The 2022 NYC Marathon

The 2022 NYC marathon – if you followed along at all, you already know that it was a hot day for November in NYC. I think that would be the TL:DR for this race – “It was hot, we felt like death.”

But if you’ve found this race recap, you’re probably looking for something a little more long winded than that simple summary. Before I get into it, let me mention that this post is going to have less photos than my standard recaps, and I apologize in advance for that. Unfortunately, my phone wasn’t very cooperative during this race, as it wound up drenched in sweat, which made it damn near impossible to use.

Race morning started with an early morning alarm, and excitement as I rolled myself out of bed, despite the early hour. I got myself dressed, pulled an (ultimately unnecessary) throwaway layer of clothes over my marathon outfit, and ate breakfast as I waited for my friends to arrive – I had arranged an early morning uber for Mike, Katie, Darren and myself, that would take us to the hotel that our bus to Staten Island would leave from.

As my friends arrived, they were as sleepy and excited as I was, and we piled into the uber as soon as it pulled up to the house. I felt like I needed to pinch myself, race morning had finally arrived. It was about a 45 minute drive to the hotel for the bus, and then an hour of waiting around and taking advantage of real bathrooms before we headed to the land of the porter potty. The morning would basically just be a lot of waiting around, as mike and I weren’t scheduled to start the race until 11:30 – and we had left my house around 5 am.

We met up with a bunch of my friends from Landshark Endurance (formerly known as the Merrick Bicycles Tri Team), and loaded onto the Staten Island busses together, and once we got to the club tent, set up as circle as we organized ourselves before heading into the start village. Darren had hooked us up with folding chairs, which was honestly brilliant of him – I don’t know why I had never thought of it before! Most of the team headed into the start village before Mike, Darren and I, as they had earlier start times, and when we looked around and saw the club area had emptied out, we decided it was time for us to go through security and into the village as well, even though we had another hour and a half to kill before our start time.

The three of us hung out in the start village, grabbed dunkin hats – despite it being already too warm to wear them, and just waited for the booming announcement that the wave 3 corrals were closed. Once it finally boomed over the loud speakers, we headed towards the porter potties one final time before going towards the corrals. There was no line, but there was also no toilet paper. Thankfully another woman saw me checking various stalls and pulled out a roll of TP and offered me some. I love prepared runners.

Once we had all used the bathroom, we began our final preparations with gel placements in our belts and body glide applications. We walked from the orange village to the corrals and lined up at corral b waiting for them to open. I took this opportunity to use the bathroom one last time before starting – I had been drinking so much water in anticipation of the hot weather that I felt like I endlessly had to pee and was hoping I wouldn’t feel that way on course.

As soon as I was out we were able to head into the corral, which was hot with the body heat from all the runners. Around 11:15 they started moving us forward, and out onto the Verrazano for our 11:30 start. The air was electric with nervous energy, as all of the runners prepared to start their 26.2 mile journey. The national anthem was sung, a cannon went off, and the shuffle forward over the start began, as Frank Sinatra’s voice rang out singing “New York, New York.”

Mike, Darren, and I made it to the start line together, but we lost Darren pretty much immediately after that, as he took off across the bridge. Mike and I were all smiles as we took in the excitement of the moment, of finally making it to the start of the NYC marathon together.

The focus of the beginning of the race was to keep a steady pace – I was aiming for about an 11:30, hoping that we could start there and then progress the pace faster later, like we did for our 20 mile long run. It was congested on the bridge, which was a stark difference from the 2021 race, which had a smaller field. But the runners all seemed so happy, and as usual people were climbing up on the middle barriers for selfies, and workers in trucks were blasting music and dancing as runners went by. When we finally made it to the downhill of the bridge, I realized the 5 hour pacer was right near us, and we tucked into their group for a bit.

On the exit of the bridge, a runner directly in front of Mike and I snagged her foot on the road and went down. We stopped to make sure she was ok, and when she got up and kept moving, we did as well. I hope that she went on to have a good race, because it is a tough break to fall in a race, especially that early.

We had lost the pace group, but managed to catch up to them before mile 2…. Only to then loose them around the mile 3 aid station.

As we made our way through Brooklyn, I was glad that I had decided to carry my handheld water bottle for the beginning of the race. I had it filled with liquid IV, since Gatorade tends to bother my stomach, and I wanted to make sure I was taking in enough electrolytes for the warm weather. I still grabbed water at each aid station that we ran through, and Mike and I would split for a second as I ran through and he walked, but then he would pop up beside me again a minute later.

Mentally, I had broken the marathon down into blocks between my spectators. The planned sightings looked like this:

Mile 8 - Dennis (my husband), Jude (mike’s husband), Tommy (my brother) and Sophie.

Mile 8.5 – Michal with the Landshark Endurance team cheering squad

Mile 12 – Jennie and her bother Matt

Mile 14 – My parents

Mile 16 – Dennis, Jude, Tommy and Sophie again

Mile 19 – Carson

Mile 23 – Jennie again

Mile 25 – Tommy and Sophie

Finish line seating – Dennis and Jude

I was so thankful that we would have so much support on course and looked forward to seeing my people at every opportunity. I am 100% the kind of runner that is highly motivated by seeing her people on course.

The first 8 miles were warm, but I was feeling good as we turned onto Atlantic Avenue and started looking for the first group. The crowds were wild at that point, and it brought a smile to my face every time some spotted my shirt and yelled “Happy Birthday!” It really made me feel like the whole world was out there cheering me on.

Tommy, Dennis and Sophie brought out the cat signs that my Mom and I made for the 2021 race, and it made them easy to spot despite the crowds. We pulled to the side and said hello, Mike grabbed his traditional marathon shot off of the poster Jude was holding, I passed off the dunkin hats I had grabbed at ft. Wadsworth and my handheld water bottle, which was empty at that point.

After we left our spectators and started moving forward on the course again, Mike and I started to drift apart as we ran. I don’t wear glasses when I run, so it is often hard for me to identify a face in a crowd, but I was able to spot Mike thanks to the bright orange BibRave cap he had on. He was feeling dehydrated, as we headed into mile 9, which was unfortunately one of the three miles on course that did not have aid stations. I was already kicking myself for passing my handheld water bottle off to Dennis but knew from past experience that if I had kept it, my shoulder would be in pain by the end of the race.

Throughout mile 9 and into mile 10 I kept pulling ahead of Mike, and then struggling to find him in the crowd. Eventually I told him that if he saw me pulling ahead he should call out, or I was going to wind up losing him all together. I felt so relieved when I saw the mile 10 aid station…. But then I saw that there were no cups visible. I kept running further into the station, assuming that later tables would have some, but they never did. And then I realized that people were drinking from jugs of water and Gatorade that volunteers were pouring into runners’ hands or directly into their mouth… can someone please explain to me how on earth NYRR let this happen, on a 75 degree day, after we dealt with a 2+ year pandemic? Despite my disappointment and disgust at the circumstances of this aid stop, I put my hands out and thanked the volunteer that poured water into them. But it was not the aid station that we needed. I hoped that the mile 11 station would be better, but texted Jennie, who would be at mile 12, and asked if she could get us water bottles, just in case.

Mike was feeling even worse after the lackluster aid station, and the gap between the two of us got even bigger as the race went on. Unfortunately, the aid station at mile 11 was even worse than the one at mile 10, as all of the bottles were being poured directly into people’s mouths, and I just could not talk myself into that level of communal water. There was a medical tent taking the “pour into the hands” approach, so I did wind up getting a handful of water there (I mean, how ridiculous does that sound?!).

As we approached mile 12, I completely lost Mike. I sent him a text, and spent about 5 minutes slowly walking backwards, trying to spot that orange cap. But then a text came in from him, telling me to keep going without him. I felt bad, but we had discussed it before the race and agreed that it was okay if we needed to split up and run our own races. I also felt like I needed to keep moving forward, and get to Jennie, who had water for me. The humidity and heat were already starting to make the day hard, and I needed the water she had. It was such a tease as we ran by the crowded parts of Brooklyn, where the streets were lined with spectators at restaurants, all holding various drinks. I seriously contemplated stopping and asking for a cup, not sure if this would be an issue for the rest of the race.

I spotted Jennie and her brother, and she held up a giant string of cats wearing birthday hats, which made me smile so big. She was cheering as I approached and handed me the best birthday gift – a giant bottle of cold water! I thanked her, gave her a very sweaty hug, and headed towards the end of the Brooklyn part of the race, and onto the Ed Kotch bridge, which spit me out in Queens!

My parents had driven into queens to spectate, and I knew I would spot them between miles 13 and 14, just after the bridge. They were decked out with home-made signs, and I laughed when I saw Mom had even made a frosty the snowman one, to help the runners think cool thoughts. Dad was smiling and holding not one but two phones as I ran up to them, capturing my approach. I gave them hugs, complained about the weather, and kept trekking forward.

