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?

We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside this time around, and while it was a beautiful resort, unfortunately its location in relation to Epcot didn’t do us any favors on race morning. Though we were up by 3:30 and out the door a little after 4 (I always rent a car), we sat in RIDICULOUS, bumper-to-bumper traffic the entire way to Epcot. Between the road closures and police officers re-routing people and the zillions of runners trying to merge themselves onto one single-lane ramp to Epcot, what should have taken 10 minutes took almost an hour. UGH!

So by the time we parked and walked allllllllllll the way to the starting line, they were just about to release corral F! Our streak of JUST making it to the starting line of races continues.

Of course, we still made time for a few quick photos along the way, lol

In other news, that morning was HUMID. I mean seriously HUMID. Oh, and foggy…it was actually pretty creepy! It wasn’t sweltering hot or anything (I think it was in the 60s/approaching 70), but there was so much moisture in the air it was ridiculous. Don’t believe me? Here’s what our earliest race photos looked like:

As you know, for this race we decided to go as two of the Three Caballeros, and simply carry our third little duck friend. Well, let’s just say that my stuffed duck was pretty much soaking wet with sweat by mile 2. Groooooooss.

We started the race at a nice, easy pace, and our first official photo stop was Wreck-it-Ralph, who had a pretty huge line. But our plan was to stop for any characters we really liked in the first miles of the half marathon, so that if there were repeat characters in the marathon, we could skip ‘em.

As we got closer and closer to Magic Kingdom, I was feeling pumped to be starting another leg of the Goofy Challenge. Other than the god-awful humidity, I think we were both feeling pretty good.

And then you turn the corner onto Main Street and feel even more AH-MAZ-ING. I’m still waiting for the day when this gets old, and, yet…never does.

We stopped for a couple of character pictures (and a potty break) in the Magic Kingdom. This mile always clocks in on our Garmins as 30+ minutes or more because of all the character silliness.

When we stopped to take some pictures in front of the castle, one of the runDisney marketing folks took us aside and took a bunch of pictures of us since, as he said, “it IS the Donald half marathon…”

Photo credit: runDisney

We made our way through Magic Kingdom (which is STILL all kinds of glorious fun to me, BTW), and one of the more unique photo opps of the morning was in the backstage area: Peter Pan and the gang!

Of course, after you leave the park, the course becomes a crowded, congested mess. We’ve become accustomed to this and either try to run on the grass or simply take unplanned walk breaks when things get out of hand. There’s really not much more you can do; unfortunately, there are still lots of runners who walk in the middle of the path, stop unexpectedly, walk in groups of 3+ across, etc., so I’ve decided not to get agitated by it and just try to go with the flow.

We found a couple more friends along the way, and soon it was back to the boring old highway.

I will say that the marathon course is SOOOOO much better than the half, and the more times I run the marathon, the less I enjoy the half. I know runDisney tries to keep us entertained with the parade performers and the floats and the bands along the way, which I very much appreciate, but at the end of the day you really are just running on highways.

Excited to find Donald!

The goal of this race was to take things sloooooooow. I honestly don’t even know what our pace was at that point, but I did feel that we were running SIGNIFICANTLY slower than usual. I knew Todd was in for a real treat during the marathon the next day, and since he’s not used to the back-to-back race experience, I thought it was best to take the half marathon as easy as possible.

So thats what we did. We walked through water stops and kept our pace steady, and soon enough we were back in Epcot and making our way towards the finish!

We were excited to see more duck friends along the way, and had to stop for a picture with Scrooge!

And, of course, we had to stop for a quick photo with vacation Genie, haha.

Before I knew it, we were leaving Epcot and had reached mile 13! I had met a Twitter friend (hi, Sarah!) earlier in the race, and she happened to be taking pictures at the mile 13 marker…so she was kind enough to take ours.

