Welcome to “This Rookie’s Ramblings.” This series was the brain child of the super awesome folks over at PMG (People Making Good), who thought it would be fun (and informative) to follow a runner as she trained for her first marathon. I have to admit to being pretty excited when Elizabeth Hagwood (also of PMG fame), agreed to be that runner. Elizabeth will be blogging almost every week about her adventures training for her first marathon, the KeyBank Vermont City Marathon.
by Elizabeth Hagwood
Just a little over one year ago, I was saying I’d never run a marathon. Haha, whoops.
Last week I left off asking you to give me a week to decide if I’ll run another marathon… It’s official; I got bit by the bug by I think Thursday. I’m pretty certain I’m registering for the Philadelphia Marathon on November 20 – I went to school down south, so I have a bunch of friends in the DC/Philly area, and since Scott went to ‘Nova, it’s also an excuse to go back to his college town. The Marine Corps Marathon is already full and the NYC Marathon lottery has already closed. I’m also debating which half-marathons I should run throughout the fall. I’ll probably mainly stick to half-marathons since it requires less dedicated training, but I’d like to do at least one more marathon. I like having an excuse to eat whatever I want (another sign I’m a runner), I like having an excuse to own a ton of comfortable clothes (highly recommend these shorts, so comfortable for both lounging and running), and I like what it did to my body – it’s not back to my rowing physique, simply by nature of the difference in sports, but there’s still a noticeable change.
With that said, I’m a little worried though that I’ve been as spoiled as much as I can be for a race and that my race expectations are extremely high – I’ve read in more than one blog/article that the Vermont City Marathon has some of the best race swag, community support, volunteers and management. But I guess there’s only one way to find out – run another race or two for comparison sakes? Makes sense in my mind at least.
Last week was our last class – it was a little bittersweet, and not many showed up, but it was interesting to listen to everyone else’s highs, lows, thoughts and recovery process. Everyone said they were starving by Monday, but I guess my body didn’t get the memo for another week. But boy, once I was hungry, I was hungry. I think I ate all weekend. And if I wasn’t eating, I was thinking about food.
Maybe I’m just stuck in the high of completing my first marathon, but I don’t think there is anything I’d drastically change about my training. Sure, I wish I pushed myself a little more in the beginning, but that’s what my next marathons are for – improving my time. The only thing I wish I had done in the beginning of my training was take my BMI for a before/after comparison. I know my jeans fit a little differently and my body is more toned, by I don’t think my weight changed much (I don’t own a scale). I think registering for Marathon 101 is a big reason for not having any regrets – if you live in the Burlington area and are thinking about running VCM for the first time next year, I highly recommend it. It’s insanely cheap (just a little over $100 I believe) for 17ish weeks of guidance from a running coach, RunVermont staff, a local nutritionist, physical therapist and local runners.
Fellow Marathon 101-ers with our medals.
There are so many people that made my marathon training possible. In no particular order, there is Jess, our Marathon 101 coach; everyone at RunVermont (sure, they were also a client and pushed me to create the ramblings, but I felt so in the loop at all times); Scott – who didn’t give me grief when I originally had the idea of registering for a marathon and then pushed me to train and was at every spot I needed him to be in the marathon (oh, and moved most of my apartment the day after the marathon); Sarah, who bundled up with me on dark, early and freezing runs throughout March and then on a long, 21-mile sweltering run in May even though she’s much faster than me; Iza, who biked with me on my first 20-miler on Easter, blaring tunes the whole way, and then stood throughout the course on race day to crazily ring her cowbell and take pictures; my family, who registered me for Marathon 101 as a Christmas present and then pushed me to train (particularly my dad), and then stood throughout the race course giving me GUs (and also helped me move the following day); the employees at SkiRack who answered my countless questions (to the point they knew where I lived) and the place where the majority of multiple paychecks went; everyone I know virtually through Twitter and The Run Down for all of their weekly comments and suggestions; all of my friends who called, texted and posted stuff on Facebook on/near race day; and all of my friends & coworkers who didn’t give me much grief when my responses were “Nope, I can’t – I have to run,” “Nope, I have to wake up early to run,” “Nope, I’ll take a water with lemon/lime, I have to run in the morning”, or “No, I don’t care about calories, I need CARBS, I have to run.”
So with that, I don’t know I can still be called a Rookie (even though I still feel like one). My immediate next steps are to join GMAA and get a couple race registrations in the bag (and a couple more running completion medals (at least I’m honest)). Thanks for everyone’s support and comments, it was always exciting to see who commented on what topics. I’ll see everyone next year on May 27 for VCM!
