak up the NYCM experience.

Of course, we arrived at the starting village with a ton of time to spare, so we grabbed some goodies (it was early, so no lines yet!) and found a spot near the bridge to chill out for, oh, 3+ hours.

We were both assigned a green start (the lower level of the bridge), but I knew Todd really wanted to experience running on the upper level…so we hung out in the orange village and hoped they wouldn’t give us a hard time for trying to change colors at the starting line.

My first major concern of the morning? Compared to last year, when I sat in the village in the BITTER COLD, shivering my ass off…it felt like a warm spring afternoon. The temperatures for that day were NOT especially favorable for me, because it was supposed to climb to the mid-60s, and I actually ended up shedding most of my layers in the starting village because I was hot. Really, really not ideal for me!

Wave 3 wasn’t set to cross the starting line until 10:40, so we spent the next few hours chomping on bagels, Belvita, and pretzels, sipping coffee and hot chocolate, and waiting impatiently for our wave to be called. Some of us were more impatient than others, haha.

I just kept hoping the sun would stay far, far away for the duration of the race. It was supposed to be a cloudy day, so even though it was a little warmer than I would have liked, at least we wouldn’t have the sun beating down on us.

They called our wave and we had no problem changing colors (just as long as you don’t try to jump ahead a wave/corral, they’re cool with it), and we were about to start my second NYC Marathon journey.

We made one more pit-stop and squeezed into the starting area just as they were closing the gates (an ongoing theme with us).

I was beyond thrilled. I couldn’t wait to experience this race together. And when they started playing “New York, New York,” I was about to jump out of my skin with excitement.

We purposely hung back towards the end of the F corral so I could snap a few extra pictures on the bridge without blocking fellow runners or causing any safety hazards. Worth it? I think so.

As we crossed the Verrazano, I felt freakin’ fantastic. There’s nothing like the thrill of running over the bridge and making your way towards that first stretch of cheering spectators. I think we were both feeling pumped and ready to conquer this marathon.

Todd kept having to remind me to slow down, because my classic error in races is getting swept up in the excitement and going out too fast. I was feeling super comfortable between a 10-10:30 pace, but he wanted us to hold back closer to an 11ish minute mile to conserve energy. Knowing how I crashed and burned last year from starting the race under a 10-minute mile, I knew he was probably right.

Honestly, the first 10K flew by for me. I was feeling good, Todd was feeling good, and I was certain that we were going to crush this race. We trained our asses off all summer, and it was going to pay off.

We were both taking in the sights and enjoying being called out as “THE APPLES!” Most people seemed to “get” our costumes really easily, and were cheering on “The Big Apples,” etc…but we did actually hear some other interesting cheers along the way. We were mistakenly called strawberries, cherries, and my personal favorite: “mistletoe.” Hahaha.

Somewhere around mile 8, my feet started to hurt. Why? I have no idea. Everything else felt fine, but my feet were aching like no one’s business. Other than that, I just felt warm. Very warm. Like, as in I was already sweating through my clothes. I know it could have been much worse, but I was NOT happy that the temperatures were already approaching the 60s by the time my wave started. To me, that’s way too hot for running for 5+ hours. I know myself well enough to know that anything over 55 degrees takes a toll on my pace and how I feel, so I knew I was in for a real treat.

Still, I managed to ignore my feet and soak up the energy and have fun interacting with the spectators, and we crossed the halfway point around 2:30. I honestly hadn’t been watching my Garmin all that much. The thrill of running NYC keeps me occupied to the point where I tend to stop compulsively checking my watch. I also end up turning my iPod off entirely so that I don’t miss a second of it.

Plus I was trying to just keep my pace comfortable. I was so afraid of falling apart like I did last year. I remember feeling a little disappointed because I thought we were doing a little better than a 2:30 half, and I didn’t say it yet, but I knew then it was unlikely that we’d meet any sort of sub-five goal that day.

Don’t get me wrong, I was in WAY better shape than the previous year, but the fatigue was setting in and with the way my feet were feeling, I didn’t know if I could negative split…especially knowing that I had a few tough sections of course still ahead. Like that damn Queensboro Bridge, for starters. Last year, it was the absolute death of me; it was the moment where I started to convince myself that there was NO WAY I was finishing this race, and I had a total meltdown.

But this time around, I knew exactly what to expect. I took the bridge slow and steady. I acknowledged the burning in my legs and reminded myself it was only temporary…the hill would NOT go on forever. I embraced the struggle and anxiously awaited the roar of screaming crowds on First Avenue.

And, most importantly, I looked for that spot on the bridge where I got an awesome photo last year, and I had my little mini-tripod ready to go so we could get one together, LOL.

As expected, the crowds on First Avenue were AMAZING, and we were both looooving the attention. Unfortunately, though, it was somewhere in this second half of the race when I started feeling…not quite right. My stomach hadn’t been bothering me or anything like that, but I was unexpectedly hit by a wave of nausea. I was fueling exactly according to plan and schedule, and I was definitely trying to make sure to stay hydrated; we walked through every water stop, and I diluted my Gatorade with water like I always do.