We crossed the finish line in what was our worst half marathon time for a Disney race (or, you know, in general)…our usual Disney time is right around 3:30 since we stop for photos with practically ever character. (And we obviously couldn’t miss the opportunity to get a finish line photo with Donald, haha.)

But other than some sore feet, we both felt pretty good, so I certainly wasn’t complaining about our finish time.

We hung out in the finisher’s area for a few minutes, and thought it might be a good time to take a picture with another duck.

We also ran into Meranda and Lacey from Fairytales and Fitness! I’ve been reading their blog forever, and we had finally met for the first time at the expo the previous morning…so it was awesome to see them again!

Photo stolen from Fairytales and Fitness: http://fairytalesandfitness.com

After we made our way to the car to freshen up and slip into my magical OOFOs, it was time to hunt for our third caballero. We found him in Mexico. Donald was SUPER excited to see us, haha.

And then I decided it would be just gosh darn hilarious if we rode the Three Caballeros dressed as the Three Caballeros.

Doesn’t get any dorkier than this, folks.

The cast members in the Mexico pavilion went absolutely bananas for our costumes, and insisted on taking pictures with us, LOL.

It was a great ending to that morning’s 13.1 mile journey.

We spent a few hours in Epcot before grabbing an early dinner at ‘Ohana, and then went back to our resort for night-night to prepare for the next day’s marathon!

Walt Disney World Marathon recap…coming soon!

Disney runners…do you always stop for photos with characters along the way?

How do you deal with congested race courses?

Who else loathes Florida humidity as much as I do?! 

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/race-recap-new-york-city-marathon-2/ http://thefinalforty.com/race-recap-new-york-city-marathon-2/#comments Tue, 24 Nov 2015 20:26:46 +0000 Jennifer http://thefinalforty.com/?p=6169 Hey, guys! At long last…here’s my recap of the New York City Marathon. Better late than never, right?! (Also, I apologize in advance for the length of this post…you know how I am).

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?!

It was a brand new race hosted by Superhero Racing (though we have participated in other races hosted by this particular running club), and fact that it fell on this particular weekend meant that we could use it as the scheduled 12-miler on our training plan.

Running as minions for the Superhero Half Marathon last year!

Because guess what? This weekend was our LAST DOUBLE-DIGIT LONG RUN until the New York City Marathon! I can’t believe we’re only two weeks away!

It was a smallish (about 1,800 runners) local race that ran through Morristown and a few surrounding areas. I went to college in the area, and my first magazine job was based in Morristown, so I always like going back for a visit. Plus, the race was advertised as a Halloween-themed race, with a Halloween medal and a costume contest and zombies along the course, and — best of all — CANDY STOPS!

Photo credit: www.superheroracing.com

In other news, the temperatures were in the 30s that morning, and would only be in the 40s by the time we finished. YES. I would get to run in downright COLD temperatures for the entire race. In fact, it felt downright FRIGID! This is the weather I’ve been waiting for, and I’m so glad its FINALLY here!

And, of course, it was yet another opportunity to dress up like a couple of idiots. It WAS a Halloween race, after all, so I felt I had a perfectly legitimate excuse for costumed running! For this race, I thought we could go as a couple of my favorite mischievous characters from the world of Dr. Seuss.

Yes, I actually convinced this guy to wear a freakin’ blue wig for a half marathon. Gotta love him, lol.

It was my first time wearing a wig for a race, and it actually wasn’t as bad as I thought! After a few mid-race adjustments, I finally got the damn thing to lay flat on my head, and the Bondiband underneath kept my new ‘do sufficiently dry, haha.

The race started at 9am in a local parking lot, and as per usual, we just made it. Fortunately, there was a parking garage right across the street, and we had picked up our packets the day before, so we were ready to go!

The goal for this race? To do the best we could. It definitely wasn’t going to be a hard effort — we’re saving that for November 1st! Plus, we conquered our 20-mile run last weekend, and truth be told, I don’t think my legs are fully recovered yet. We just thought it would be a fun way to cross another training run off the calendar.