By this point in the race, I was soaked to the bone with sweat. Every article of clothing I was wearing was completely wet. I had opted for a sports bra that had a pocket for my phone, but even that was so wet that any time I took my phone out I had to let it air dry for several minutes before I could take a photo or answer a text. It made it a little complicated to update my spectators, but I did manage to send out a message to Den and ask him to fill my water bottle and add a tube of liquid IV, then pass it back to me at mile 16, where I would spot him next. After the messed-up water stations, I did not want to rely on the race to have hydration for the rest of the miles ahead.

I crossed from queens into Manhattan, and as usual it was eerily quiet on the Queensborough bridge. It is a mental game as you cross into Manhattan, because with no spectators and another uphill climb, it’s hard to talk yourself out of walking. I did all I could to keep moving forward and enjoyed watching the skyline off the side of the bridge. As I approached the end of the bridge I could hear the crowds on 1st avenue and knew in less than a mile I would see more of my people.

The crowds lining 1st avenue did not disappoint, and I soaked in the cheers as I made my way along. Before mile 17 I spotted Sophie perched on Tom’s shoulders, cheering, and holding up a giant cat head poster. When I got closer to them I saw Den and Jude. Den passed me my water bottle, freshly filled up, and I made my best attempt at taking a selfie of us all, despite my phone really fighting me in the process- It was wet, and I had wet hands, which are not the best combo for phone use.

From there they would split into 2 spectating teams – Den and Jude would head for the finish line, and Tommy and Sophie would head for a point during mile 25, on the last stretch of 5th avenue before the final turn into central park.

The day was only getting harder, and I was struggling to keep myself motivated to move forward. But getting some electrolytes in from the handheld water bottle helped. I would see my friend Carson around mile 19, just before heading into the Bronx, and two bridges later I would find Jennie on course again in central park. This was my 10th marathon, and I have never seen so many runners struggling at aid stations and medical tents. at one point, a runner ahead of me straight up started puking in the middle of the road. I was able to get my water bottle refilled as I ran out of water, and even took an extra gel.

I was so focused on running as I got closer to the Bronx that I almost missed Carson cheering on the side of the road – as I got closer to her, I saw she was holding a “Happy birthday” sign, and a “Go Mike!” sign, and I thought to myself, what a coincidence, that she’s cheering for someone with a birthday, and someone named Mike – and then I realized that the Birthday sign was for me, and it was my friend holding it. I may have been a little delusional at that point. But I was so happy to see her, and it gave me the boost of motivation I needed to get from Manhattan into the Bronx.

At this point in the race my pace had slowed considerably. My dad had started texting me encouragement. As I left the bridge and entered the Bronx, he sent me a text that read “The Bronx loves you” and you know what I saw after looking up from reading the text on my watch? A big sign, with a heart that said the exact same thing. I almost cried when I spotted it.

I had forgotten just how long the Bronx feels when you are this deep into the marathon. I was struggling to take in water because I had to pee so bad. But I knew that I had to keep hydrating, so I made the decision to stop at a porter-potty, which luckily still had toilet paper. I felt much better once I was back on the road, and soon after accepted a water bottle from a spectator who was kindly handing them out. I had to constantly push myself to keep running, I wanted to just walk so bad at this point in the race. I told myself that I could just get back to Manhattan running, then I could take a break. With every corner we turned in the Bronx I expected to see that last damn bridge, and every time it wasn’t there I questioned if I could make it to the bridge… until, finally, I could see it, and knew that I would make it back into Manhattan.

I had taken a few walk breaks up until this point, and each one was harder to talk myself into running again after. So while on the bridge I decided to set my watch to run/walk intervals, knowing that I could skip the walk portions if I felt good, but mainly hoping that having the intervals would up my mental game, and keep me from walking too much. I went with a 2 min run/30 second walk.

I made it across that last damn bridge, and back into Manhattan. Now I just had to make it to central park. The sun was starting to set, and I really wanted to make it to the finish before it got dark. Thankfully, the crowds were still out in full force cheering, and putting a smile on my face each and every time someone shouted at me with wishes of “Happy birthday!”

Finally, I saw the sign welcoming me into central park, and made the right turn onto the familiar roads of central parks, where I have spent plenty of weekend mornings logging miles at the smaller NYRR races. I kept up with running intervals as I made my way through the park, looking for Jennie and her brother as I went, knowing that they would be in the park to cheer me on. As I ran, I spotted Darren, who I hadn’t seen since the Verrazano. We chatted for a minute, and griped about how the race was going. He had lost his salt early on, and was as over the warm weather as I was. We ran together for about a half mile, but then he opted to walk a little longer when I was ready to go into another run interval, and we parted ways.

Soon after I spotted Jennie, around mile 24. As much as I had struggled to make it through this race, I couldn’t believe that it was almost over. I gave her a quick hug and she cheered me on as I rejoined the runners moving through central park. Even though there were only two miles left, I would still get to see Tommy and Sophie at mile 25.5 and Dennis and Jude at the finish line grandstands. I willed myself to keep moving forward, even though my body was tired.

At this point I basically could not use my phone for anything other than reading messages that got relayed to my watch, as it was too wet to be useful. Tommy started sending messages saying that him and Sophie were going to have to abandon their spot and head to the dinner reservation we had booked, and I was super bummed, as I was almost to the little span of 59th street that you pop out onto before making the final turn back into central park, where I knew they were waiting. I has resigned myself to not seeing them, when during a walk interval I heard Tom cheering for me, and Sophie yelling out as well. I almost cried happy tears when I saw them, and it was exactly the push that I needed to start running again, and get myself to that finish line (Tom later explained that he had checked find my friends, and when they saw I was so close opted to wait for me to run by before going to check in to the dinner reservation).

I was back in the park, and in the end of the final mile. There were signs up telling me I only had 800 m to go – two laps of the track, I could do that. I could hear the finish, and the sides of the course were lined with spectators. 400 m to go. It was the end of the marathon. I came up one final hill and around a corner, and could see the finish line at last, as lit up as the sun went down. The grandstands lined the finish, and I spotted Dennis and Jude holding up a giant cat head, and smiled as they cheered me to the finish.

I crossed the finish line, and felt like I was in a dream. It was over, the race was done. I followed the stream of runners, barely aware of my surroundings, but with a smile plastered on my face. I got a medal from a volunteer, and picked up a recovery bag that was filled with snacks and drinks. I had run with the NYPD team, so a volunteer directed me to a tent right at the finish, and I got to avoid the very very long walk out of central park, instead plopping my butt in a chair in the NYPD tent for a few minutes, while I collected myself.

I was able to dry off my phone, and checked the tracking to see where Mike was at on the course. It was going to be about 40 minutes before he was projected to cross the finish, so I decided to make my way to meet Tommy and Sophie at the restaurant for dinner, that way I could change into dry clothes. I collected my checked bag, and hobbled my way out of the park. When I got to the security exit, Tommy was waiting to escort me to the restaurant, which was about a block away. He offered me a piggy back ride, which made me laugh – I was pretty sure I would not be able to jump up onto him, and instead handed him the bags I was carrying and took his arm, shifting some of my body weight onto him.

We were eating dinner at the Smith, and luckily the table was ready when we got there. We were a party of 8, Me, Tommy, Sophie, Carson and a friend of hers, plus Mike, Jude and Dennis, who would join us once Mike crossed the finish line. I was able to change into dry clothes and we ordered some apps while we waited for the rest of the group – I could probably write a whole blog post about the injustice of their bathroom being in the basement, but I’ll stop yammering on. Once everyone arrived, I ordered something bubbly for a group cheers, and did my best to eat a burger. It was delicious, but I struggle to eat after long races. It was a good call to eat before going home, as in past years I have felt delirious after making the hour plus trip home before eating post race.

We took the subway back to penn station, and the LIRR back home. It was a long, hard day, and there were moments that I wanted to quit, but I was proud of myself for continuing to show up and put one foot in front of the other.

I am also proud of Mike, who somehow managed to pull off a marathon PR despite the bad weather!

Week 13: Training for the NYC Marathon

I was so pooped after my long run Sunday, but despite an early bedtime the fatigue carried into Monday. I struggled and needed an afternoon cup of tea at work, just to make it through the day without feeling too sleepy. After work Mike and I met up and headed to a yoga class together, to get some movement and stretching in.

The rainy weather that started over the weekend persisted into Tuesday, and the rain was coming down hard that morning, so I opted to sleep in and get my run done after work, either on the treadmill or outside. When I got home from work it was windy and foggy, but the rain was a drizzle at most so I opted to head outside to run. I pulled on my “Run Visible” Brooks jacket, to make sure that I would be visible, despite the less than stellar weather. I only had 4 miles on my schedule, so I did a nice out and back rather than loops near my house. I took it easy, enjoying the chilly weather, and eventually warming up enough that I needed to peel the jacket off and wrap it around my waist (in that moment did I think about how the new version of this jacket has a feature where it can turn into a vest when you take it off? Yes. I will continue to try to resist buying it, as the one i have is perfectly functional). I knocked out my miles, feeling good overall. Once I was done with my run I headed to the gym with Sophie, and we got in a solid 45 mins of strength training.