And yet, for some god-knows-what reason, I suddenly felt like I was going to hurl all over the sidewalk.

I told Todd I felt sick, so we took a short walk break or two to see if it would pass. And it did. For, like, a second. We’d start running again and I’d feel so unbelievably nauseous. I’ve had nausea during races before, but usually only in much warmer temperatures, and it typically passes within a couple of minutes.

I wanted to keep running, so I tried to ignore it as best I could. And for the the next few miles, it was bearable. But as we inched our way closer and closer back towards Manhattan, it was coming back with a vengeance…to the point where I kept having to crouch down on the sidewalk and stick my head between my knees for a few moments of relief. I didn’t want to go to a medical tent, nor did I want any medical volunteers to come and yank me off the course, so I kept our breaks as short as possible and kept scanning the sidewalks for trees where I could throw up (as far away from groups of spectators as possible) if I had to.

Hunting for vomit trees wasn’t exactly what I felt like doing that afternoon, but, there you have it.

In case you were wondering, physically speaking, I felt fantastic — the aching in my feet has subsided a bit, and I felt strong. Believe it or not, I felt like I definitely had another 9 or 10 miles in me. It was exactly how I’ve always wanted to feel in mile 17 of a marathon. So it just figures that I suddenly had to feel nauseous for NO APPARENT REASON WHATSOEVER.

But here’s the amazing part. Despite how sick I was feeling, I was not – I repeat, NOT – freaking out. I was not panicking. I was not crying. I was not insisting that I “can’t do this, woe is me, I’ll never make it, blah blah blah.” After I completely fell apart last year at the first sign of struggle, I made it my mission that no matter what happened on the course that day, I was NOT going to let myself succumb to my “old” ways.

I knew that, no matter what, I was finishing the NYC Marathon that day. Whether it took 5 hours of 7 hours, I didn’t care. And I was proud of myself. Really, really proud of myself. I felt so sick, and I was struggling so much, but I never for a second let myself think that I didn’t have it in me to finish this marathon. I still managed to smile for the cameras, high-five the spectators, and just keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Meanwhile, let’s talk Todd. He was doing just as great as I was until we started approaching mile 19 or so. He’s dealt with back pain and various other leg/feet issues in previous races, but didn’t have any major flare-ups as we trained for NYCM. Unfortunately, that wasn’t going to be the case on this day.

Here I was about to barf all over the place (sorry for the TMI, but, hey, that’s the truth) and he’s slowly starting to fall apart because his lower back is absolutely killing him. At that point, I knew any time goal was long gone, so my new goal became getting both of us to that finish line. First I’d stop to put my head between my knees, then he’d need to stop to stretch out his back, and on and on we went.

As we crossed the last bridge back into Manhattan, one of the spectators was chanting “Last. Damn. Bridge. Last. Damn. Bridge” over and over again, which I thought was hilarious. But it wasn’t quite enough to help Todd’s back (or his feet…or his legs…) or to help me ignore the relentless nausea I was dealing with. When either of us felt like we had to walk…we just walked. It’s not like us at all, but that’s all we could do at that point.

 Needless to say, that final 10K seemed to drag on for hours. The spectators saw we were struggling and it seemed like the cheers for “THE APPLES!” were getting a little more intense. I could no longer force down any sort of fuel, and I tried sipping just a little bit of water at those final water stops. Fortunately, I felt slightly better than I had earlier in the race. Todd was pretty much in physical agony any time he was running, so we did a run/walk all the way into Central Park. I wanted to keep running straight for the finish line, but he needed a few more walk breaks, so we stuck together and did the best we could.

He was feeling down on himself and making ridiculous comments like “maybe we’re not meant to run marathons.” But, honestly, I was feeling the exact opposite. I think it takes a special kind of person to have the dedication to train for a marathon for months on end, endure the pain of actually running 26.2 miles, and then keep signing up again and again in efforts to improve yourself.

Maybe we’re not the fastest runners in the world, and maybe we sometimes struggle just to SURVIVE a marathon (let alone RACE a marathon)…but you can’t say that we’re not tough enough to get to that finish line — no matter what it takes!

Sure, I was disappointed because things weren’t going our way, but I was so proud of us because I knew we were going to make it. And I was proud of myself because I didn’t fall apart.

Races don’t always go the way we planned, but I feel there are always lessons to be learned along the way. And there are some lessons that only running a marathon can teach you. On Nov. 1, I learned that I no longer have to doubt myself, and that not even the toughest marathon can bring me down. When I felt sick, Todd did everything he could to try to make me feel better, and when he was hurting, I did everything I could to cheer him on and get him to that finish line.

Soooo happy it’s almost over!

We both were falling way short of our expectations, but, hey, that’s life. To me, this year’s New York City Marathon became a representation of how we come together to boost each other up when things get tough. To me, that’s not a bad thing at all.

We finally, FINALLY saw the finish line up ahead, and I was excited to spot Karla from Run Karla Run, who was announcing at the race! She gave us a special shout-out, which made me feel like a rockstar, and gave us that final boost to FINISH. THIS. MARATHON.