Needless to say, I didn’t have a time goal or anything; I just hoped to finish feeling strong and ready to run the full 26.2 in two weeks. I assumed we’d finish close to 2:30, which was our finish time in the recent Ocean City Half Marathon (granted, we ran 5 additional miles that morning and it was ridiculously windy, so I hoped we might do a little bit better this time around)!

Anyway, we started the race around a super comfy 10:30 pace, while I checked out all of the costumes. There weren’t as many costumes as I would have thought, but we did see some of the usual superheros, ninja turtles, etc., plus a couple of unique costumes (unicorns, bowling pins, and the like). There weren’t a ton of spectators, but let’s just say any kids we saw were thrilled to cheer on “Thing 1 and Thing 2!”

Photo credit: lifeinmophoto.com

The course was residential, but it took us through a couple of different trails and local parks. The leaves are finally changing, and I got to enjoy some LOVELY fall foliage. However, the course was NOT. FLAT. We were climbing rolling hills the entire way, and as much as I wanted to complain, the fact that I wasn’t dropping dead and I kept running up said hills made me feel pretty confident about conquering the bridges in NYC next month.

I knew there were going to be about 7 water stops, some with Gatorade (a MUST for me), but frankly, I was just excited about the candy. Because, you know, I’m pretty much a six-year-old. As promised, many of the water stops had tables of Halloween candy to grab. Let’s just say I put the massive pockets in my SparkleSkirt to good use that morning!

There were parts of the course that were boring (we ran by what appeared to be an abandoned train track for a few miles), and there were others that I felt were actually pretty unsafe in terms of running on main roads with traffic. Another complaint? I only saw a handful of port-a-potties throughout the entire course, and that is a BIG no-no to me.

But it didn’t really matter because as much as I tried to ignore my Garmin and just run by feel, I couldn’t help but notice that we were going way faster than I could have imagined. When I’m marathon training, I’m thrilled to sustain a 10-minute mile, and there were a couple of miles that we were finishing closer to 9:30! We discussed slowing down but we both felt good, and neither of us felt especially winded or anything like that…so we just decided to go with it. We were on the heels of the 2:15 pacer for much of the race, and in the second half, I decided that I was secretly going to race her to the finish line.

It’s at this point in my marathon training where I’m usually EXHAUSTED and my legs hurt and I hate running and I’m sluggish and I’m freaking out about the race, and here I was casually running a half marathon at what felt like an effortless (yes, that’s right, I said it) 10ish-minute mile pace.

Granted, the weather was perfect. Like, PERFECT. It was a little chilly at the start, but once we got going, I was perfectly comfortable. I knew then that struggling all summer was definitely paying off. I felt like I was flying; my legs felt good and it felt downright “easy” to sustain paces that I struggled to hit pretty much all summer.

In those final miles, with my pockets full of candy and my legs still feeling pretty good (though not exactly “fresh”), I felt pretty freakin’ fantastic. This wasn’t going to be a half marathon PR or anything even close to it, but to be able to run the race so comfortably made me feel totally pumped about taking on NYCM in two weeks.

We passed the 2:15 pacer for the last time somewhere in the final 5K, and that’s when I told Todd that we were definitely going to beat her to the finish line. I was feeling good and I thought that, FOR ONCE, I’d allow myself to be confident. We rounded the final corner and headed to the finish line, which was set up in a park, with a bunch of people cheering us on (one race official even starting rhyming…”Thing 1 and Thing 2, you’re almost through!”) HAHAHA, love it.

And, to my utter shock and amazement, we crossed the finish line with an official time of 2:13:41!

Photo credit: lifeinmophoto.com

We grabbed some post-race goodies (bananas, granola bars, water, etc.) and hung around for a few minutes to take some pictures (of course). Once my body temperature started to return to normal, I really started to feel the cold, so we decided to skip the costume contest this time around. The finish line area was pretty much mass chaos, and we didn’t even know when or if there would be an “official” contest. Neither of us really wanted to stick around very long.

