What's Next?

People have been asking me what's next after the NYC Marathon and truthfully I don't know!

I'd love to get through this ONE BIG STINKING RACE first.

But there is a fun race here in Asheville that is coming up in March that is run by my favorite race organizers (iDaph) and they are organizing a marathon on the Biltmore Estate.

I'm definitely considering it, but haven't entered. Yet.
The coolest thing about the Asheville Marathon at the Biltmore Estate is they have selected Inheritance of Hope as their charity! Funds raised from the race will go to IOH. How cool is that?

You can register for the race at ashevillemarathon.com and the race is sponsored by Mizuno.

So, as much as I say I don't what I'm doing next, I am ENTERING to win an a free entry into the race. It gets pretty expensive to enter races. And I think we all know what a challenge it has been to raise $ for IOH. I wouldn't mind doing that again. But let's go for a freebie eh?

I would wear a Mizuno Wave Evo Ferus in this race if I wore Mizuno. You can check out the Mizuno website here www.mizunousa.com where they have a shoe guide and they ask you crazy questions to lead you to your right shoe. It's pretty cool.

We'll see! The contest ends tonight. So...

Volunteers-23 Days!

Since we hang out with high school students all the time AND I went to high school in NYC-this video hit me pretty close to home. One of the aspects of any road race that is required is volunteers. Tons of them. There is no real reason to volunteer for a race except maybe your organization is going to be a financial beneficiary of the sponsoring organization OR you have been really convinced that this is worth your time and effort by a very passionate person.

Having cheered on friends and family at races and having run TONS of races, I can say that I love the volunteers.

Having lived in NYC for four years, I am so looking forward to how ridiculously hilarious the New York version of volunteer is. Their accents, what they say, how they cheer. Somehow it is altogether different than what you get in Asheville.

 I mean, our marathon had mandolin players. So...we're different here.

The volunteers work so hard. They have to be on the race course early in the morning and leave after the last runner. Cleaning up all the cups. Standing the whole time. Yelling. I am sure that this is EXHAUSTING volunteer work. It's not an easy day.

I'm gonna be looking for the High School of Dual Language in Brooklyn. NO DOUBT.
Watch this video at least until you see the SEA of runners coming down the road. It is crazy.


I also love hearing the hs students talking about inspired they are by the runners who are running for all reasons. It gets me so PUMPED.

Find Your Greatness-24 Days!

The New York Road Runners (the organization that puts on the NYC Marathon) said when the hard training is over it's like "hay is in the barn."

I'm in the middle of my hardest week but it feels like the rewards are just around the corner. And I keep remembering why I started this. To run for hope. To run for Amy. To run because others can't or won't. To run because I never thought I could with my own limitations.

In watching a lot of videos for these posts, the overall theme that I have come away having learned in preparation for the marathon is that the race is truly a vision of humanity. All walks of life overcoming their own limitations to accomplish their personal goal.

For the elite runners, to perhaps win the whole race.
For the advanced runners, for an incredible time to qualify for another race.
For the intermediate runners, for a personal record or just to run a great, mind blowing, once-in-a-lifetime race (this is me)
For everyone to have started and finished something that was bigger than themselves.

Very few people can simply wake up in a morning, run a marathon and finish it feeling good. At the very least, they will have learned that they will train the next time.

Running these last three months has taught me so much more than I realize now. But at this moment, it has taught me being determined to not quit is a huge accomplishment. And one that I will have in common with the other 47,000 runners on November 3rd. That is my strong today.

The hay is in the barn.
My greatness is in finding a will to do THIS that is stronger than the will to quit.
I can only claim because of Jesus. He has helped me every day. All glory to Him in this. Phil 4:13.

Great Things Take Time-25 Days!

AI just made it through one of the toughest workouts that I had left to complete before the race. 7 miles with three miles of intervals tucked in the middle.

It was hard.
But right near the end when I was getting fatigued, my music shifted to an old song that used to push me through hard workouts in college.

"Great Things Take Time" by Ed Cash.
Maybe it's cheesy now. Honestly, I have no idea because it means so much to me that I am not a good judge.

The end of the song has this lyric:

"Now perhaps in your fearful forest
You've found that you have fallen down
Don't be sad, don't be scared,
No, do not be afraid
Because there is one who can pick you up
Off the ground
You see if your destiny is to be carved
Into a perfect thing
Then life does not begin until you die toThe way your living "

I have always loved that. If your destiny is to be carved into a perfect thing, then life does not begin until you die to the way you live. 

The way I want to live is sit on my couch and eat cookies. But my destiny is to be carved into a perfect thing. So I have to work hard at excellence in my life. Not perfection but excellence. My sister shared with me a quote from Brene Brown that resonated with me this week, "When you strive for perfection, you get repaid with shame. When you strive for excellence, you are becoming the person you were made to be."