Moments later, I successfully completed my 6th marathon!

We crossed the finish line of our longest marathon to date in 5:42. Given that our marathon PR is 4:57, and last year I struggled so much and yet still finished in 5:17, this obviously wasn’t a desirable time for either of us.

But I genuinely didn’t care, and I still don’t care. Despite our finish time, in my mind, this race was a success. It was LITERALLY the first time (other than a Disney race) that I didn’t have some sort of panic attack/meltdown. It was the first time I felt genuinely confident in myself during a marathon. And there is nothing that can take that away from me.

We both had a tough race, but we still managed to have some fun along the way. We basked in the sweet success of knowing that WE MADE IT for a few minutes before suffering through the slow death march out of the finish line area.

I had to sit down a few times because I was STILL feeling sick, and I tried to force down a pretzel and take a bite of apple (then immediately felt like I was going to throw up, so I put the kibosh on eating for a little while).

The apples holding their apples…haaaaa

After about 10 years of sloooow, painful walking, we were wrapped in ponchos (which I removed immediately because I was still HOT) from the volunteers and were released on the streets of New York…and I was once again sitting on a curb with my head between my knees. WTF?! I tried again to eat some pretzels but could only force down a few, and I desperately wanted a soda or anything that I thought might help settle my stomach. When we both felt strong enough to walk a little more we found a bagel place, and I enjoyed what had to be the most AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS bottle of Cherry Coke that I’ve ever tasted. I started feeling a lot better.

By the time we had our dinner reservations at Joanne’s (where we went last year), I was feeling a little better and managed to eat some spaghetti. But I still wasn’t myself, because normally I want to #EATALLTHEFOOD after a marathon, and I still felt like I was forcing it down.

By the time we were on the train back home, though, I felt fine, and ate my way through the kitchen later that night, haha.

In conclusion, the New York City Marathon is unbelievably amazing. Period, end of story. I am so thankful that I had the chance to run it again.

This year’s race may not be meaningful to me because I PRed (ha, yeah right) or crushed any other personal time goals, but it will be forever meaningful to me because Todd and I managed to work together and support each other and boost each other up enough to get to the finish line. Cheesy as it sounds, there it is. Laugh all you want, I don’t care.

I didn’t get the redemption I was hoping for in terms of my finish time, but I will absolutely, positively be entering the lottery again every year forever and ever.

Have you ever fallen waaaaay short of a time goal, but been happy with your performance anyway?

Will somebody please tell me what can cause nausea during a race because I need to figure this out so that it never, EVER happens again?!

I’ll be back later this week with a full recap, but wanted to drop in to announce that Todd and I are both, in fact, alive. We finished the 2015 New York City Marathon!

Dear MarathonFoto, I WILL be purchasing all of these pictures, so don’t get mad at me.

Yesterday’s race was…hard. We both struggled. A LOT. I was hit with nausea around mile 15 that would NOT let up until hours after the race was over, and Todd was dealing with some serious leg/lower back issues that forced us to walk quite a bit in the later miles of the race.

We came NOWHERE near our time goal of 5ish hours (we finished in 5:41). Todd is disappointed by how much he struggled/his performance, but I’m honestly okay.

We had a tough race, but we finished. When I felt like I was going to barf all over the side of the road, he picked me up, and when he had to walk through much of Central Park, I picked him up. Clearly, things didn’t go exactly as we hoped…but then again, do they ever? I’m proud of both of us.

And the best news of all is that even though I didn’t beat my time from last year (5:17) and was feeling pretty sick for a good portion of this race, I finished feeling more confident than ever. I did NOT have any meltdowns along the course, despite how I was feeling, and I did NOT think even for a second that I wouldn’t be able to finish.

I may not have met my “A” or “B” goal (which, really, were long shots anyway), but in my mind, I DEFINITELY conquered my “C” goal in that I fared so much better than last year…especially mentally!

There was no panicking. There was no self-doubt. I went into this race feeling strong, and even when things didn’t go our way, I always knew we’d make it.

And that is worth so, so much more to me than what the finish line clock said. Or even a medal.

Although, to be fair, I do enjoy it very much.

Have you ever felt nauseated during a race? (And can somebody please tell me what causes it because I did NOT care for it!)

Have you ever missed a time goal during a race, but felt satisfied with your performance anyway?

But first, here’s a recap of weeks 7 and 8 of training for the New York City Marathon…with one being a bit more eventful than the other, haha.

WEEK 7

Mon., Aug. 24: Taekwondo class

Tue., Aug. 25: 3 miles

Wed., Aug. 26: 5 miles

Thur., Aug. 27: 4 miles

Fri., Aug. 28: Taekwondo class

Sat., Aug. 28: Rest

Sun., Aug. 29: 14 miles

Total weekly mileage: 26 miles

WEEK 8

Mon., Aug. 30: Rest

Tue., Aug. 31: 5 miles

Wed., Sept. 1: Taekwondo class

Tue., Sept. 2: 5 miles

Fri., Sept. 3: 5 miles

Sat., Sept. 4: Rest

Sun., Sept. 5: 10 miles

Total weekly mileage: 25 miles

So in week 7, I had a bit of a special adventure in the woods. Todd and I were plodding through our 14-mile long run on Sunday, and even though we’ve been getting up at the asscrack of dawn to get in these cockamamie summertime long runs, it had warmed up FAST. Desperate for a few minutes of respite from the blazing sun, I suggested that we run on a shaded trail at the park we frequent.

