Last year I watched my best friend, Starr, cross the finish line at the San Francisco Marathon. She'd run 26.2 miles. It was inspiring to say the least. I looked around that day and saw all these people cheering and yelling - so excited to be healthy! The feeling was infectious! In October 2009, I ran my first half marathon. Over the course of the last year, I've participated in a few more runs... and this year I get the opportunity to coach some of my friends to do the same. It's really a privilege to be able to pay-forward the positive effects running's given me to the people I love... and kind of amazing considering this is the first time in my life I've ever been a runner!
Anyway, enough of the gushy stuff, right?!
I've put together a list of things I've learned that I hope will help anyone reading this. From articles, to speeches, to good 'ol trial and error, this is what I've found to be true (in no particular order):
♥ Eat breakfast the morning of. Have oatmeal and coffee at least 1.5 hours before the start. The oatmeal will stay with you through the course of the run and the coffee will jump start your morning and give you energy.
♥ Go to the bathroom before, if you can - believe me, you'll lose at least 8 minutes if you go on the course (not to mention how gross the porta-potties can be).
♥ Drink a TON of water the day/ night before. My usual routine is 2 giant containers of coconut water and 2 liters of smart water before bed.
♥ CARBO-LOAD the night before. Obvi, but still... good to mention. Adopt a deep love for italian, but stay AWAY from spicy things and fish products. Both of which will make you feel yucky the next day. And eat early! Give yourself at least 10 hours to digest and process the food so you don't feel heavy on race day.
♥ GU chomps are amazing. If they have them at the expo, pick some up. They are incredibly hydrating and give you energy before the race. Have 1 serving right before you run.
♥ Stop at every single aid station and drink both water and the sports drink. (More water than sports drink.)
♥ If you start to cramp, stop and MASSAGE what hurts. DON'T STRETCH IT! You risk injury by stretching a cramp rather than massaging it out.
♥ Nobody sleeps well the night before a race so make sure 2 nights before you've damned near achieved the best night's sleep of your life. The night before, get to bed early. Even if you lay there staring at the ceiling, be in bed!
♥ Stretch like hell the night before. I do yoga every day and night. It's my routine. But if you're not a yoga person, just stretch, stretch, stretch.
♥ If you can run at least 8-9 miles, you can run a half-marathon. My first race, Starr told me that the energy from the crowd and the other runners would keep me going. NOTHING COULD HAVE BEEN TRUER. Imagine thousands of people all with the same goal in mind pushing you to keep putting one foot in front of the other. It's exactly that.
Think you can't do it? Well... I thought that too...
Tell yourself that you will make it. Dean Karnazes says, "Jog, walk, or crawl - but finish it!" The quote that inspires me is, "Pain is weakness leaving the body." Point is, create a mantra for yourself. Make deals with yourself. The first time I ran a half-marathon, I had only run 8 miles - once. ever. So when I was running, I told myself first "Get through 4 miles. You run 4 miles all the time. It's easy!" Then, when I got there, I thought, "Okay now let's get to that 8-mile mark. You've done it before. You can do it now. Just get to 8." Before I knew it, I was there! My next deal with myself was, "Get to double-digits. Make it to 10. At mile 10, we'll think about walking." And wouldn't you know it... I ran right past that 10 and tapped the flag with the palm of my hand - DOMINATED IT! Now I was in the final stretch. "Just 3 miles to go. You can run 3 miles. 3 miles is less than your regular running routine. It's just 3 miles. You can do this." As soon as I saw that 13 mile marker, I got excited all over. The end was near! All the hard work was going to pay off! I drove myself a little harder, ran a little faster, and powered my way through that finish line. "END STRONG! FINISH IT!" is all I'm thinking. and BAM! I was done! 13.1 miles down. BOOYA! Get that medal, grab those snacks... I DID IT!
Inspiring thoughts and quotes from other runners...
"If you run, you are a runner. It doesn't matter how fast or how far. It doesn't matter if today is your first day or if you've been running for twenty years. There is no test to pass, no license to earn, no membership card to get. You just run." --John Bingham
"You have to wonder at times what you're doing out there. Over the years, I've given myself a thousand reasons to keep running, but it always comes back to where it started. It comes down to self-satisfaction and a sense of achievement." - Steve Prefontaine
"In running, it doesn't matter whether you come in first, in the middle of the pack, or last. You can say, 'I have finished.' There is a lot of satisfaction in that." -Fred Lebow, New York City Marathon co-founder
Running is a big question mark that's there each and every day. It asks you, 'Are you going to be a wimp or are you going to be strong today?'" - Peter Maher, Canadian marathon runner
Good luck and HAVE FUN!
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