I'm not trying to be perfect. I'm trying to be the person God made me to be. 

I love having the time to run in the morning to reflect on all of this. It has really opened up my heart and mind to what my day will hold.

25 days! 

I'm Not Like You People. I'm Not Normal-26 days!

Buster Martin 101 | 'How To Live Forever' from Mark S. Wexler on Vimeo.

When you start running, people of all walks of life start talking to you about running. How they can't run. How they ran one time. How running hurts, it's boring, they can't run a mile much less 26.2.

I love this video because it shows the sea of humanity that is going to be running the NYC Marathon. I do think that anyone can run a marathon. I have built up very slowly over the last year to this mileage and gotten my body ready for this endurance at this pace and level. But, people walk/run these things! And amazingness happens when you say yes to hard things in your life. And follow through on the challenge.

26 days! 

27 Days! Final Hard Week

Here we go! This is the hardest week of training left. I am supposed to run nearly 40 miles this week and finish off with a 20-miler on Saturday. After this, I start relaxing the schedule little by little to get my body rested and fresh for race day.

But first I have to get through this week. So, 27 days left and I'm get fired up! Needing motivation to work extra hard for one more week! 

Week 12: 28 days!

This was quite a week! I followed up the race from last week by trying to run to recover and just get to Satutday so I could survive the long 18 mile run. And I did it! 

Now, I only have three weeks of running left until the race. One long run and two weeks of tapering. 

That means this next week is my last hard week of training! 

I can't believe it! 

The race is getting so close and every day that I run it feels so close. I'm pumped! 

Gear of the week: 

not my target sports bra. It gave me serious blisters on the long run of the week. 

Lesson learned. 

Spibelt: it's a belt that holds your phone around your waist.  I just ordered a new one that will hold more gels. Mine has been awesome far. It holds my phone perfectly plus my id, a gel or two. It is awesome. 

Next week is a 20 mile run. That's huge for me! I can do it! 

29 Days Until the Start Line

"The starting line of the New York City Marathon is kind of a giant time bomb behind you about to go off. It is the most spectacular start in sport." 
-Bill Rodgers

The blessed start line. Once you get started, there's no getting off that train. You have to keep going until you hit 26.2 miles or die trying. Hopefully, I will just get to Central Park. 

I can't wait to hear New York, New York. The cannon, and to RUN across the Verazzano Narrows Bridge. It's like a dream. 

Running for a charity like Inheritance of Hope has been so fun because I've spent so much time reflecting on the word "hope." I've written blog posts about this before. The start line is the biggest visual that I have of the word HOPE right now. All of the work, dedication--every morning run, every time I was ALL of my running clothes (AGAIN)...is just to get to the start line. I want to run the race.

You can't do that without getting here. Pinning the bib. Last minute peeing. Gathering the people. Nervously swaying and then-BOOM! Just like that you are off on this massive journey that won't stop until you are done. I'm just training in hope that I get there. That I won't get injured, there won't be a storm, that this governmental shut down will end so that the base won't be closed on race day. Just training in hope right now. Not fear. Just pure discipline in hope. 

30 Days of Training left!

"I think I bit off more than I could chew, I thought the marathon would be easier. For the level of condition that I have now, that was without a doubt the hardest physical thing I have ever done." -Lance Armstrong, after finishing the New York City

Training for this race has been long, tough and at times boring and disheartening. The last week of running has been Really hard to get through. But I have a focus. Less than a month until the race! I'm telling myself, "don't hit that snooze button. Get up." Every dang day. This is what it has looked like for the last three months. Now we are in the final one!

I've totally look at my shadow all the time. Run in the rain, run in the dark. Run sad. Run mad. Run happy. Just run.
This video resonates.

I have a race to run.

 
Mind Games - directed by Casey Neistat from Nike Sportswear on Vimeo.

31 Days!

I'm 31 Days away from the NYC Marathon! I'm so pumped. ONE MONTH. LET'S GO.

For the next 31 days I thought I would each day, share some element of the marathon that is so incredible and makes it one of the best races IN THE WORLD.

How do you get to the race?

The NYC DOT has produced a video about how runners are getting to the start line. Since the start on Staten Island is so near and dear to my heart, this make sense to share how incredible it is that 48,000 runners all make their way to one little section of NYC. AND that section happens to be where I went to high school.

The Staten Island Ferry? I took that to my high school prom. It cost .50 one way to ride into Manhattan and you were dumped right into Wall Street. It was one of my favorite things to do in high school.

I won't be riding the Ferry to the start this year since I will actually BE on Staten Island already, but I bet I will sneak in a ride during race weekend.