Well, long story short, this trail was riddled with various holes and raised tree branches and rocks and various other obstacles that could easily take a runner down in a matter of seconds. Todd hates any sort of trail running for that exact reason, but on this day, I decided that the trees and shade and few minutes out of the sun made it all worth it.

I was just in the middle of telling him to stop being such a baby and “I love trail running, doesn’t the shade feel great, what are you so worried about, etc.” and a moment later, I was FLYING. My foot got stuck in a hole or caught on a branch or something — I don’t even know, because the next thing I knew, I was lying on my back in the mud.

I was super lucky, because I walked away with just a bloody, bruised knee and a couple of scratches, and I know it could have been much worse. I did the best I could to clean myself up in the bathroom at the park, and I ran through a number of sprinklers, but I ended up spending the rest of our 7 remaining miles or so getting lots of strange looks from passersby.

Fortunately, I have an excellent sense of humor. I was able to pick myself up, dust myself off, and keep on going. This kind of thing WOULD happen to me, right? And, of course, we DID make it to 14!

14 muddy miles…DONE!

The scale-back week in week 7 was pretty uneventful, except for the fact that even the 10-milers have been getting to me lately.

I’ve gotta be honest with you guys. Part of the reason I’ve been MIA here is because I’ve been having a really hard time with my training lately. The majority of my runs as of late have left me feeling discouraged and frustrated, and I’m having mini-meltdowns on a fairly regular basis (you know, of the “woe is me, I can’t do this, let’s bawl like an infant in the middle of the park” variety). Even on the “easy” weeks, I’m struggling.

The only reason I’m smiling? I’m about to walk into Shop-Rite to get me some Dunkin’ Donuts iced coffee.

Fortunately, our 16-miler this past weekend went pretty well (more on that soon!) but as the summer has been winding down, I am DESPERATE for some cooler temperatures. I find myself hoping every day that it’s just the heat that has been getting to me, because I gotta tell you…I’ve been MISERABLE. Crossing the weekly runs off my training plan has felt like nothing more than a chore, and I’ve been wallowing in self-pity every time I find myself sucking wind at what should be easy, comfortable paces for me.

Long story short…I have NOT been enjoying myself. And I sometimes can’t even remember what I like about running in the first place (other than the pretty medals, I mean).

The long runs thus far have been pretty bad. We always get it done, and our average pace hasn’t been atrocious or anything, but we take a lot of walk/water breaks and we come home completely drained (not to mention drenched in sweat). I don’t think either of us has been enjoying the marathon training process all that much lately. Todd sucks it up and rarely complains, but I let it completely crush me. And I know I get on his last nerve when I spend the better part of three hours on a Sunday morning whining about how hot it is…and my feet hurt…and I’m tired…and this sucks…and I’m thirsty…and I need a potty break…and I’m miserable…and I’m hungry…and I want to go home…etc., etc., etc.

Whoooooo’s exhausted?

It’s something so stupid, and something I know affects just about every runner — and I know that cooler weather is FINALLY on its way — but fighting my way through every single run is beginning to take its toll on me. I’ve also been dealing with a bit of a back injury, which isn’t making things any easier; I’ll share some more details in my next post.

Needless to say, my self-confidence has pretty much been non-existent lately. Despite the fact that I’m keeping my goals for NYCM very conservative — all I want is to do better than last year — I’m really starting to worry about November. Physically, there’s no doubt in my mind that I can do it. But mentally? That’s another story.

Do you run on trails? And, if so, can you teach me how to do it without falling on my face?

How do you stay positive when marathon training starts to SUCK?

]]> http://thefinalforty.com/nycm-training-weeks-7-and-8/feed/ 13 http://thefinalforty.com/nycm-training-week-2-and-my-brown-belt/ http://thefinalforty.com/nycm-training-week-2-and-my-brown-belt/#comments Fri, 31 Jul 2015 15:23:57 +0000 Jennifer http://thefinalforty.com/?p=5901 Hey, all! As promised, here’s a recap of my second week of New York City Marathon training. I mean, technically, I’m at the end of week 3 now…but better late than never right?!

Mon., July 20: Taekwondo class

Tue., July 21: 3 miles

Wed., July 22: Downtown Westfield 5K and Pizza Extravaganza (recap here!)

Running + pizza = OH YES

Thur., July 23: 5 miles

Fri., July 24: Taekwondo class and graduation

Sat., July 26: Rest

Sun., July 27: 7 miles

Total weekly mileage: 18 miles

I feel as though I’m settling into my new routine of running 4 days a week again. I’m not saying it’s easy, especially since the temperatures have been heating up here and running in 85 or 90+ degrees makes me absolutely miserable…but I do feel like my body is “remembering” how to run and I’m adjusting to the mileage pretty quickly.

