The past few months I have training for the upcoming Pittsburgh marathon. I decided I was going to run a marathon because I wanted to see if I could manage to push my body to its absolute limits. I choose to sign up for this race in particular, really out of the spur of the moment. With the hundreds of miles of training comes certain struggles. Training for a race such as this is extremely challenging, mentally and physically. Here are eight dilemmas that all individuals training for a marathon experience.
1. Long Runs
The runs that I cringed even thinking about. The long and excruciating runs that I thought I would never get through, the very runs that I never thought I would actually finish in one piece. But I did it! Some of us cried our way through it, others of us had to have been crying on the inside. But once I hit those 15, 18 and finally 20 mile runs I knew that I could do anything I set my mind to!
2. The Weather
Snow, rain and just brutal cold temperatures definitely put a damper on a lot of my runs over the course of my training. Having to run in general is a struggle, but then adding snow and downpours just wasn’t exactly ideal. I never would have imagined the day I set out for my longest run at the time, in the end of March, that it would be snowing.. Hard, did I mention the wind? Let’s just say for the next few days I had a very nice shade of red on my cheeks from the wind burn I received. But that’s the norm. The weather is crazy and us training for these marathons are even crazier.
3. Running Inside
What was even worse than embracing Mother Nature was choosing to avoid her. Running inside is another struggle in itself. Running aimlessly on a treadmill for hours at a time, watching the mileage slowly go up by .01, makes you go crazy.
4. Not Having A Training Partner
Running with someone simply makes running more fun. You can chat, you have someone to pace with and it makes the run go by quicker. But not having a training partner, especially for a marathon, is extra challenging. Having to motivate and push yourself to finish each run and to not walk is hard. Being able to dig down deep and keep pushing on really takes a lot of self control and self determination. Each time I ran alone it was a mental challenge. I had to push myself to my limits to achieve what I really wanted - to be able to do a marathon.
5. Aches and Pains
My knees, my ankles, my thighs, my feet… everything hurts. But my training schedule says 12 miles for today… uhh.. Seeing the amount of miles I have to run while being this sore makes me want to cry. But being sore is part of the experience, right? Knowing that every inch of my lower body needs to be stretched stresses me out. But I do it anyways. I stretch, I run, I complain about being sore and then I repeat the process.
6. Not Wanting To Run
We all have those days. You wake up and just don’t want to lace up those sneakers, go outside and run miles and miles. Sometimes I’m just so exhausted from classes, work and trying to have a social life that I just don’t feel like running. But I buckle down and put on my Garmin watch and get to it.
7. Wearing The Wrong Bra
Girls.. You know this struggle. Wearing a real bra while running literally ruins everything. Not realizing you didn’t change into a sports bra before you left the house for the run, can make you furious. I know for me when this happens it’s all I can think about on my run, which makes the run 1. Longer 2. Very uncomfortable and 3. Just plain awful.
8. Not Being Able to Feel Your Legs
Especially during my longer runs my legs just don’t feel like they are under me anymore. I often look down and double check just to make sure they are still there. Running for hours, using your legs without stopping is exhausting. Your legs eventually go numb and you just keeping going with the hope that they continue to work, although you cannot feel them. This is the beauty of marathon training in a nutshell.
Marathon training is highly extensive, so it comes with it’s ups and downs. Although the dilemmas are easily pointed out, training for this race has really showed me that I can do anything I put my mind to. Although I can’t always feel my legs, I’m always sore and forcing myself to get up and run for several hours isn’t always fun - dealing with all of these struggles will definitely be worth it. Being able to run and (hopefully) finish an entire marathon will be my biggest accomplishment by far! I am so excited that I can say that I will be completing my first marathon on May 1st, 2016, Wish me luck!