The Wednesday morning forecast called for rain again, so I hoped that the weather would be better in the evening again. I slept in, and we had another day full of rain and even some thunderstorms. As I drove home from work the rain was in full force, but thankfully it slowed down, just as forecasted, right as I got home. I geared up and headed out for another solo run, this time 9 miles. I have been on an audiobook kick lately, and listened to “One of us is Next” as I ran and out and back and then loops around my neighborhood. It was a little drizzly still, but at least it wasn’t windy. As the sun went down both my light up gloves and vest started to die, and I hoped that they would last until I was finished, so that I wouldn’t wind up alone in the dark (thankfully, they just barely held on). I made a quick pit stop around mile 7.75 to chug some water, then did one final loop to finish out the 9 mile run. Even though I was tired and just wanted to shower and be lazy for the rest of the night (I am pretty sure only a runner would consider themselves “lazy” after running 9 miles….), I pulled open the peloton app and selected a 10 minute core class. My friend Katie and I agreed to keep each other accountable with our core work, and she tagged me when she got hers in earlier in the day after running, and I knew I spending the extra 10 minutes on a little strength would be worth it. I am still not sure if the class was really hard, or if I was just really fatigued.

On Thursday afternoon Sophie and I headed to the gym, and did a workout that focused on the upper body. This new gym that we started going to is often packed out in the weight room, making it hard to find space to use the dumbells, so we usually stick to the fixed machines, because it is just easier to find space that way. But tonight I finally felt comfortable enough to make space for myself to do the exercises I wanted to do, and it meant we wound up doing a good enough workout that I was sore for days after.

I had 5 more miles to squeeze in before the weekend, and when I got home from work on Friday Den was just finishing up power washing the house. I asked him if he would want to come on the first mile of my 5 mile run, and he surprisingly agreed! I slowed my pace to match his, and we did a one mile loop right by the house (he would spend the next three days limping around a little, as his muscles protested the fact that he moved them in an unfamiliar way – while he can handle himself on a bike, running is not really his wheelhouse). I continued on for the last 4 miles, challenging myself to get a little faster each mile, and pleased when I pulled off a progressive run.

That weekend I headed into the city to run the Staten island half with my friend carson. You can find my race recap HERE!

Week 6: Training for the 2022 NYC Marathon

One week flows into another, and somehow, we are more than a month into this! I am still wrapping my head around the fact that we are halfway though August and starting to look forward to the cooler temps that will come along with fall running. Heck, I will even take frosty winter mornings over humid hot ones!

Monday was a rest day, and while I was supposed to run Tuesday morning, it just didn’t happen. My alarm woke me up, I texted my parents about the crap night of sleep I had spent tossing and turning, and rolled over and slept for the extra hour. I’m not proud of it, but we all have mornings where the bed wins over the run.

I did get my run in Tuesday though – just as the sun was going down. When I got home from work I painted the bathroom that was renovated last week (the only part that wasn’t done by the construction crew was the paint), and once that was done I changed into my running clothes and hit the road. I did another one way trip to my parents house, this time with a quick loop near my house at the start to make it a little longer, since I would need to use their shower after. It was warm out, but the humidity wasn’t bad and there was a little breeze as I ran along. The sun got lower as I got closer to my parent’s house, but I managed to make it there while it was still day light. Once my three miles were done I headed inside and knocked out 10 minutes of core work before hitting the shower. Dennis met me at the house so he could shower too, and we headed home together. Hopefully when this paint dries we will not need another coat, and will be able to pull down the plastic and actually use the new bathroom!

I promised myself that I was going to get up and run Wednesday morning, so I went to bed early. Despite this, my body was not agreeable about being asleep that night. I woke up groggy on Wednesday morning, but still got up and made myself go through the motions of getting dressed, putting my running shoes on, and driving to my parents. I went for another 3 mile run that morning, just focusing on forward motion as I put one foot in front of the other. Sometimes marathon training is about showing up and getting the run done, even when you don’t feel like it.

Thursday morning I planned for my longest weekday morning run so far in this training cycle – 6 miles. I got to my parent’s house a little later than planned but got on the road as quickly as I could. I focused on getting through one mile at a time, and at mile 4 asked my dad what the latest time he could bike along until was – he said he had maybe another 10 minutes that he could be out for, and I let him know that I would be running for at least another 20, so he should break off as needed before I started looping. I worked on picking up the pace a little bit for the last two miles, and mom and dad both stuck with me until the end of the run. It was then a mad scramble for me to get ready for work and get out the door on time, and I mentally resolved to not do this to myself again – If I needed to run further in the mornings, I had to get up earlier.

Saturday I was registered for the NYRR 12 mile training run, which consisted of two loops of central park. I had volunteered to drive my friends in, so I rolled out of bed when my alarm went off at 4:45 am, and got ready to go. I had packed all of my gear the night before, so I just needed to get dressed. Once I was ready I took a ride to the bagel place around the block from my house, and picked up breakfast – a plain bagel with peanut butter for me, and a cream cheese bagel for Mike. Michal met me at my house, and the two of us rode to pick up Mike and then head to central park.

When the NYRR races are on Saturday’s street parking can be hard – on Sundays there are more spots available, as a lot of “no street parking” signs are suspended on Sundays, but that is not the case on Saturdays. So I usually use the spot hero app to book a parking garage near the start, and was able to snag a place to park for $15 – well worth the time saved, which we would have spent looping city blocks and hoping we would not have to sprint to get to the start on time.

Once we were parked we walked the few blocks to central park. Race day central was at the ball fields, and we even had gotten there early enough that there was no porter potty line (a rare runner “treat”). After using the bathrooms we picked up our race bibs, and had a little under a half hour to kill before the race was set to start. Michal had to get in 16 miles, as she is training for the Chicago marathon, so she headed to sneak in some extra mileage before the start, while Mike and I headed to our corral and hung out there, stretching as we waited for the race to begin. I took a Ucan gel, a brand that I decided to try last month after hearing the Ali on the Run show talk about it. I ordered a case of gels and a case of bars to sample.

Michal got back to the corral just as we were starting to move forward towards the start line, and the three of us crossed the start together. It was a warm and muggy morning, and Michal and I had decided to try using base salt for the first time, at the suggestion of our friend Katie. We took salt as we crossed the start line, then planned to take more every other mile as our run progressed.

The first mile was spent dealing with runner congestion, as we headed downhill before arriving at Harlem hill for the first time. By the time we made it to the top of the hill we were sweating, and the crowds had started to spread out a little as everyone found their pace. There were aid stations every mile or so, and at the second one I was already glad to see cups of water, and took salt for the second time as I chugged a cup of water.

After Harlem hill we headed to the three sisters, a set of rolling hills in central park. I was already feeling the heat of the day as we approached the aid station after mile three, and could feel a little numbness in my hands, which sometimes happens when I am not fueling well on hot days. I decided to take a gel at mile 3, in hopes of getting ahead of this, even though it was earlier than I would usually take nutrition. Soon after, I realized that when I pulled out my gel, I managed to knock the salt out of my pocket – so the salt experiment ended abruptly for me.

We continued around the Central Park loop together, chatting as we made it to the south side of the park, climbed cat hill, and finished the first loop. It was a humid day, and we were all feeling the impact of the heat. I continued to take a gel every 3 miles, because I could tell my body needed it. Around mile 9 my knee started to bother me, so I pulled my knee strap out of my pocket and pulled over to quickly pop it on. At least we were nearing the end of our slog.

We took to walking through the aid stations to make sure we were taking in enough water, and when we finally hit mile 12 and crossed the finish line there was a huge sense of relief…. For mike and I. Michal was aiming to finish 16 miles, so she ran on to complete her final 2 while Mike and I took our time stretching and having post-race snacks. Once she was finished with her run, we walked together back to my car, and headed home.

The hills and humidity took a big toll on me that day – I wound up falling asleep on our couch around 6 pm, and den tried to wake me up to move me to bed to no avail. When I did wake up, it was around 9:30 pm, and I had a quick snack before moving to bed for the night.

I was glad that my long run was done on Saturday, because it meant I could use Sunday to recover. I headed to a yoga class in the morning, and then had an acupuncture session, where they focused on hamstring release. I felt so relaxed and my legs felt so much better by the time I was done at the yoga studio.

The 2017 Dopey Challenge: My First Marathon

As we approach the 2022 Dopey challenge, I decided that it was time at last to talk about an experience of mine that predates this running blog: The 2017 Dopey Challenge. For those of you that are not familiar with the Dopey Challenge, it is a RunDisney event where runners complete 48.6 miles over the course of 4 days, by completing a 5k on Thursday, a 10k on Friday, a Half marathon on Saturday, and a full marathon on Sunday.