Hot messes.

Last weekend’s long run was another tough one, though; we didn’t start early enough (what a surprise), so by the time we were done, it was pretty warm. It’s taking us a long time to finish our long runs because we’re constantly stopping to guzzle water/Powerade, take a quick walk break or stretch, etc. Plus, of course, our pace is nowhere near what it “should” be because the heat/humidity is TOTALLY cramping our style.

This dog follows me around everywhere, what can I say? lol

But Todd and I’ve both decided to take our time and ease into this training program. We both fell off the running wagon for a while after the New Jersey Marathon in April, and don’t want to risk injury/burnout by trying to do too much too soon — especially in this heat! In fact, he rearranged our training plan so we have one extra week of building our base in the beginning, and that’s why our first three long runs have progressed slowly, from 6 miles to 7 miles to this weekend’s 8 miles.

7 miles done…then it’s time for the puppy’s walk.

My continued struggle, of course, is balancing running with Taekwondo. Last Friday, I was promoted to brown belt, and the form we had to learn was killer. Now I’m performing all kinds of jumps and consecutive kicks and low stances that I’ve never done before, and quite frankly, my legs are pretty furious at me already.

But I’m just one belt away from beginning the quite rigorous process of testing for my black belt — which is a HUUUUUGE deal for me — so I won’t let myself lose momentum now. I’m an advanced student now and my classes are held later in the evenings, so I can actually make at least 2-3 classes per week. So you figure at least 4 days of running per week plus 2-3 karate classes, and you might just ask WHY THE HELL I DO THIS TO MYSELF. I’m trying to take at least one rest day per week, but I know that’s not going to be enough as I start ramping up the mileage. And when I attempt to run AND take a karate class in the same day, well, let’s just say it doesn’t feel so good, haha.

The moral of the story is that I am madly in love with both running and Taekwondo. I hate that my chosen forms of physical fitness both happen to be so hard on the legs, but that’s just the way it is. I promised myself that I would be better about listening to my body this time around, so if and when it becomes physically impossible for me to train for the marathon AND focus on karate then I know I will have to pull back on the Taekwondo a bit.

At the end of the day, the New York City Marathon is my utmost priority. How could it not be?!

Can. Not. Wait.

But, for now, I guess I should make best friends with that bleepin’ foam roller, huh?

Is there another activity that you balance with running?

 Do you feel you give your body enough “rest” while training for a half/full?

I’ll start with a quick look at the expo. I say quick look because there wasn’t really anything there. The half and full marathons draw some 6,000 runners — about 4,000 for the half, and 2,000 for the full (along with a 5K and half relay) — so it’s definitely not the largest expo (although a few of my favorites, like Bondiband, were there)!

I didn’t love the race shirt or the sneak peek of the medal — and I also got the sense that this particular race weekend was going to primarily be geared towards the half marathoners, which I thought ended up being pretty accurate.

But it didn’t matter all that much then because I knew we had worked HARD for this race…and I couldn’t wait!

We left for the race around 6am on Sunday, since we live about 30 minutes from the starting line in Monmouth Park Racetrack. Fortunately, Todd figured out a “secret” way to get there via back roads, so we didn’t have to sit in the insane traffic that many other runners had to deal with in trying to get inside the complex.

It was nice and cool in the morning (mid-40′s), but I knew the temperatures were expected to rise to at least the mid-60′s (BOO). We headed right for the (INDOOR!) bathrooms so we didn’t have to use the port-a-potties. As always, the line for the ladies’ room was loooooooong, but we made it to the corrals with a few minutes to spare (an announcement was made that they were delaying the start of the race due to the fact that so many people were having trouble getting in…an issue I faced when I ran the half marathon in 2013.)

I was nervous because my legs had felt pretty tight and sore in the days leading into the race, but that morning, I felt READY.  We had both trained our butts off and our shared goal was to cross the finish line with a “4″ in front of our time. Given the way our training had gone, honestly, I felt we had this in the bag. In fact, there was a part of me that was sure we were going to crush that goal, and maybe even come in closer to 4:30.

We squeezed into a corral in front of the 5:00 pacer and started the race with a nice, easy pace of 10:30. The plan was to try to hover around 10:15/10:30 in the beginning of the race, and then evaluate how we felt in the middle to see if we should try picking it up (haha, yeah, right) or try to maintain a sub-11 as best we could for the second half. We saw our fellow Jersey runner friend Kim from Barking Mad About Running and chatted for a minute or so in that first mile. And then it was time to begin my 5th 26.2-mile journey.

The first couple of miles felt easy. A little too easy. I kept telling myself that we had a long way to go, but I still couldn’t help but feel optimistic that we were going to CRUSH this race. My only issue at that moment was that Todd and I were both complaining of side stitches, which I rarely get anymore, so I wasn’t sure what that was about. We walked through each water stop and I tried to massage my side, and that helped a bit.