Buses were available to transport runners back to the starting line/parking area, so we were able to stay warm on the bus until we got back to the car.

Then we proceeded directly to Turning Point so I could drink lots and lots of coffee and stuff my face refuel.

Yes, I do own a dorky “Thing 1″ sweatshirt, lol

We celebrated our half marathon finish (and kept our legs loose) with a walk in the park with our best buddy. But not before subjecting him to this cruel and unusual torture. I’m sorry…but at the same time, I’m not sorry.

I probably wouldn’t run this race again due to a few factors — e.g. the boring course, and the fact that we never actually saw any of the zombies they promised us! — but I was thrilled that we performed as well as we did. I think we both were pretty shocked by our results!

I’m really glad that we tackled our final long training run in a race environment. Honestly, the race wasn’t anything spectacular, but we did have fun…and the shirts and medals are super cute!

I think completing our last long run as a half marathon forced me to recognize just how far I’ve come since I started training for NYCM this summer, and I am so happy to be going into the race feeling so confident this year!

 Have you ever run a Halloween-themed race?

Have you ever run a half marathon as a training run?

In the meantime, I did want to share our latest racing adventure: the Ocean City Half Marathon! Otherwise known as that time we ran 5 miles before a half marathon…for a total of 18 miles!

We arrived in Ocean City on Saturday afternoon and checked into our hotel: the Flanders Hotel. It was actually pretty swanky compared to our usual choice of lodgings, and it was all vintage-y and historical. Kind of creepy in the lobby (not gonna lie), but also pretty cool, especially since all of the rooms are suites so we could easily prepare our favorite pre-race breakfast of cereal and the like.

Ocean City is a cute little beach town, so we strolled around the local downtown area and we I did some shopping, walked up and down the boardwalk, etc. We also grabbed our bibs and shirts at the local running store so we wouldn’t have to worry about it on race morning.

We stuffed our faces with pizza for an early dinner, and hit the hay by 9:30pm. Because that’s how we party animals roll on a Saturday night.

The plan was to knock out a quick 5 miles before the half marathon started at 8:30am. We typically BARELY make it to the starting line on time for any given race, so I knew it would be a challenge…but I really, REALLY didn’t want to have to run 18 miles around the local park again to cross this particular training run off the calendar. I was desperate for some new scenery and a different long run experience for a change. So, it was worth a shot, right?

Well, surprisingly enough, the alarm was blaring by 6am and we were out the door and running by 7:15am. We took it slow and steady. It was easy to navigate the area because basically all of the streets ran parallel to the boardwalk. We did, of course, get some confused looks from fellow runners, and questions like, “Did we miss the start of the race?” and “Aren’t you running in the wrong direction?” Ha. Ha.

We had just enough time to take gels/blocks and duck into our hotel for a quick potty break before lining up for the race. The temperatures were still pretty cool (in the 60s), but the wind was pretty strong that morning, so I worried a little bit about having to run against it. I also worried about how I’d feel once it started to heat up, because the sun was out and I knew it would probably feel pretty warm towards the end of the race, when I’d be struggling the most.

Oh, and the other small little detail I was worried about that morning? I woke up with MASSIVE cramps. Because, yes, that’s right ladies and gentlemen, that special time of the month always chooses THE most inopportune times to pay me a little visit. I had popped some Tylenol earlier that morning, and hoped it would help me survive until the end of the race.

Meanwhile, of course my iPod decided to die on me (despite the fact that I SWEAR it was fully charged) within the first mile of the race, so Todd let me use his and he listened to music on his phone. Bless him. But, I swear, this kind of crap only seems to happen to me!

The first few miles take you over a pretty steep bridge, which I didn’t care for…but there were some awesome views. I figured it was PERFECT practice for crossing that Verrazzano next month!