I know, it’s a little insane – or at the very least, DOPEY.

I took on the Dopey challenge in 2017 with my then-boyfriend, now husband, Dennis. You see, once upon a time I was someone who would have laughed at the idea of running a race of any distance – in fact, when friends ran races before 2015 I had no interest in even considering lacing up a pair of running shoes – who needs $100 sneakers anyway, I thought the whole thing was insane.

I eventually came around to the idea that this could be something fun – and signed up to complete the 2016 Disney Princess Half marathon with my cousin Ryan, as my family had a trip to Florida planned that coincided with the dates anyway. Once I crossed that finish line I couldn’t wait to do it again, and in the summer of 2016 we started talking about heading to Florida for marathon weekend in 2017, I toyed with the idea of running my first marathon.

We started talking about signing up for the Dopey challenge. At first, I seriously resisted but over time started thinking “well, I have almost a year to train, and if I am going to go all the way to Florida for a race I may as well run all of they races they’re offering….”

So, when registration day rolled around I found myself not only registering for my first marathon, but clicking on that Dopey Challenge option.

I essentially started training right away, using Hal Higdon’s Dopey Challenge plan. Throughout the summer Dennis and I logged miles together. My Dad biked along with me on many solo runs, where I made sure I was logging every mile that my training plan assigned. We completed races together – Dennis and I even got engaged at one! As the seasons changed and fall rolled around, Dennis and I ran the Run Rock and Roll half marathon in Philadelphia, so that he would have a proof of time to submit to RunDisney. After the half school picked up for Dennis– who was still in college at the time – and I started logging more and more miles with Dad biking along. I honestly would not have made it through that training cycle without him. I also started running with the Merrick Bicycles Tri team that fall, and made friends with runners like who were down for a long, cold weekend run with lots of miles. When it got too cold for dad to bike outside, members of the tri team often agreed to tag along on long runs, even though they weren’t marathon training at the time. I remember logging my last long run – my first 20 miler – with two guys from the tri team with weekend before Christmas, and just being so grateful for my amazing team.

Soon enough it was January, and it was time to head to Florida for Marathon weekend. I feel like I packed every piece of running gear that I owned, and I had even headed to the thrift store and purchased throw away layers in case of chilly race mornings. We arrived Tuesday night, spending our first night at the Caribbean beach resort, before moving into Saratoga springs for the rest of the trip. After we swapped rooms on Wednesday, spent some time in the parks before eventually heading to the race expo. I went jacket crazy that year, in part because it was my first marathon – by the end of the weekend I had purchased three jackets: the preorder jacket, the dopey challenge jacket, and one of the marathon jackets.

We had assembled costumes for the various races, but were all at different training levels, so as we prepared the night before the first race, we were uncertain how much we would all run together over the weekend. I had put a lot of hours and early morning wakeups into training for the dopey challenge, and wanted to really give it my all.

For the 5k we were all planning to stick together – it was the start of the challenge, and we needed to be conservative with our paces. We headed to the buses together, all dressed up as characters from the lion king. I had found a vintage Simba hat, and then made character hats for the rest of the group to wear. The icing on the cake was that Dennis surprised everyone by adding a hula skirt to his Timon costume. As we waited for the race to start we layered up with trash bags to keep warm, as it was a little cold that morning. Once the race got moving, we all enjoyed a 5k around Epcot together, and checked off the first 3.1 miles of our challenge. We headed into the parks after freshening up, and had an easy day wandering around Magic Kingdom.

Next up was the 10k, where Dennis and I had our own Wall-E and Eve costumes. It was a little harder to wake up on morning two, but it was a warmer outside that morning which was some small consolation. We all started the race together, and were able to snap some photos together in the backstage areas of Epcot and on the boardwalk, as the sun came up. As Den and I ran the last mile together, we even broke into a full sprint as we raced for the finish line – to this day, neither one of us is really sure who won. After the race we all met up and headed back to the hotel together, where we ate breakfast in the food court. Dennis and I headed to Epcot and got lunch in Via Nappoli, for a full carb-loading feast.

We had been regularly checking the forecast for Saturday morning, as rain was being predicted. When we headed back to the hotel on Friday night, we went to the hot tub to relax before another day of running. We chatted with other runners, and while we were there RunDisney sent out an update: The half marathon was cancelled due to thunderstorms.

I was devastated. All of the back to back long runs, the hours spent training to be prepared for dopey, were they for nothing? I saw others reacting to the news – many people were relieved because they were undertrained, and now they would be getting a $180 disney gift card, and not have to run 13.1 miles. But it was about more than that to me… so, Greg and I, being the crazy runners of the group, made a pact – we were going to get in our 13.1 miles, so that we would have ran 48.6 miles over four days, even if it meant running loops around the resort.

I can safely say I have seen every path at Saratoga Springs resort in walt Disney world. We ran between all of the buildings, over to Disney springs, passed the pool, around the dining area, and passed every carousel. About half way through our run the promised rain began, and it was almost a relief when the humidity broke. We made our own aid stations, with Dennis bringing us fuel and water when we ran by the room. When we completed our 13.1 miles, I took the rubber luggage tag that RunDisney had given us – it was supposed to be the 20th anniversary of the half marathon – and clipped it to my pin lanyard, and declared it my medal. So, Friday held 18.3 miles instead of 6.2, but I would still have my 48.6 miles by the end of the weekend.

When the race was cancelled, Disney offered runners several options to refund their registration – they could either receive a $180 Disney gift card, 2-two day park hopper tickets, or they could run the marathon in place of the half. Since we had annual passes and were already running the marathon, we took the Disney gift cards. Dennis and I were completing the castaway cay challenge after the marathon, so we wanted to pick up our gift cards rather than wait for them to come in our email, that way we could use them on the cruise. So, on Saturday we slept in, and through the thunderstorm that had derailed our half marathon, and headed back to ESPN worldwide sports for another visit to the race expo. It was raining at this point, and the expo was packed. We had to park in a field near the expo, and Disney had shuttle buses running to bring us to the main entrance. Once we got into ESPN, it was clear that we were not the only runners wanting to pick up our refunds and medals. The lines were so long that they weaved outside of buildings and around the sport fields. As we waited, it started raining. Thankfully, we were almost in the building at that point, so we were not stuck outside for too long.

Once we got into the building picking up the gift cards and medals was the same process as bib pickup. Wait in line, show your ID, and get issued your items. We headed back to the car once we had our stuff, and were once again watching the weather in anticipation of the following morning’s race: it was going to be cold. Like, winter in New York cold! They were estimating a temperature of 28 degrees at the start, with a wind chill that would bring the real feel temperature into the teens – yikes! I had packed my cold running gear, but the rest of my group was in need of throwaway layers. So, to make sure everyone stayed warm we headed to Walmart. We scoured the store for gloves, but apparently we were not the first ones to have this idea… all we could find were children sized gloves, which were far too little for the guys hands, so we wound up buying a pack of socks to keep their hands warm at the start. We also couldn’t find sweatpants for the guys, so they wound up with women’s sizes for those. Also in short supply were sweatshirts, with only the “3XL” size remaining. But it would do the job to keep them a little warmer in the morning. We headed to Disney springs after Walmart, where I picked up a heavier pair of gloves at the underarmor store, just in case it stayed cold throughout the race – the pair I had packed were on the lighter side.

I spent the night before my first marathon stressing over whether I was going to be too cold or too warm during the race, flip flopping about what I was going to wear at least a dozen times. I was also nervous about the race itself, as I was planning on running it alone, since no one else had trained for mileage beyond a half, and since it was my first full I wanted to see what I was capable of.

The next mornings our alarms once again went off too early. Once we were ready we loaded onto the bus and headed for the start area.

Den and I split up into our own corrals as we Hiheaded for the start line. By the time I got to my corral the race was just about to get going. As a result of the cold temperatures, they weren’t waiting long between releasing corrals and I was on my way just after 6 am.

I like to break the WDW Marathon down into segments:

1. The run from the start to the magic kingdom

2. Magic kingdom to animal kingdom

3. Animal kingdom to ESPN

4. ESPN wide world of sports

5. ESPN to the Hollywood studios

6. Hollywood studios into Epcot

7. Epcot to the finish

For me, breaking it down like this really helps me to appreciate each step of the journey, and to enjoy the mile that I am in.

As I ran to magic kingdom I spotted the entrance sign – it was my first time seeing it in the dark, and it was MAGICAL! It gave me exactly the boost I needed. By the time I got to magic kingdom, the sun was just starting to come up. I ran through the park with a huge smile on my face, and it was warming up already – it would wind up being in the 40s-50s for most of the race.

Once I was through magic kingdom, the next step was to make it to animal kingdom- the half way point would be right after that park. When I got to the back stage entrance, there was a petting zoo! Did I stop to pet a bunny? OF COURSE! It was the little things like this that make me feel the magic of Disney. We also had a banana stop at mile 12. Animal kingdom flew by, and on my way out I stopped for a photo with the haunted mansion grave diggers.