The course is practically flat as a pancake, with just a handful of rolling hills (mainly on bridges), and although I was already heating up by the time we were finishing the first 10K, the chilly winds were helping to keep us cool. Better yet, we were running close to the 4:40 pacer, which thrilled me to no end because I was sure we could not only achieve a sub-five, but that we could definitely break 4:45! Ah, gotta love the optimism in the first half of a marathon.

It felt like there were tons of runners and a fair amount of spectators, but I knew that was probably all going to change once the marathoners split off around mile 12 and the half marathoners headed towards the finish line. Sure enough, after the split, Todd and I were practically running alone, with what felt like only a handful of fellow runners in our general vicinity at any given time.

Where have all the runners gone…?

We quickly discovered that our plan to delay any bathroom breaks until the second half of the course — with the assumption that the lines would be shorter — ended up being a very, very bad idea. Because guess what? There were NO FREAKIN’ PORT-A-POTTIES TO BE FOUND.

As usual, there were runners ducking behind bushes to do their business, but since this course is largely residential (you run through “shore towns” like Oceanport, Long Branch, Asbury Park, etc.), there were others that had no choice but to go on people’s lawns (as discreetly as possible, but, still). Since I have lady parts and it’s not so easy for me — nor would I want to do my private business on somebody’s private property — I got PISSED AS HELL. How are we expected to run for 4 or 5 or 6 hours without being supplied with any sort of bathroom facility? REALLY?!

Unfortunately, it was also somewhere right before the halfway point that I started to feel…not right. My legs were already feeling fatigued, but worse, it was my stomach that started acting up. My stomach was feeling a little crampy and I started to feel borderline nauseous, which never happens, so I wasn’t really sure what do about it. We were sticking to our usual tried-and-true routine of taking fuel every 4-5 miles (I had Clif Bloks and Honey Stingers gels and waffles with me), so I didn’t know what the issue was.

I tried to take a piece of the waffle somewhere in mile 14 and couldn’t get it down — which is NOT a problem I’ve ever had — and as much as I usually love in-race bananas, I held onto mine after the first banana stop because just the thought of eating solid food at that moment made me want to hurl.

That’s how I knew something was wrong. I can assure you that I never, ever have a problem eating. Before running, while running, after running, EVER. And I started to get very afraid that the nausea was going to get worse. It’s not like there were any port-a-potties to duck into, either!

So, of course, that’s when my head started with its usual shenanigans. Here I was, only halfway through the race, and I felt like crap. There were hardly any spectators — or runners, for that matter — and running through residential areas on training runs (I prefer parks) bores me to no end, so the fact that it felt like we were just running up and down side streets at this point made things even worse.

My stomach felt weird and a fatigue took over me that I usually don’t experience until much, much later in a marathon. Was this “the wall,” and was I hitting it when we still had 10+ miles to go? Meanwhile, by mile 15 or 16 that 4:40 pacer was long gone, and I knew we’d never catch her…and I let it get to me.

So then began the panic attacks. I am typically not a crier — at least not in public — but for some reason, every time I run a marathon I end up having a meltdown at least 2-3 times along the course. And I don’t mean like a single rolling tear down my cheek. I mean like I have to stop running because I’m panicking and I can’t catch my breath and I feel like the whole world is ending and my body is falling apart and there’s no way I’m going to make it.

This is the first time Todd got to experience this particular phenomenon (lucky him). I never have a problem during runDisney races (of course), and our only other marathon together thus far was his first (the Rock n’ Roll USA in DC last March), so I was way too worried about him to let myself freak out.

Well, this time, it happened by mile 15…and then again around 18…and then again around 22. I was just DONE. We were fighting just to keep an 11ish pace, and all I wanted to do was stop and walk because I allowed myself to think that I wasn’t going to be able to finish this race. I couldn’t catch my breath, and a constant stream of negativity was playing on loop through my mind…and I hated myself at that moment because I keep letting this happen. Todd kept assuring me that we “banked” plenty of time since we performed so well in the first half (we finished just under 2:20), and that I didn’t have to stress about meeting our time goal.

WHY do I continually let myself fall apart the moment I start to struggle, and WHY can I never just have enough faith in myself that I WILL make it to the finish line? I mean, really…how many times do I have to run a freakin’ marathon before those little voices go away?! This getting ridiculous now!

Meanwhile, we both needed to use a bathroom, and there were NONE to be found. We found one port-a-potty on what appeared to be a construction site, and were behind one other runner waiting in line, but then she told us there was no toilet paper and that it was exceptionally gross (goody), so we moved on. Fortunately, we finally stumbled across two port-a-potties near another banana stop around mile 18, so we stood in line and wasted about 5 minutes with a few other runners who were also disgruntled that there were no bathroom facilities on this course.

I hoped that a pit stop and a quick break (because even sitting in a disgusting port-a-potty feels heavenly during a marathon) would help alleviate some of my discomfort, but I continued to struggle every step of the way. My feet were starting to burn now, and some of my toenails were rubbing against my socks so it felt like I was about to lose them. My legs weren’t TOO tight, but they were definitely heavy, and I just felt…tired. Exhausted. OVER IT.