In those first couple of miles, I actually felt pretty good..my legs were a little tired, of course, but I felt like I had plenty of steam in the tank.

Gotta love bridges…

We were running around a comfy 10:30ish pace, which I thought was excellent given our tired legs, the warmer temperatures, and the fact that I was dealing with womanly issues all morning.

The middle portion of the race took us through town. For a small race, there were actually a decent amount of volunteers out to cheer us on, and ample water/Gatorade stops, which I appreciated. It was definitely well organized…another thing I appreciate in a race!

The course would take us back to the boardwalk for a bit, where we stopped for a bathroom break. I loved that there were plenty of options for “real” bathrooms, if you didn’t want to have to pay a visit to a port-a-potty.

The final portion of the race is an out-and-back…which I generally hate. The wind felt like it was kicking up, and it was behind us for a little while while we ran through town. But then after the turnaround, I knew we had about a 5K left until the finish line, and we were fighting the winds the whole way. Meanwhile, my stomach started to hurt, so I did my best to ignore it…but I could feel the fatigue setting in, and I was crampy and tired of running and my legs were starting to feel ridiculously heavy. UGGGGGGGGH.

I would NOT, however, let myself succumb to negative thoughts (as is my usual M.O.). I really, REALLY needed this run to go well, if for nothing else than to keep my confidence high for our final 20-miler (which is this weekend…*gulp*). This is always the point in the marathon training plan where I tend to fall apart and start doubting myself, so I did everything I could to keep it together.

Photo credit: Chessiephoto.com

We both plodded along. It felt like it took FOREVER to get back to the boardwalk and power through those last couple of miles, and our pace had slowed to closer to an 11ish. But I was soooo happy to see the finish line up ahead.

Photo credit: Chessiephoto.com

Turns out, the course may have been a little short…because we crossed the finish line with EXACTLY 18 miles on our Garmins, and a finish time just under 2:30 — not nearly our best racing time, of course, but it wasn’t half bad for a training run!

Afterwards, it was time to collect our much-deserved medals (which are actually pretty nice!) and stuff our faces. And after 18 miles, I was NOT. EVEN. SORRY. I have to say, it was one of THE BEST post-race spreads we’ve ever seen…with bagels and donuts and scones and caramel popcorn and granola bars and various beverages and…best of all…PIZZA!!!

We took some pictures and tried to re-hydrate before heading back to the hotel to change and check-out. I was delighted to discover that my legs didn’t feel like they were going to fall off, as is typically the case after a long run.

I actually felt…dare I say it…pretty good! (SAYWHAT?!)

I was very, very much looking forward to some beach time…even though it was CRAZY WINDY right by the water. If only it had felt that chilly during the race.

I didn’t even care…we had earned some R&R.

Would I add extra miles to a half marathon again? HELL YES. I know it would be hard to do for a lot of races, but since we were able to snag a hotel room within a half-mile from the starting line, and the local town was safe and easy to navigate, it worked out perfectly.

18 miles in the books!

It wasn’t easy, don’t get me wrong, but with the support of cheering volunteers and being surrounded by hundreds of fellow runners at any given time, those final 13 miles of our training run went by a heck of a lot faster than when we run around the neighborhood for 3 or 4 hours.

Best of all, finishing the half marathon feeling strong did EXACTLY what I had hoped it would do: boost my confidence for these final weeks of training for NYCM! Honestly, I can’t believe we haven’t been doing this all along!

 How do you incorporate races into your training plan?

In the meantime, Todd and I ran our annual pizza 5K for the third year in a row last Wednesday, and it was just too delicious fun to not share a quick recap!

In 2011, the Downtown Westfield 5K and Pizza Extravaganza was my VERY FIRST 5K. So beyond the post-race food and festivities, I also like to run this one for the nostalgia.

Did I mention it was 90+ degrees that year?!

