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| Post NYCM with my coach, Caolan and Sandra |
As the four year anniversary of working with my running coach
rolls around, I was reflecting on what a journey it’s been. When I signed up to
work with her, all I wanted was to be able to run ONE marathon without getting
hurt. That’s it. It was supposed to be a one and done plan, a one and done
working with her. But somewhere along the way, I found what running was really
all about for me. It’s not about medals. It’s not about PR’ing every race. It’s
not about impressing someone with my miles. It’s not about weight loss. It’s
not even about running. It runs much deeper than that. Through working with her
and through the last four years of reaching far outside my comfort zone, I
found myself. I am able to stand straighter, look at myself in the mirror and
like who I see. I’m able to think outside the box. I have confidence I didn’t
have before. I’ve been able to make scary decisions and see where life takes me.
I have learned to persevere. To have grit. And I’ve learned that when things
get tough, I have the mental fortitude to stay strong and walk through them
with grace. That’s why I say I can never repay my coach for what she’s given me
– far beyond running. My coach believed in me until I could believe in myself. That is a gift that continues to keep on giving.
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| This photo captured my true emotions that day |
In 2014, I signed up to work with this total stranger
towards my goal of running a marathon. I had never met her in person, never
talked to her on the phone and we lived several states away. The idea of an online coach freaked out me and I thought there was no way it would be as good as working with someone in person. But I figured that
what I was doing currently wasn’t working so why not take a chance? My goal was
to get through the Portland Marathon that October in one piece. Notice my
phrasing “get through”. Because that is what running used to be for me. Something
to get through. Training was simply an ends to a mean – a race of some sort. I
would plod along, dutifully putting in my miles but never really being present
for them. I ran that marathon. It was a trainwreck of epic proportions. Not because
of my training or coaching but for reasons that ran much deeper than that.
Personal reasons which I won’t go into. I accomplished my “bucket list” item of
running a marathon. That should be it, right? End of story. End of working with
said coach. Not so fast. Little did I know it would be far from the end of anything.
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| Having fun on the NYC marathon course |
I stopped running for a couple months after that
marathon. I was depressed and going through some personal issues in my life. I
hid from my coach; even though she kept sending me weekly schedules, I was not
really doing the training. After the first week of December passed, I pulled my
head out of my ass and found my way back to her. And to my life. I had already
signed up for Portland that following year (because that is the insanity that
is running – you have a train wreck of a race and hate every minute then sign
up the moment they open for registration that next year). So I stayed with her
to put in some solid training and see what I could do when I didn’t have my
head up my ass. One little hitch – I had forgotten that I threw my name into
the New York City marathon lottery. And guess whose name was drawn?? Great,
right? Except that it was exactly 28 days after Portland. Here I was, having
run one disastrous marathon and being a former injury prone runner….now faced with
the dilemma of running two marathons just four weeks apart. People do it all
the time, right? What is the big deal? Well, everyone is not me. I was paranoid
of getting injured again (I had been badly injured through a lot of 2013 and didn't want to revisit that). My coach and I discussed my options and we decided
that I would train and race Portland hard then run New York as sort of a “recovery”
run. Haha. A marathon as a recovery run. That sounded ridiculous but I figured I
didn’t have anything to lose. So now, this one-time, bucket list marathoner
would be running two marathons a month apart for a total of three marathons.
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| Mile 26 of the Portland Marathon |
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| Pops was with me every step of the way |
I PR’d Portland by 34
minutes, taking my time from 6 hours to 5:26. Then four weeks later, ran New York in 5:54 which
was still faster than my first marathon even though I was so far from
recovered, it wasn’t even funny. However, to my surprise, I was able to run an
easy 30 minutes just a few days post New York – no pain, no soreness and best of
all, no injuries! How would the next year top that? Well, 2016 would prove to
be even better with bigger, scarier goals. It would be a year that would make me realize
I’m braver than I believe, stronger than I seem and smarter than I think (to
quote Christopher Robbin).