And then the 4:55 pacer appeared behind us as we were rounding the corner for the out-and-back section of the course (somewhere around mile 20), and I FREAKED. Here was the culmination of everything we worked for in human form, and it was literally chasing us down. I panicked. Again.

Todd kept trying to calm me down. Here I was acting like a complete baby, and he continued to be so calm and sweet and supportive. He kept saying stuff like “we’re in this together” and he “believes in me.”

As much as I appreciated that, and I SO needed him there, I kept telling him to leave me. It was something we had already discussed, and though I would have been disappointed, I also would have completely understood if he ran ahead. I didn’t want to be the reason that he didn’t meet his goal, because he worked so hard for this race and he was doing SO much better than I was. Ironically, we were joking in the weeks before the race that I would be the one leaving him, since that’s the scenario that usually plays out during long runs and races longer than 13.1 miles.

But he wouldn’t leave me. He said it’s “just a number” and he’s not missing the opportunity to finish this race with me, no matter what the clock says. (Interestingly enough, that’s usually MY viewpoint; he’s typically a little more competitive when it comes to finish times.) He was making me feel better, but I still felt guilty for ruining what was supposed to be our triumphant sub-five finish.

It was a BEAUTIFUL day, but the sun was beating down on us now and I felt hot and sweaty and just DRAINED, no matter how much Gatorade I drank (race organizers may have forgotten about the port-a-potties, but the course did NOT lack water stations, I’ll give them that). I took a few bites of banana when they were offered, and I forced down a couple of gels, but my usual mid-run hunger was not happening that day; clearly, my “unsettled” stomach was going to stick with me for the remainder of the race, and I’d just have to try to ignore it.

In those final miles, I remember running with my eyes closed a few times because it literally felt like I was falling asleep standing up…almost like my batteries were “on low.” Speaking of batteries, guess what decided to DIE in the last 10K? My fully-charged iPod. Todd saved the day yet again…he let me take his. Because he knows I will die without the distraction, whereas he runs without music all the time. Have I mentioned yet how glad I was that he was with me for this one?! Seriously.

Almost there…

As we made our way to the boardwalk, my spirits picked up just a little bit because I knew we were so close (and, yet, still so far!), and plus I like running by the ocean. There were also a couple of photographers hanging around so I was sure to put on my best pretend smile.

Photo credit: NJ Marathon

The 4:55 pacer caught us again and passed us for good, and I was mad because I knew there was no way in hell we’d ever catch him. I kept compulsively checking my Garmin to monitor our potential finish time, and knew that we were going to cut it so close…and I hoped that if we could just keep the 5:00 pacer at bay, then we’d be okay (meanwhile, of course, I had NO idea what time they actually crossed the starting line and whether or not they were even on their pace).

But it didn’t matter because they represented my goal slipping away and I felt guilty because I had ruined Todd’s race and now we were going to have to fight just to squeak by under five hours. (Note to self: I will never be able to run with a pacer. It clearly screws with my head just a little too much.) I KNEW we were capable of doing so much better, and I was frustrated to be struggling so much when I was so sure I did everything “right” during my training.

Whoooooo’s in pain…?!?!

Finally…FINALLY…I knew Long Branch’s Pier Village was up ahead, and there were a handful of spectators in those final miles so their cheering helped a little. With just about 2 miles to go, according to my calculations (which I couldn’t rely on since I had some SERIOUS marathon brain going on), we could still make our sub-five goal as long as we stuck to our current pace and didn’t take any more extended walk breaks.

When we passed the 25th mile, I dug deep and we both managed to drop back down to around a 10ish-minute mile, partially because I desperately wanted to be done and partially because if I suffered that much and came in with a time of something like 5:00:01 I would have proceeded to drown myself in the ocean.

As we approached the finish line, we scanned the crowds for our parents, and spotted his (I never did see mine) holding signs and cheering for us. I swear, Todd’s parents sometimes seem even more excited about our races than we are, and they’re always super supportive and totally our biggest fans. I was so excited (and relieved!) to see them!

With the finish line up ahead, as per my usual M.O., the nausea, the pain, the frustration, the agony…all of it…was gone. WE MADE IT.

The clock said 5:05. I KNEW we started 10 minutes after the official start of the race, so we both knew then for sure that we HAD it.

We crossed the finish line in 4:57:34, and I was too relieved that it was over to care that we had come thisclose to missing our goal.

We got our medals and proceeded to sit on the ground for several minutes because it was absolutely necessary. That’s when I realized that apparently my camera had turned on in my running belt, so the battery was dead, which just felt like the cherry on top of what was already a disastrous race. So we relied on our friends at MarathonFoto and our phones.

A fellow runner approached us as we were sitting on the ground and made a comment about how they were watching us and saw how much Todd helped me get to the finish line (which meant I REALLY must’ve looked like a hot mess out there, lol). But, yeah, that pretty much sums up this race. I did it for him in D.C., and he did it for me this weekend. It’s how we roll.

We got our goody bag (the idea of eating anything from it was completely out of the question, because I STILL felt a little nauseated) and made the long, slow march to find our parents on our sore, stiff legs.