Beyond the pizza, the second best part of this race is that the entire “downtown” area is packed with local vendors and giveaways and a live band and all sorts of excitement. And my favorite running store, the Westfield Running Company, just so happens to be located right in town, so it becomes sort of the local gathering place for runners.

We got our bibs and race shirt — which I have to say is always one of the ugliest and most ginormous (even in a size small!) race shirts I collect every year — and enjoyed some of the pre-race festivities. I was in excellent spirits because unlike 2011, 2012, 2013, AND 2014, the weather forecast for this year’s race was NOT supposed to be insanely hot and humid (SAYWHAT?!)

Well, at least somebody’s enjoying it…

The high only reached the low 80s that day; temperatures were still hovering in the mid-70s by the time the race started at 7pm, but there was practically no humidity. The weather conditions were — dare I say — downright pleasant. As a result, I wasn’t (secretly) dreading this race like I normally am, because I knew I wouldn’t feel that overwhelming urge to drop dead after “only” three miles.

The race draws some 2,500 runners (translation: it’s freakin’ crowded), and the course is pretty much all rolling hills, so this is definitely not a PR race for me. Plus, seeing as how it was only my second week of marathon training after an extended running hiatus, I knew I had to maintain realistic expectations. We both looked at the race as a mid-week training run followed by lots and lots of yummy pizza.

Getting ready to run…

When the race started, I was surprised to see that we were easily maintaining around a 10-minute/mile pace. My half marathon pace (in cooler conditions, of course) is right around a 9-minute/mile — so I’m pretty thrilled whenever I can hold something in the realm of a 10 when I’m running in the summer months.

There were plenty of spectators and ample water stops, and there were lots of people shooting runners with hoses and offering their sprinklers for us to run through — an offer I always gladly accept. I probably look like an idiot, but there’s something strangely satisfying about running through a sprinkler (other than the fact that I’ll do anything to cool off during a hot summer run). Makes me feel like a kid again or something.

In the second mile, our pace slowed just slightly as we climbed a few hills, but I was still proud of myself for being able to hold that 10ish-minute/mile. I knew I wasn’t performing anywhere near my usual “racing” potential, but I was okay with that. Plus, I kept thinking back to last year’s 5K…which was pretty disastrous. It was boiling hot and the humidity was unbearable, and I struggled THE ENTIRE WAY. Yes, even for just “three miles.” We finished in over 34 minutes last year, which was probably my longest (non-Disney) 5K time ever. This year, we weren’t “racing,” per se’, but I knew because it was cooler that I could expect to perform a little bit better.

Last year’s race

As we approached the finish line, we were able to spot Todd’s parents, who are seriously the best race spectators ever. They could not be more excited to see us and cheer us on, and you can’t help but feel like a total rockstar.

We finished under 32 minutes this year, which, again, is nowhere near either of our 5K PRs under any circumstances — and I actually performed a bit better in this race in 2012 and 2013 — but I was more than happy to finish with a comfy 10:15 pace in a summer race on marathon training legs after a lengthy running hiatus. Ain’t nothin’ wrong with that.

After you cross the finish line, you’re immediately directed to the pizza area. UM, YES, PLEASE! There are countless pizza boxes and dozens of volunteers handing out as many slices as you can eat. Granted, the pizza is typically cold by the time you eat it, so it’s not exactly the most scrumptious meal in the world…but after a sweaty race, it still tastes DAMN GOOD.

We met up with Todd’s parents, found my parents, and we all chowed down on pizza. Oh, and cookies. There were lots and lots of yummy chocolate chip and sugar cookies for dessert. Nom nom nom.

‘Cuz, you know, running for 30 minutes totally warrants scarfing down pizza and cookies, yes?

Afterwards, Todd and I hit the running store to check out their clearance shoes (god forbid they EVER have my sneaker in the correct size…), and I ended up buying a replacement pair of the sneakers I’ve been wearing since March (for full price, of course). Plus, they had the new 2015 design, and since I have to wear a men’s shoe because of my freakishly wide foot, I loved that they were snazzy and (somewhat) girly…plus, I love anything ombre.

