Tiny Thunder Running

Wow its really been almost a month since the marathon and even longer than that since I last posted here. I guess that goes to show the speed of life and that lack of motivation to sit at a computer after 8 hours of such at work. At any rate, I am FINALLY here to share the experience of my very first marathon.. and (spoiler alert) not my last. I hate that it has taken me so long to sit down and write and hope that I can still channel and remember it all. Okay, yep. Apparently my emotions remember as I just got teary-eyed. Wow. So the Saturday afternoon prior, my sister arrived with her kiddos and I spent the afternoon running around after and entertaining them. This actually worked out pretty great because I didn’t have much time to worry or freak out that the very next day I would be doing something so crazy as running my first marathon. I decided to keep telling myself it was no big deal and that it is just another long run. (really, that’s it.) Saturday evening I made sure I...

Last week my short runs were TERRIBLE. Completely terrible. Tuesday I could barely make it 3 miles. My legs were so tight and 3 miles felt like 30. Wednesday I had such a bad headache and was so rundown I have in and took the day off. Thursday I was supposed to run with a friend, but because my headache was still hanging on for dear life and I was still feeling exhausted I decided to go it alone on the dreaded treadmill. The first 3 miles were the biggest struggle ever. I seriously stopped at each mile trying to stretch and loosen my legs to making running even just a tad more enjoyable. At mile 3, I took a bathroom break. After that it seemed my body finally got on board and realized I wasn't giving up. Finished out pretty well and felt pretty good. After the frustrating short runs of the week, my spirit and love for running was a little down and broken. In fact, Saturday morning I was really tempted to throw in the towel and not go on my long run. I knew I had a super busy da...