The highways between animal kingdom and ESPN are somewhat brutal, as they just feel like they’re dragging on forever, especially in the out and back sections. My parents were cheering me on from NY, texting me encouragements as I ran. When I did get to ESPN, I deemed it my least favorite part of the course. We ran through various sporting fields, it was crowded, and just felt like we were winding in circles. But, when we finally exited, there were strangers with candy and I happily accepted a twizzler.

Another long stretch of highway eventually lead me to Hollywood studios, where we entered the park through the fantasmic area. Right before we got to the tower of terror they had an official candy station, and I picked up some more goodies to help carry me the rest of the way to the finish line. My emotions were running high by the time I got to Hollywood studios – I was already at mile 24 – I was going to finish this thing, and then I would be a marathoner!

By the time I left Hollywood studios it was just over a mile to the finish line. When I entered Epcot it was already opened for the day, and cones separated runners from park-goers. I had a smile plastered onto my face, and even stopped for a few characters as I made my way around world showcase. All my hard work had paid off, this was really happening. I ran passed spaceship earth, turned the corner, and heard the gospel choir singing. One more turn, and I spotted the finish line. I could do this. I ran through the finish line, hands held high, and crossed that line. I had done it. I was a marathoner. I burst into tears – full, sobbing heaving tears. A volunteer at the finish line pulled me into a hug and congratulated me. I needed that hug! I started moving forward, collected my metals, and had my finisher photo taken. In the photo my face is literally swollen from crying as I finished the race. When I began that 26.2 mile journey I didn’t know if I would make it to the finish, but by the end I was only wondering when I could do it again.

I sat in the finishers area for a little while, checking on where the rest of my group were. They all still had miles ahead of them, so I decided to head back to the room and shower since it was cold at the finish line. Eventually they all filtered into the room, medals strung around their necks, and Dennis proclaimed “I am never doing that again!”

What can I say, we are very different people.

The next morning Dennis and packed up our things, and got ride to the Port Canaveral cruise terminal. We were boarding the Disney Dream, for a short cruise that would include one last running challenge – the castaway cay 5k. I was looking forward to just relaxing and laying around doing nothing for a few days after all those miles. We ate lots of delicious foods, I got my medals signed by the characters that are on them, and I even got a photo with Dopey.

The morning of the Castaway Cay 5k challengers runners had to be off of the boat before the rest of the cruisers. It was a cold morning on the island, and I was glad that I brought along the mylar blanket that they gave out at the end of the marathon. Dennis and I dressed up as the aliens from toy story – the costumes that we had all intended to wear for the half marathon. I decided not to bring my phone along for this race, since it wouldn’t work on the island anyway, so I don’t have any photos from the race, since they use the cruise line photographers at character stops. I was particularly bummed out by this, because chip and dale were out dressed up as the rescue rangers, which was one of my favorite shows as a kid.

Dennis and I started the race together, but he eventually needed to stop running due to ankle pain. So we agreed to meet at the finish line. After the race we re-boarded the ship, took a quick nap, and then spent the rest of the day hanging out on the beach.

Ok guys, I’m done rambling on. I enjoyed the dopey challenge so much that I later decided to complete the goofy challenge in 2019, the 2020 dopey challenge, and soon I’ll be taking on the 2022 Dopey challenge. At the end of the day, I really believe runners of all levels can enjoy the Dopey challenge, especially if they embrace the magic of all those Disney miles.

The 2021 Chicago Marathon: Race Recap

Wow, after almost two years am I really getting to write about a marathon again!? This whole trip feels a little surreal, but I’m so happy to be returning to racing again - and I’m especially glad that it’s for the Chicago marathon, since I’ve been waiting to run it since 2019. Those of you that have been around for a while May remember that while training in 2019 I took a bad side step on a treadmill, and wound up with patellar tracking disorder in my left knee, which pulled the plug on my marathon plans. 

But this time I made it through training, even if there were a few small hiccups. I had to slow down a bit about two months ago, when I just couldn’t hit the paces on my quality runs anymore, after weeks of them going well. Combine that and some dizziness when standing, and I headed to my doctors office. After some blood work, I found out that I was borderline anemic, which explained the fatigue and dizziness. I started taking an iron supplement, and started feeling better just in time to taper. So while it may not be my fastest race, I’m excited that I at least made it to the starting line. 

We flew to Chicago on Saturday morning, so of course I ran around a bit Friday night. When I got out of work Sophie and I went for one last shakeout run, ending at my parents house. Sophie picked up supplies for a pasta dinner send off, and dad prepped the meal while we were running. We had pasta, meatballs, garlic bread, and some caprese salad.  I took a page out of Becs gentry’s book, and treated myself to a glass of wine with the meal. 

After dinner dennis and I had to make a quick pit stop at BJ’s, and then headed home so I could get all of my marathon supplies together. While I had gathered everything I needed into one room (for the most part), I still needed to physically put it into a bag. The biggest decision was designating a “race day” outfit - I had three all laid out as I tried to make a choice. 

By the time I was done packing my bags were stuffed to the brim, but I managed to keep it to carryons. I really did not want to check a bag for a two day trip, even if said trip did include a marathon. I had taken the time earlier in the week to embroider a few “Chicago 26.2” masks, and took a little time to sew them together before getting into bed - nothing like leaving a project until the last minute, right?

Our alarms went off too early on Saturday morning, and our cats were a little annoyed as we got out of bed. We crammed all of our chargers into our luggage, and waited for our Uber driver to pick us up and take us to the airport. 

We were flying out of LaGuardia, much to Dennis’s grumbles about it. That airport is in a constant state of construction, which can make driving around it a bit difficult. But lucky for us, we had a ride. 

It was our first time at LGA since the new security area opened, and we got through it seamlessly. We headed to our gate to wait for the flight to board. I knew that I am not great at eating enough on travel days, so ordered a smoothie while we were at the airport, since I knew it was important to be well fueled the day before a marathon. The joke was on me though - I am so used to making my own dairy-free smoothies at home that it did not even occur to me to make sure the one I ordered had no dairy - but I found out rather quickly once I started drinking it. I was able to sort myself out well enough before getting on the plane, but it was a less than ideal start to the day.

When we landed in Chicago we ordered a lyft to get a ride to our hotel. There were options for public transit, but since we had all of our luggage we decided it would just be easier in a car. As we made our way through the city my excitement for the race grew, as I got glimpses of landmarks I knew we would spot during the marathon.

By the time we got to the hotel I was dizzy with motion sickness. Between the plane and the car I felt like I was spinning. I usually take Dramamine on flights, but had opted not to this time - which was apparently a mistake. I took one at the hotel, hoping it would help a little at least. 

We were too early to check into our room, but were able to leave our luggage there while we headed to the expo. I needed to get some food in me ASAP, so we went to the McDonalds right across the street- not the best thing to eat the day before the marathon, but I knew that their breakfast sandwiches usually sit fine with me. By the time we were done eating the meds had kicked in, and I felt much better. 

The next plan was to head to the expo. Den really wanted to walk, but I couldn’t justify that long of a walk the day before a marathon. So we took the subway, which was surprisingly easy to navigate. I didn’t even go a station in the wrong direction, like I pretty much do every time I take the subway in NYC. 

It was a quick ride and then a short walk to the expo. Approaching the building it didn’t seem too crowded - and then we got inside and saw the winding line of runners. There was even a whole giant room just of winding lines! It took us about 45 minutes from when we got on line to get into the expo. When we finally got to the entrance they checked our covid vaccine cards and gave us bracelets, which we were told to keep on for the duration of the weekend. 
Once we got inside the expo if didn’t feel too crowded, and there were a few rows of vendors to go through. First things first, we headed for the bib pickup. They checked my ID and scanned my QR code, and directed me to a table. It was a quick and easy process. From there we were able to go and get my race shirt, and then walked through the many tables. 

I didn’t buy much - I was surprised at  the lack of marathon specific merch. Nike didn’t even have the finisher gear available to buy - you had to go to their store or order it online! I did pick up some throwaway jackets for NYC that were only $5 (I didn’t plan to bring throwaway layers to Chicago, as temps would start in the 70s that morning), a saucony marathon shirt, a pair of oofos, and some assorted freebies. The Bank of America was handing out posters with the course map on them, which were really nice! 

Once we left the expo we headed back towards the hotel, and chose a ramen restaurant near by to eat lunch at. Dennis really like to try a ramen place at any city we visit (his running favorite is still San Francisco), so it was on our list of places to eat. Had I eaten ramen the day before my longest training run to see how it would sit? YUP. This may be the most prepared my stomach had ever been. 

By the time we were done eating our hotel room was ready, and we were planning to have a chill night in so I could stay off my feet as much as possible. We watched Jurassic park and the beginning of hocus pocus, and I ate a dinner consisting of crackers, tuna, and mac and cheese - I know, not the best pre-marathon meal, but I was too nervous about unknown food at that point to try to order takeout from somewhere. Before bed I took my time setting up all my gear for the following mornings race. 