My new kicks. Photo credit: boulderrunningcompany.com

I’m the type of runner who simply buys the same exact pair of sneakers over and over again: Brooks Glycerin. Granted, I hadn’t done a WHOLE lot of running after the marathon in April, but my feet were definitely feeling the effects of worn-out shoes and I knew it was time.

So, all in all, it was another successful year at the Westfield Pizza race. And I’m sure we’ll be back again to eat pizza run in 2016.

Is there a race you run every year?

Have you ever run a pizza race?

Do you ever run local races as weekly training runs for a half/full marathon?

Soooooo sorry, again, for being such a bad blogger, guys! Things are settling down now so I’ll be back to my normal posting schedule — and I’m catching up on all the goings-on with YOU, I swear! Puppy parenthood has been a fun (but huge!) adjustment, but we’re getting into a normal routine now. Miles is doing great with his training and is especially loving our weekend run/walks in the park. (Thanks for all the tips of doggie-friendly running gear, BTW…I’ve already invested in a couple of your suggestions and it’s working out great!)

Anyway, the Wildwood Half Marathon was intended to be our last “big race” of the season. And, by “big race,” I mean a distance over, say, 6 miles, because I know myself well enough to know that once those temperatures reached 70 degrees, I wouldn’t be doing a whole lot of running. I also knew going into this one that I was NOT attempting a PR, and that depending on the weather conditions/how I felt that day, the plan was to do the best I could. No pressure.

Todd and I drove to Wildwood early on Saturday morning, and made a stop at the Cape May County Zoo along the way. Since apparently it’s sort of our thing to check out the local zoo anytime we go on a race-cation.

Packet pick-up was on the boardwalk, and basically consisted of a couple of tables with bibs and quite possibly some of the ugliest, worst quality race shirts (only available in men’s sizing, no less) that I’ve seen thus far, haha.

We carbed it up on pasta at Little Italy, which was pretty damn good, and then spent the rest of the afternoon/evening walking on the boardwalk.

The next morning’s forecast called for rain, which I was COMPLETELY fine with. It was already approaching 70 degrees by the time we were waking to the starting line at the Wildwood Convention Center, and seeing as how I was already sweating from the humidity during our leisurely stroll, I knew I was in for a real treat. As per our usual M.O., we slipped into the starting area within seconds before the race began.

From the very first mile, I knew it wasn’t going to be my day. Although I was very, VERY thankful that it was a little drizzly and overcast, it was still SO HUMID. Plus, I was having some sort of tummy issues that morning and I was hoping that they would just go the hell away so I could run this race (spoiler alert: they didn’t).

Todd and I planned to run our own race this time around. He and I both knew that I wasn’t going to be performing well that morning, and I knew he wanted to see what he could do. We stuck together for the first few miles but then somehow lost each other before we reached the boardwalk.

The course was an out-and-back…it took us through a residential area of Wildwood and onto the boardwalk, through some more residential areas, and then back to the starting area. I liked running on the boardwalk and seeing the ocean, and the course was nice and flat, which is always a plus for me…but, I have to say, I found the race to be a snooze-fest. Though the race itself was very well-organized and there were a lot more volunteers than I would have guessed, there was very little in the way of spectators.

After the first water stop offered only small cups of lukewarm water, I panicked about not having access to enough water (or Gatorade/Powerade) on such a humid morning. So when one of the boardwalk businesses (I think it was a kettle corn joint?) kindly handed out full-size water bottles, I grabbed it and carried it for a couple of miles so I knew that at least I’d have it as a back-up. Luckily, though, the remaining water stops were more plentiful, and included Gatorade, so I ditched the water bottle.

