On Sunday, October 18th I finally completed the “Chicago” marathon. I put Chicago in parenthesis because I didn’t actually do the Chicago Marathon route. I did my own. Chicago is relatively flat so – I figured there’s no point in me schlubbing my way downtown during a pandemic when I can just run my own route up North. No rules at this time in our lives.
I can’t believe it’s over! The strangest thing about it, as I’m sure many people have felt who have ran a marathon, is that it went by so fast. The training is what does it for you. I have no idea how any one runs a marathon without training, and to be honest, it doesn’t impress me when they do. Running a marathon is already so hard on your body, why would you make it harder by not preparing?
Running 20 miles 3 weeks ago definitely helped prepare me for what I was up against. I thought the last few miles would be the hardest, and they were very hard, but the worst part was actually between mile 13-18. I was running back up North on Lake Shore Drive and it was raining. It wasn’t raining hard, but it was windy, so I was getting hit in the face with water for a solid five miles. During those miles I really had to give myself several pep talks. I knew I wasn’t going to give up, but I definitely needed to prevent myself from having a nervous breakdown. It was freezing and pretty lonely. Once I hit Wilson avenue though (around mile 18) I was basically home free. The rain had settled and I was in a good stride. I was going way faster than what I originally thought. I was going to finish this marathon well before 6 hours. I keep blaming it on the rain…that because I was so cold, it made me move faster. I think I can give myself a lot of that credit though too.
I finished at 5 hours and 24 minutes. The amount of time spent running was 5 hours. 24 minutes was spent walking or stopping at one of my aid stations I set up (a few friends houses along the way.) I’m just going to say it, I’m impressed and pleasantly surprised by my time. I did not think I was going to move that quickly. I’m telling you, training.
So how do I feel now that the Marathon is over? It took a solid 24 hours for it to hit me. I feel great about it! It’s a little bittersweet. Training takes so much time and energy. I’ll look back on it fondly, but I’m ready to move on. Time for new fitness challenges. I think starting next week I’m just going to do a basic 12 week resistance training workout guide. I’m trying to tone up a little bit and shed some quarantine weight. No, I did not lose a lot of weight running the marathon. Actually I fluctuated a lot. You’re constantly trying to make sure you eat enough, you’re not necessarily focused on eating less. You don’t run a marathon to lose weight. Believe me. I’ll save all of my info on that for another post.
Will I ever run a marathon again? Absolutely! Even though it’s a lot of time and work, I still loved training and would love to actually run a marathon, idk, WITH PEOPLE. I don’t think I’ll train again until 2022 at the earliest though. Everything is so up in the air right now with COVID and I’d really like to focus on other workouts right now as I said. Eventually though. It would be really cool to travel around and run races. Combine two of my favorite things. I’ve even contemplated doing an Iron Man or Triathlon…maybe even and Ultramarathon – what? I know, I know, you think I’m crazy. Well people thought I was crazy for running a marathon and here we are. I might as well stay on brand.
Now that I’ve trained for and completed a marathon, nothing feels impossible. My next post will be all about how I think every one should run a marathon at least once in their life. I hope you’ll check it out. In the meantime though, I’m going to go grab my heating bad.
Self care, self flare.
xoxo
Kelz
kellytietjen.wordpress.com 
congratulations!!!
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