We were both pooped from the long day of travel, and were very happy with an early bedtime. 

On race morning Den and I left the hotel a little after 5:30, since the race documentation recommended that wave two runners get to the start area by 6 am. We opted to walk to the start - it was less than a mile and we were sure plenty of runners would be heading in the same direction. 

As we left the hotel and other runner joined us, who happened to be from Long Island too! We chatted with her as we made our way to the start, and parted ways when we passed a Dunkin doughnuts and she popped in for coffee. 

Dennis and I said goodbye at the edge of grant park, since at that point the street was full of runners. He headed back to the hotel, and I headed into the start area. Not gonna lie, at this point I was already ready to cry! I was just so happy to be at a race like this again. It felt like coming home after a crazy two years. 

The Chicago marathon doesn’t allow any open bottles to come into the start area, so I had to dump the nuun I was drinking - I had prepared for this though, and had the powder to make another drink and a closed bottle to mix it with. I usually carry my clear gear bag within a drawstring backpack, and today was no exception. When it’s time for security I just dump the contents from the drawstring to the clear bag, and throw the drawstring into my checked bag - but they actually made me dispose of the drawstring at security, which surprised me. 

Chicago is a “world marathon major,” just like NYC, so leading up to race day I anticipated that getting to the start area and the start area itself would be just as intense as NYC. I had even googled “Chicago marathon start village” at least a dozen times, and was shocked that I could not find more details about it. Well runners, if that is the info that you came here looking for, I must report that the start is much more laid back than NYC. Sure, there are a lot of people. But at no point did it feel chaotic. I walked into the start, and easily navigated my way through everything.

The corrals were right after security, but I kept following the stream of runners that were going further into grant park, since I needed to find a bathroom and gear check. I found a row of porter potties quickly, that somehow had no line!? It felt like a race morning miracle. 

But imagine my surprise as the unit rocked as I stepped into it - and promptly stepped out. I didn’t need to fall into that “WHAT IF IT TIPS” thought spiral. I found another, more stable unit to take care of business in. 

It felt too early to get into the corrals, so I kept following the flow of runners and headed further into the park. I kept walking and eventually found my bag check area, and plopped down near the fountain to hang out for a while before the race. I didn’t have to been in my corral until 7:45, and I had more than an hour to kill. 

I watched as the sun slowly came up, but thanks to an overcast sky, there was no grand sunrise on race morning. I hoped that the cloud coverage would last through the race, because they were projecting temps in the high 70s. More runners rolled into the start area as I sat and waited. 

Eventually I decided to try to hit the bathroom one more time, and was greeted by the very long porter potty lines that I had expected the first time around. It was a little after 7 am when I got in line, and I still had to check my bag and make it to my corral before 7:45, so I watched the clock as I waited in line. 

After I finally made it to the bathroom, right around 7:40, I loaded my pockets with race day supplies - manly fuel and body glide - as I jogged to check my bag, which was really just a charger for post race, in-case my phone died while I was running, since it’s four years old and has less than stellar battery life. 

I made it into my corral just before 7:45, and soon after we started moving forward as the 8:00 start time for wave 2 got closer. It was surreal to be in a corral with so many people! 

I was half crying with happiness as we approached the start line, and I had to collect myself before it was time to get moving. I tried to take in the moment, and really appreciate being there. 

I went over the start line, and was just so happy. I told myself to not get caught up in the crowd, and run my pace. There were already crowds lining the street, and we went right into a tunnel. I had set my garmin to manual laps, since I had heard that the GPS has issues in Chicago, and at mile marker one my garmin had accumulated an extra 0.25 miles - confirming the GPS issue. 
At the start of the event the status was “yellow” because of the weather. The temps were in the low 70s and it was humid, but at least there was cloud coverage as we made our way through the streets of Chicago. I snapped a few photos as we went through the early miles, doing my best to take up every moment. I kept yo-yoing with a guy dressed as a banana, and it was fun to hear the crowd call out to him. 

Things went well for the first few miles, and I really enjoyed the crowds as I headed through Chicago. I spotted dennis at mile 3, when we ran by our hotel. He headed to mile 13, where I would spot him again. By mile 5 I could feel the impact of the weather, and started taking two waters at the aid station, to try to stay on top of my hydration. 

I kept moving forward, and by the time I hit mile 10 I knew I wasn’t getting enough fluids. I texted Dennis, and asked him to pass me a bottle of water when I ran by. He was under a bridge, and I spotted him before he saw me. He handed me a water, and it took all my willpower not to immediately chug it. The weather didn’t feel that bad - most of the time it was breezy, but when we hit stagnant air it was suffocating. 

We crossed the River for a second time around the half way point, and I almost fell on my face - the had covered the grating on the bridge with a carpet, that I learned was not totally taught. I didn’t lift my foot enough with one step, and found myself stumbling and almost falling. I breathed a sigh of relief when I regained my balance, glad that I hadn’t taken a tumble.

I usually try to wait until after mile 20 of a marathon to take in Gatorade, but by mile 14 I knew I needed to start drinking electrolytes too. I tried to drink half a cup of Gatorade in addition to water at each aid station from there out, and when they gave us sponges around mile 15 it was so nice.  I also made a mid race decision to take an extra gel. 

The crowd support really kept me going - I was able to run non-stop until mile 17, but my hip was starting to hurt. Luckily I was able to stop and stretch it out and then keep running forward. But as the race progressed, I needed to stop to stretch more often. First at mile 17, then again at 19, and by mile 21 I wanted to walk so bad, but settled for a stretch. I somehow missed mile marker 22, and as I made my way to mile 23, my garmin distance read over 24 miles - I had started to hype myself up that there were only 2 miles left, and when I spotted 23 and realized there were actually 3 miles left, it was almost crushing. Mike 23 to 24 was a struggle, and felt longer than the whole race leading up to that point. 

At the aid station at mile 23 I made the decision to take a quick walk break - and learned that my hip felt even worst walking. I wanted to cry. I wanted to puke from the pain and exhaustion. But with the help of texts from my Dad and Sophie, encouraging me to keep going, to just put one foot in front of another. I ran, I walked, I stretched. It was the slowest mile of the race. But when I finally saw mile marker 25, I knew I could get to the end. 

I pushed myself to keep running. It was one mile more. I could run one more mile, especially since walking felt worst. Around 25.5 “who are you” shuffled onto my headphones, and I thought about everything I had gone through in the last year - I am a resilient person, not willing to let losses define me - and I was going to make it to the finish line. 

I turned the second to last corner and saw the 800m to go sign, at the top of a tiny hill. Suddenly Chicago didn’t feel like the “flat” race that everyone had told me it would be. But 800m is only two laps at the track. I could do 800m. 

I got over the hill, crossed the last corner, and a “fuck yes” slipped out of my mouth when I spotted the finish line. The end was in sight. I could do this. 400 m to go. I started to get choked up, and just focused on getting my breathing back to normal. 

At long last, I crossed the finish line. Every emotion flooded over me. The race that I was supposed to run in 2019 before I hurt my knee, the race I was supposed to run in 2020 before covid cancelled it, I had finally crossed that finish line I had been chasing for so long. 

A volunteer placed a medal around my neck, and I truly shuffled through the “extra mile” that they make you walk to get out of the finisher chute. I collected my drinks and snacks, including a beer that I wouldn’t drink, but would use as makeshift ice on my hip. 

Eventually I got out of the chute and back into grant park, and headed for the gear check. As I limped along a stranger offered me their lightly used bag of ice, and with much gratitude I accepted. I retrieved my bag from the gear check, and texted Dennis to let him know I needed to sit down and stretch for a few minutes before making my way out to him. 

I laid out my heat sheet and started stretching, and acquired another bag of lightly used ice from a passerby. Eventually I could hobble along without wanting to cry, and I got up and started making my way to the family reunion area. I found Den, and we sat for a few more minutes. I switched shoes, and he offer me his arm as we made our way back to the hotel. 

I felt defeated, but in the hours after the race that would shift to happiness. I had done it. I had crossed another marathon finish line. Something that really felt impossible to me at times in the year leading up to that race. 

After the walk back to the hotel I showered and used the massage gun on my hip, which helped it feel better. By the time we headed out for celebratory drinks at three dots and a dash, my hip felt tight, but didn’t hurt anymore. 

After dinner it was time for bed, and I was so fully of happiness. I had somehow already forgotten the anguish of mile 24. 

We were flying home on Monday, but before we headed out we made three stops - one at “the bean,” one at the Nike store for some finisher gear, and one for some “authentic” Chicago pizza. 

I can believe I get to do this all over again in NYC in a month!

Week 2: The return of group runs!