By mile 5, I was already sooooooo over it. Try as I might, I couldn’t push my pace faster than a 10:15/10:30 at any given time, and towards the end, it was getting harder just to keep it under 11. I remembered that it was just a few short weeks ago that I was successfully racing at a 9-minute mile in The Love Run, and here I was plodding along at a pace that was so much slower for me. I knew Todd was doing great, since he’s the type of runner who doesn’t seem to have any trouble holding his usual pace in any weather conditions. We spotted each other after he made the halfway turnaround, so that lifted my spirits a little bit, but I still just wanted to be DONE.

In addition to the humidity and the sheer boredom/frustration I was experiencing that morning, my stomach was also giving me some trouble. No idea why. I’ll spare you the details, but let’s just say I had to take a mid-race pit-stop, which is something I very rarely do. I was happy that there seemed to be a whole lot more port-a-potties than the New Jersey Marathon, though (which is pretty pathetic, might I add).

In the last couple of miles, my walks through water stops were getting longer and longer. I just didn’t have any oomph. I felt hot and drained and unmotivated and just sick to death of running, and that’s when I knew that signing up for a half marathon so soon after a marathon was definitely a mistake. My body seems to bounce back just fine after a marathon, but mentally, it seems to take WEEKS for me to get back to a point where I genuinely WANT to run.

Finally, we were back on the boardwalk, and even though I felt as though I was trudging through molasses, I kept on going. Mainly because I wanted it to be over with. It had started to rain on-and-off in the second part of the race, and that helped cool me off a bit, but I was just so…bored.

My finish time? Let’s just say I barely broke 2:30. And, again, just weeks prior to this race, I ran a 2:04 in Philadelphia. Oh, how the mighty have fallen, haha.

Todd was waiting for me at the finish line — he managed to finish in 2:04, so he had quite a long wait, haha — and we got our little goodie bag with a “soft” pretzel, cookie, fruit cup, and other assorted snack items.

We sat around to listen to the band that was playing for a few minutes. But then I just wanted to get out of there. Honestly, the highlight of this race for me was that it was my first distance running event wearing my new SparkleSkirt, and since it DID. NOT. BUDGE., it has officially earned my seal of approval! I’m so happy to have found something a little cooler that I can wear to run on these hot, humid days. (I won’t, however, be attempting the Sparkle Athletic/SparkleSkirt combo look again…it was real, real annoying).

Remember how I said the race shirt was disappointing? Well, when I crossed the finish line (finally), I had something else to be disappointed about. While it was a cute design, the medal was practically microscopic compared to what we’re used to. Definitely not worth 2+ hours of mental and physical frustration, I’ll tell you that much!

We took a few pictures, of course, and then headed back to the room to change and check-out. Then we got to do that I REALLY wanted to do that weekend, which was go to the beach.

Of course, it wasn’t all that sunny, and the beach was DESERTED, but we didn’t care!

I had a grand old time reading my puppy training books (we were supposed to pick up Miles the next night!) and relaxing on an empty beach. Later on, we had pizza, chilled on the boardwalk (and had my favorite Polish Water Ice!), and eventually headed home.

Moral of the story? I’m done with running right now. Until New York City Marathon training ramps up next month, I’m focusing on Taekwondo and just keeping some sort of baseline level of running ability with 2-3 short runs a week. I haven’t run longer than 4 miles since Wildwood. I’m just so burnt out…and my body seems to be BEGGING me for a break.

It has been so hot and gross and miserable, and my heart just isn’t in it right now. This has happened before, so instead of panicking about it, I know I just need a mental/physical time-out before I throw myself back into yet another round of marathon training. I plan to take the next few weeks nice and easy and will hopefully be ready and rarin’ to go when it comes time to train for what I consider to be the second most exciting marathon in the world (after Disney, of course).

Have you ever (voluntarily!) taken a hiatus from running?

Do you scale back your training in the summer months (or am I the only whiny baby who can’t stand the heat)?

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?