There’s a finish line festival but I was a little too out of it to really enjoy it, and I was disappointed in that the swarms of spectators that I remember from running the half marathon in 2013 were completely non-existent when it came to the full marathon. Everyone had already gone home, so there wasn’t much of a “festival” at all. It sort of felt like the event should be called “THE NEW JERSEY HALF MARATHON (and also a marathon).”

We hung around a bit to cheer on some of the runners coming in after us, but I couldn’t help but notice that most of the vendors were already starting to pack it up — not cool for those coming in closer to 6 hours, especially with a course time limit of 6:30, might I add. Then we all packed it in and went out for dinner, and by that time, my appetite was starting to come back.

Would I run the marathon again? Honestly, probably not. I think Todd and I have been spoiled in that we’ve run marathons with a whole lot of hoopla (like, you know, the New York City Marathon and the Walt Disney World Marathon), so to arrive to a practically empty “finish line festival” was a little disappointing. The post-race goody bags were pre-packaged, which was nice, but the half marathoners apparently used up all of the heat sheets because none of the marathoners finishing with us got one.

The fact that there were twice as many half marathoners as full marathoners — and that we all got almost the exact same race shirt and medal — was also a little disappointing. I’m not at all saying that finishing a half marathon isn’t an enormous accomplishment, but to me, it just doesn’t seem right to have a half and a full marathon on the same day and not differentiate at all between the two events. Even the official “finisher” shirt says 26.2 AND 13.1.

As disappointed as I was in how my race went down, I was SO proud and excited for Todd’s performance. We have both come a LONG way from our first (non-Disney) marathon finish in 5:20, and I am beyond thrilled by how much we’ve improved in the little over a year that we’ve been running marathons!

Still, I’m glad that we were able to conquer another 26.2 miles in our home state. And, of course, no matter what…running a marathon will always, ALWAYS be a huge deal for me. A HUGE deal.

Clearly, no matter how much I have changed, the “old me” is always hanging around to tell me that I can’t do it. It frustrates me to no end that I can still so easily slip back into my old mindset. But I guess if running marathons is the only way to prove myself wrong, then so be it. My struggles with obesity will always be part of my story, but crossing the finish line of yet another marathon is just another step towards leaving that 265-pound version of myself in the past.

And, as always, I will definitely be taking some new lessons learned into our new round of training for the New York City Marathon. I don’t know exactly what caused me to feel sick during this race — I know it could have been much, MUCH hotter and I can’t complain about the beautiful day, but I suspect the sudden warmer temperatures and hot sun after months of training in frigid winter temperatures probably shocked my system a little bit. Especially since, in general, I do NOT do well in warmer weather.

I DO know that I clearly need a longer taper (we tried a shorter plan this time around), and I likely took on a bit too much in the final weeks before the marathon. The fact that I was busting my butt for weeks to earn a new half marathon time to submit for Wine and Dine probably didn’t help, either. It all probably caused “the wall” and my good old friends “dead legs” to find me a little sooner than I would have hoped.

I think the most important lesson I’m taking from this race is that it’s becoming increasingly clear that my mind fails me in a marathon LONG before my body does. Apparently, I need to spend as much time training my brain for a marathon as I do training my body! If I can work on not letting my self-doubt overcome me, then there’s no telling what I’ll be able to accomplish in marathon #6.

Have you ever met a race goal but still been disappointed in your performance?

I’ll share all the gory details in my recap, but for now, I will say that it didn’t exactly go as well as I had hoped. Even though I went in feeling 100% ready and trained and fully confident that we were going to CRUSH this race, I ended up struggling big time…and I’m still reflecting on what exactly went wrong.

But the good news? I went into this race wanting nothing more than to finally achieve a sub-five marathon. And despite some extended walk breaks towards the end (and a panic attack or two), we DID meet our goal!

Though we trained to keep our pace to about a 10:30 — which is exactly what we did up until the halfway point — the fact that I struggled so much in the second half of the race killed our overall pace a little bit. (Even when I meet a goal, I still somehow let myself obsess over how I could have done better…because I’m ridiculous like that).

Thank god Todd was there because let’s just say I let myself go to a dark place several times during the race…and I don’t know what I would have done without his encouragement and support along the way. He did AWESOME yesterday, especially given some of the issues he has struggled with in previous marathons…and I am ridiculously proud of him!

That feeling when you FINALLY see the finish line…!

Still, I’m excited that I shaved about 20 minutes from my New York City Marathon finish time, and Todd beat his Philadelphia Marathon PR by nearly 10 minutes. So no matter how I felt on the course yesterday, I have to go ahead and put this one in the “win” column.

There were some aspects of this race that I found pretty disappointing, and I hate that I had such a hard time even when I went in feeling so READY, but just like every marathon experience, I definitely learned a lot yesterday. And I know from experience that no matter how well trained you are, ANYTHING can happen in those 26.2 miles!

I’ll be back with more details (and photos, of course, haha) this week! Thanks to everyone for your support, encouragement, and advice in the weeks leading up to this race. We both really appreciate it!

Have you ever struggled during a race that you felt SO ready to run?