Before I jump into how training went on week two, I want to make a few notes about how I am adapting the training plan from Hanson’s marathon method to match my fitness level at the start of this training cycle – since my Chicago registration happened a bit last minute, I signed up about 19 weeks before race day, which did not give me much time to ramp up my weekly training load. For most of 2021 I was averaging about 25 miles a week, but had been derailed for two weeks before training started, first when I threw out my back for a week, and then when my knee started acting up while on vacation.

I did not want to jump from 25 miles weeks to 35+ mile weeks, because I know from previous training that my body needs to ease into training load increases like that. So, while the Hanson’s plan calls for 6 days of running a week, for the few weeks I decided to cut one of the 6 mile “easy” runs down to 3 miles, and make one of the easy runs “optional,” depending on how I was feeling with the weeks training load. This would allow me to increase my mileage by about 10% per week, which I know is more my speed.

I also modified the tempo runs at the start of the program – Hanson’s marathon method training plan starts tempo runs at 6 miles., holds you there for three weeks, and then adds a mile and repeats that cycle. As I started this training plan, I was really only doing easy runs and 6 miles at my goal tempo pace did not seem attainable. As marathon training approached, I started throwing in a mile at a sub-9 pace during these runs, so that I could start to get the feel for running fast (for me) again. When my training plan called for me to start adding tempo runs on week three, I decided to start them up with a two mile “tempo” effort, and then bring them up by a mile each week, rather than pushing for a fitness level that I just was not at. Since the whole tempo run was mean to be 6+ miles, I tried to keep the mileage at the right amount, just with a slower pace for some of the miles, so that I could focus on building up the load before adding speed.

These may seem like big modifications, but I felt like they were necessary if I wanted to ease into this training plan and not wind up injured. As I get deeper into training and I gain fitness, I hope to ramp up the training back to the full schedule. Could I just opt for one of the “lighter” Hanson’s plans? Sure. But I would really like to hit my “sub-4” marathon goal, and I think this plan gives me the best chance at that.

So, without further ado – onto week 2!

I opted to sleep in on Monday morning, and figured that I would get in some miles after work. When I got outside I somehow settled into a decent pace, and actually felt really good with. It was one of those runs where it just felt like things were flowing, and when I returned home I had a full blown glazed doughnut look going. It was a short run – just a 5k, but it was a reassuring reminder that there are days that running really feels good. Nothing like a run that leaves a smile on your face to start the week.

The next morning was not as magical – in fact, I kinda wanted to throw the whole marathon training plans into the trash. It was meant to be the first speedwork session of this training cycle – my calendar told me that the goal was twelve 400m repeats, at a 7:50 pace, with a 400m recovery between each effort.

It was a humid morning. I got through the warmup mile with no issue, and then hopped into pushing the pace for the first interval. I went a little too fast on the first one, and had to remind myself to reel it in – there were a lot of repeats ahead of me. The second one didn’t feel as good as the first, and by the end of it I felt like I was going to puke. That was promising.

I took my recoveries as needed, made pit stops for water during the rest intervals, and I honestly wanted to quit. I told myself to just make it to six repeats. I could quit after six repeats if I really needed to. I got to six repeats, and I told myself I would make it to eight. It wasn’t too many more than six – even if I needed to slow down the pace, I would make it to eight.

My recoveries turned into walks more than jogs, and there was a lot of self-encouragement happening. I knew that I could decide to quit and try the workout again on another day. But I was so close to finishing the workout – if it was a friend struggling through their workout, I would encourage them to do what they could. The intervals slowed down, hitting in the low 8s instead of the high 7s like they should. But I got through 12 of them and was elated that the workout was DONE. It wasn’t perfect, but I didn’t quit.

After a hard Tuesday, I was happy that Wednesday was a rest day. I needed time to mentally recover from Tuesday’s workout as much as I needed to physically recover. I took my day off from running but did complete an hour long strength session to check off a cross training session from my weekly goals. I created a nice strength stack with peloton, and worked my way through a strength for runners class, some core work, and some total body workouts.

Thursday meant another quality run on my calendar – this time the first tempo run. While the schedule said I should be doing 6 miles at an 8:58 pace, I set my goal for two miles at that pace, sandwiched between a two mile warm up and a two mile cool down. By some small miracle, I even managed to get up early enough that I got out to run before work. It was under 60 degrees outside, and it was a comfortably hard run. I struggled to get the pace under 9 minutes for those two “tempo” miles, but did my best to work towards the pace goal. I was happy with my overall effort at the end of the run. I was a little discouraged that two miles felt so hard, but I am trying to trust the process and choosing to believe that my fitness will catch up with my goals, eventually.

The end of the week brought another no-run day for me, and an hour long strength stack. I like to start with a “strength for runners” class, and then make my way through other muscle groups. I sometimes dread strength training, or worry that it will make my runs harder, but I know that I need to take time to focus on it so that I can support my body as much as possible.

I just could not get my body moving on Saturday morning, and decided to commit to a treadmill run – since I had the time I headed over to my parents house so I could run on the peloton tread. I set up a stack of classes, since I wanted to total 6 for the day, starting with a warm-up class, then a 45 minute endurance run with Becs, and a 20 minute fun run with Matty.

The endurance run had a surprising number of hills sprinkled in, and at times I felt like I was just trying to hang on as I moved through the miles. I know that hills are important though, and that even though I didn’t always want to listen to the incline instructions, I clicked up as they directed, and made my way through the treadmill “hills.”

Now Sunday, Sunday was a great day. After a long year apart from the Merrick Bicycles tri team, I finally got myself up and out for a group run! Was I a little late? Yes. But thankfully Katie and Michal were nice enough to wait for me.

We made our way through the rolling hills on the Bethpage bike trail, and were grateful for every bit of shade that the trees were willing to give us. We ran a total of 7 miles together, swapping stories and comparing fueling plans as we ran. When we stopped to stretch at the end of the run, another group of runners from the tri team found us, and since they had a few more miles to run, I decided to join them for their last 3 miles so I could get up to 10 total… because I really thought that I was supposed to run 10 miles that day. It wasn’t until I got home and checked my schedule that I learned I only needed to run 8…. Whoops!

The last three miles were somewhat strenuous, but I talked with Rob and Laura about their training goals – an Ironman and a ultra marathon! Makes my fall plans feel like chump change, but I love hearing about how people prepare for these big challenges!

All in all week two felt pretty solid, even if the summer humidity started to rear its ugly head. I was discouraged early in the week after a tough interval workout, but was so happy to finally make it to a group run again, and I hope that I can make it to more this summer!

Week 1: The shortest week of training

 The first step of marathon training? Pick a plan that works for you, and will help you reach your goals. In the past I have tried a handful of different training plans, from the Runners world app to a Hal Higdon plan. Both were fine, but my favorite so far has been Hanson’s marathon method.

Their plans consist of longer weekday runs, include a speed work session and a tempo run each week, and a “long” weekend run that builds up to 16 miles as the training progresses. The runs all have specific paces, based on the runner’s goal marathon time. I was using this plan to train for the Chicago marathon in 2019, before I got hurt, and really felt like my fitness was building up well.

The training plan starts on a Thursday, for whatever reason, so it was business as usual until then. Peloton had released a new series of classes that were all focused around the musical “Rent,” so my goal until then became to work my way through those classes.

The week before I started training I had gotten to go to Disney world, and after a few says of walking around the parks my knee had started to get sore, in the same way that it had when I had runners knee in 2019. As a precaution, I started using my knee band, and that carried over to runs during the first week of training. I also started doing some of the exercises that I had learned in physical therapy, in hopes that I could squash this issue before it got any further.

On Monday I did the Rent spin class, and the full body strength class, and then followed it up on Tuesday with the Rent run. I bundled my run with a short strength for runners class. Since injuring my knee in 2019, I have learned that the issue I had can be caused by weak quads, so this cycle I am committing to making time for strength training. When Wednesday rolled around I did some yoga before work, and then a spin class after. I wanted to run more early in the week, but didn’t want to stack on miles before my training plan officially started.

Thursday was the day though – I was excited to officially start a new training plan, which would get me to the start line of the Chicago Marathon. It feels like that is a long time coming, since I was supposed to run this race almost two years ago. The plan said six miles. I laid my clothes out the night before and got up early enough that I could get in my miles before work.

It was pretty nice out that morning, and I was just so happy to have a goal to work towards once more. I did not worry about my pace, and just worked on getting to my goal of 6 miles. I know that by the end of this training cycle 6 miles will not seem like that much running, but right now, that is a longer run for me. I was really happy with myself for showing up and getting my run in before work on the first day of training – this is something that is sure to become a battle as the runs get longer.

Friday had the same plan as Thursday, but things did not go quite as smoothly. Six miles was on the schedule once more, and like I mentioned, at this point that is a “long” run for me. I did succeed in getting up and out on the road before work, but I just could not catch a groove. My breathing felt labored, the air felt heavy, and I was struggling to stay in a running pace – so at mile three I decided to call it. My body was tired, and I felt defeated…. Not the mindset I needed if I was going to make it though marathon training.

