About the Runner

Hello! Before getting into the depths of the blog, it's probably helpful for you to know more about me (even though I suspect most people who will visit this page already know me).

This is a running blog, so I'll focus on my running journey. If you're just here to support me while I train for NYC, thank you very much. If you happen to be a runner or want to become a runner, maybe this will be of interest to you.

This year, I'm running the NYC Marathon, as I've mentioned plenty of times. This will be my second marathon, but I want to start from the beginning so you can get an idea of my level of running.

I haven't been a 'runner' for that long. While I played sports growing up and went to work out classes as I got older (sometimes), I really didn't have a great athletic routine in college or post-grad, and it definitely didn't include running. My mom is a runner though, and my brother suggested we all run a race together. I hadn't ever run more than 3 miles (and that was very rarely, if ever), but I wanted to be included. While they signed up for a marathon, I signed up for the Half Marathon. This was back in June of 2023. I used the Nike Run Club app and started the 14 week Half Marathon training plan. I'll get into the good and bad runs of this training in later posts, but overall, I had some great days and some very bad days (i.e. not being able to finish a 4mi run). However, I stuck to it and ended up training pretty well for my first race. I LOVED the Half Marathon. It was also in Ventura, California in September so weather and views couldn't be more perfect. I finished the Half in about 2 hr and 7 minutes (9'47" pace).

In the airport leaving California, I signed up for the Dallas Marathon. I had 3 months of training behind me and 3 months to go so I felt pretty confident.

I absolutely loved training for the half. Not saying I was always thrilled about waking up before work or having to come home to run 6 mi, but I loved how disciplined it got me and how I was feeling. Training for a marathon is a whole different type of feat though. It's one thing when you have a 8-mile- long run (still a very long run) to do on the weekend and know you can knock it out in a little over an hour. It's a little different when you need to find the time to run 15 miles. However, I stuck with the training (mostly). It was over the holidays so I got a little off but ended up running 16 miles and knew I would be able to run the marathon. The Dallas Marathon was the BEST. I loved it. I loved seeing everyone running, I loved the supporters, it was great. I ended up completing it without walking and feeling pretty good.

Shortly after, I was moving cities and wanted to sign up for another race (Brooklyn Half) so I would stay disciplined. Training didn't really go well. I started off strong - was even going on runs in 12-degree weather with 5 layers on. However, I was having a little too much fun in a new city and got off-course for a bit. My first run back I got a migraine right after and that completely threw my progress in the trash. I said I wasn't going to run the race (important details: this race was the Sunday before 2 of my final exams & with migraines it's a little risky). However, I went to Brooklyn to support my family running it and decided last minute to just run it. It was AWFUL. I ran that race at a slower pace than I had run the FULL marathon. I thought I was going to throw up multiple times. I was NOT having fun. This taught me that I will never not train for a race again.

ANYWAY, I digress. I got out of running for summer 2024 but got into strength training for the first time. After a few months of that, I decided I wanted to run again and realized I had enough time to train for the Dallas Half Marathon. I trained for that for about 8-9 weeks and felt good. I finally understood when all those influencers say that lifting weights will help you run because I felt better on runs and was running faster. That race was another great experience. I hit a personal best for the Half which was nice and that has led me to wanting to run a sub-2hr half marathon. Hopefully, that'll come this year.

Fast forward, I'm now going to be running the NYC Marathon. I haven't officially kicked off my marathon training, but I started a 10K training plan to just get me back into the swing of things. This is what I'm planning on doing for the next 5 weeks and then I'll begin the 18-week marathon plan.