Lessons Learned

Here's a few tips if you ever decide to run a marathon.



1. Marathons are long.

2. Marathons are twice as long a half-marathons, but about 4 times as difficult.

3. If you find that the full marathon is too long, you can try to trade your bib number with a half-marathoner at mile 12. In our experience, this usually ends in a "eat shit and die" look. We don't recommend it.

4. Always eat what you normally eat before a marathon. But don't let the bell-hop drop your toaster on the way into the hotel. You might be eating, cold, hard, bagels.

5. Endorphins might be a lie. Where were they at mile 20, when all we could think about were lying down, a hamburger, a beer, and why the hell are we doing this?

6. Lemon-lime Gatorade....umm, it looses its appeal after 15 miles.

7. Hammer Gel....again, looses its appeal after 15 miles.

8. Burgers and Beer are great after a marathon; not so great when you have to walk a mile one way to get said burgers and beer.

9. If you're doing your first marathon, hang out with people who are also doing their first marathon; hanging out with people who are running their second marathon in a seven day period, and then bettering your time by an hour doesn't do anything for the ego.

10. Driving 9 hours in a car the day after your marathon isn't so bad, it taking 15 minutes to get out of the car and walk 20 yards to pay for your gas that is.

11. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate - but not so much that you have to stop at the porta-potties 8 times. Yes, eight times.

12. For some people, carrying on a casual conversation at mile 23 is no big deal. If we could have mustered the strength, we would have tripped you.

A True Test

Holy (bleep!) That was the hardest athletic event I have ever completed! I have never felt pain like that before in my entire life. I have never had knee problems, but my IT band was killing me from mile 10 on - does anyone know how to prevent this from happening in the future? The last 6 miles were pure torture as I could barely lift up my left leg to take another step!! AHHHHHH!

More updates to come, after we can move again.

Here's a cool picture from Columbus.

T-6 days

We're in the final week of marathon preparation. Our longest training run was 20 miles, which we completed in the rolling hills of Greer. Although tired and hungry, we both felt like we could finish 6 more miles. There's no turning back now.

We are finishing our last week of "tapering" and I think by the time Sunday rolls around, we'll be sick of sitting around and ready to run! (Which, I guess, is the point.)

We're both looking forward to putting in a long mountain bike ride the weekend after the race. I haven't been on the mountain bike for at least 2 months or so. With fall weather upon us, we are planning to take full advantage of the cool days. There's also a new group of women starting to ride together. They have a mountain bike skills clinic coming up in November - it might be fun to meet some new riders and learn a few things.

August 17, 2008

I haven't posted anything on the blog in months . . . been super busy at work. So here are some pics from this weekend.

Guess exact location where the last pic was taken, and I'll buy you a beer.

We're going to do it.

I've always thought about running a marathon. When I say thought about it, this is what I mean:
-- I thought that running 26.2 miles seemed like a long way.
-- I looked at the training regimen and thought, "there's no way I can train for 4 months straight."
-- After running a couple of half-marathons, I thought I might die & there was no way I could run that length twice.
-- I thought that it sure would be cool to say that I ran one.
-- The competitive side of me thought that I should run one before my friend Leigh does.

So when Leigh called and said that she was thinking about running one, then another friend called and said she was definitely running one, what did I do? I signed up. (And convinced John to sign up also.)

The good news is that the marathon will be on a super flat course. We're running in Columbus, OH, which, from what I'm told, is a great venue. We're following a training plan for novice marathoners and it's actually not that bad (so far). We still manage a short ride here or there, but to be honest, after running 13 miles in the South Carolina summer heat, the last thing I want to do is hop on the mountain bike.

So, if you've been wondering why we haven't actually been on a meaningful mountain bike ride lately, and why we haven't shown up for any SORBA work days, it's because this year is the year we're going to do it.

This is why we have Fridays.

Lots of play time with Roxy.

Bar-B-Q's with good food and good company.

I wear my sunglasses at night, So I can, so I can, Keep track of the visions in my eyes

Roxy wants her fair share.

A sampling of the evening's beverage of choice

We are trying (sort-of) to teach Roxy how to "Get Beer". Last night, as we were way too deeply submerged in a conversation regarding the upcoming presidential election (I know, I know, don't you want to join our Bar-B-Qs? They're so exciting!), Roxy got a beer out of the cooler, opened it and proceeded to play with the cap and the bottle. I assume she drank a little beer also. We didn't realize it until we heard the slight clicking of her teeth scratching the bottle. That's why we love her!

The Perks

Okay, so I have to work nights, weekends, and holidays. Big deal...at least I get to watch the Tour live each morning.

Oh How I Missed You So....

Why haven't we updated the blog? I was going to say that we've been too busy, but in reality, I think we just haven't been that into it lately. Anyway, here's a run-down of our activities.

May - Clemson Triathlon. I really trained for it, and ended up finishing a whopping 16 seconds faster than last year. What's up with that? Training is over-rated anyway.

Here I am getting ready in the wee hours of the morning

There's something beautiful about a calm, clear morning on the lake.

Where's Waldo?? I'm the one in the purple cap...

June was filled with mainly hiking and mountain biking. Since we took Roxy to remedial dog training, she is a million times better on a leash and it's actually a pleasure to take her hiking now.

Raven Cliff Falls - beautiful!!

July - We just returned from Damascus, Virginia, where we spent the July4th holiday biking and hiking in the gorgeous mountains of southwest Virginia. We rode the classic Iron Mountain trail, which was a quick 18 mile loop. I didn't get very many pictures, we were too busy riding! We also made it up to Grayson Highlands, which is an amazing park! If you've never been up there, it is definitely worth the trip!

Riding the Virginia Creeper Trail up the road to the trailhead

Navigating...

This weekend will be filled with completing a fun family project of re-painting our back deck. This was a project that was supposed to take 1-2 days max, and has turned into a 3-week long project. It looks like the rain is going to stop for a couple of days, so we're jumping at the chance to finish it!

Hopefully there will be some time for riding this weekend also. Hummmm, road or mountain?