But something that I have learned in the last 5 years of running, is that you need to learn to listen to your body – and on this Friday morning run my body was saying stop, I am exhausted. I am not used to six miles two days in a row.

So I listened. It is rare that I start a run and do not finish it, but this was just one of those days. I would try again on Saturday and try not to mentally beat myself up too much. On Friday night we went by my aunts house, and enjoyed hanging out with my family - it is nice that things are going back to normal, but still a little bit weird! We ate pizza, and hung out by the fire, just chatting and catching up.

Saturday was a new day, and I had no plans. Which meant I could get out early and get my run done, before moving on with my day, right? Wrong. It meant that I could procrastinate my run for hours before finally getting out the door. I mean, I hung around the house doing chores in running clothes for hours before finally getting in the “run” mindset. Since I had time, I decided to do some resistance band warmups in a “strength for runners” peloton class before heading out the door, and when I finally got out the door things felt so much better than they had on Friday.

This time around I slipped into faster (for me) paces without really meaning to. Maybe coaches are onto something when they tell you to warm up and cool down. It was a little bit cooler and less humid than it had been on Friday, and by the end of the run I realized I had even managed dip into a sub-10 pace for a few miles. Post run I made sure to cool down and stretch, so that I would be as prepared as possible for my final run of the week on the following day.

Sunday morning I had picnic plans with Mike and Carson. I had intentions to run before heading to old Westbury gardens, but It just didn’t happen. But we spend a fun morning among the flowers, and found a shady spot to enjoy some bagels together and catch up. 

After a morning outside, I decided on a treadmill run for the afternoon. I felt like sitting around and watching T.V., which was honestly a big part of my treadmill decision. I had 8 miles on the schedule, and settled into an easy pace to get through my first “long” run of. It was for sure a “dedication over motivation” kind of day, but I got it done and was happy that I talked myself into getting on the treadmill – it felt like a strong finish to my first week of training!

2020 Dopey Challenge: The Walt Disney World Marathon

On the final morning of the Dopey challenge, the early mornings caught up to me, and I completely slept through my alarm. Thankfully, I roused right as Mike was finishing up getting ready, before he had to resort to shaking me from my slumber. I had set out my costume and packed my pre-race bag the night before, so I just had to get dressed and we were on our way.

We walked over to the All Star Sports bus stop and joined the queue of runners climbing on board. Mike and I found seats and settled in for our ride for the start. There was more traffic that morning and getting to the race start area took significantly longer than it had other days, but it gave us time to enjoy our Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches in comfy bus seats, instead of on the floor of the corral.

When we finally got to the start area, there was a long line of people waiting to go through security, and we joined in, slowly stepping forward. Once we were into the start area, I rearranged my possessions so that anything I needed for the race was on my person, and then dropped by bag off at the bag check truck. We made a quick stop at the porter potties, and then walked over to the start corrals, which were about a mile from the start area.

Mike and I were starting the race from corral D that day, and the corrals seemed emptier than they had the day before. They didn’t close the corrals as they had they day before, and as 5 am approached, the corrals didn’t start to collapse.

5 am came and went, and there was no indication that the race would be starting, which was weird. With all of the RunDisney events I had participated in previously, I had never experienced a late start. I hopped online and saw that RunDisney had announced a delayed start. Then checked some RunDisney Facebook groups and saw that many runners were stuck in so much traffic, even some on resort busses, that they still were not at the start area! 

So, we waited in the corrals, wondering when the race would begin, and I started to get a little anxious about the warm temps that were predicted for that day - a later start meant more time running in the sun! Mike took advantage of the late start, running to the porter potty one last time, and when he came back to the corrals, they had finally started to move us forward. The race officially started around 5:20, and Mike and I crossed the start line at 5:36 a.m.

There was a marching band not far after the start, and we worked on settling into an ok pace as we made our way towards Epcot for the first time that day. There was a water stop before the first mile marker, which I was thankful for after the long wait in the start corral. Shortly after the first mile marker we spotted the first character on course that day - Tinkerbell with one of her fairy friends, and a larger than life teacup.

With the mileage adding up on our bodies, Mike and I made the decision to run intervals for the full marathon - it would hopefully keep my knee and his ankle happy for the full distance. So even early in the race, we listened to my watch as it beeped and instructed us to walk or run. 

Mile marker two was in the parking lot at Epcot, back near the race start. It was the same path that we had taken the day of the 5k, and we would be in Epcot before mile three. I was surprised at the number of spectators lining the way to Epcot so early in the race. Just before heading into Epcot Judy Hops and Nick Wilde were on the course, greeting runners as they ran by.

We entered Epcot near the imagination pavilion, and there was a giant Figment sculpture placed in front of the journey into imagination ride. I lost Mike as we lost Epcot, but thankfully found him without too much effort. Even this early into the race it was hot out, and the air was thick thanks to the humidity. 

The mile marker for the third mile had seen better days, as the number three was sitting on the floor in front of it, instead of hanging as it should have been. Phineas and Pherb were the next character we spotted, as we made our way through Epcot. As we left the park, they had an old ride vehicle out - the Nautilus from the closed 20,000 leagues under the sea ride. 

Now that we had left Epcot for the first time, we had a long stretch of highway ahead of us, as we ran to Magic Kingdom. The course had changed from recent years for the 2020 event, and Magic Kingdom would be around mile 10. Previous years that I ran this race it was closer to mile 6, so it was a little odd for me to wrap my head around.

There were surprisingly few characters out on the long stretch of highway, and the sun started to peek up around the time we hit mile 7. I was very disappointed when we got to the Magic Kingdom entrance sign, and instead of running under it, we ran on a road to the right of it - such a bummer! For me, that point in the race really gets me excited that we are so close to Magic Kingdom. 

More characters started popping up as we got closer to Magic Kingdom, starting with Goofy out with his water skiing gear, followed by Vanallope out with her Sugar Rush Racer car from Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party Parade. Mike and I stopped for our first characters when we saw Flick and Princess Atta, partially because there was no line. 

When we got to the ticket and transportation center, there were spectators lining both sides of the road. My husband Dennis and Mike’s husband Jude were there cheering for us, and we started searching for them in the crowd. Before we found them, we found frozen, and then spotted them cheering! I dropped my running belt off with Den, and Mike grabbed his sunglasses from Jude, and then we were on our way again. The crowd had so much energy that I couldn’t help but to cheer back at them, and even accepted a pack of fruit chews from a spectator. By the time we left the ticket and transportation center, we were already up to mile 9.

When we got to the hotels that surround the magic kingdom, the road narrowed, and we dealt with some course crowding as we ran by the contemporary resort. 

The course didn’t bring us through the main entrance to magic kingdom, but we did enter right onto Main Street. The first thing we saw was the big Christmas tree, and then after a quick turn, The Castle!!!

Main Street was lined with spectators, and I was so excited as we made our way further into the park. I knew the mile we had in the park would fly by, so I tried to just soak it all in. Just as we got into fantasy land, we spotted the white rabbit in front of Alice’s teacups, and we hopped in line for a photo. 

We ran through the castle and got our jump shot, and then the course took us through Frontierland, before making the sad park exit. We got to go through a backstage area as we left the park, and when we saw Jafar, Mike’s favorite villain, we had to stop for a photo.

There was a sport beans stations as we made our way through the backstage area, and then the big dragon float from the festival of fantasy parade was positioned along the course, threatening to breathe fire on runners if we didn’t make it by fast enough - but with the rising temps it felt like we may have been a little singed. 

We had a few miles of highway ahead of us, as we ran from Magic Kingdom to Animal Kingdom. Just as we got onto the highway the Haunted Mansion grave diggers were on the side of the road, inviting runners to join the ranks of the 999 happy haunts that live within the mansion - we stopped for a photo, but opted to keep moving forward with the race, which was quickly approaching the half way point. 

There were a handful of spectators as we ran through the Magic Kingdom resort area, and when we got to the Grand Floridian, Daisy and Donald were out, and all dressed up, so we stopped for a photo with them. 

The crowd levels got smaller as we left the magic kingdom resort area and approached Animal kingdom, and it was weird to already be halfway done with this race! When we got to mile 15 there was a special mile marker commemorating the 15th anniversary of the dopey challenge, and Goofy was out and dressed up as a football player for runners.

One of my favorite “character” stops was out again this year, as we entered animal kingdom - there were real animals out, each with their own race bib. Mike and I stopped and took photos with a possum and a parrot before heading into animal kingdom through a backstage entrance. 

Mickey was in his safari clothes greeting runners right before we entered the park, which had more spectators than I expected lining the course. As we ran through animal kingdom, we spotted Timon, stopped for a quick selfie with the tree of life, and made the tough decision not to ride expedition Everest. It was something that we discussed prior to race day, but there are times where I am nauseous after riding when I am not in the middle of a marathon, and with the heat of the day we decided against it. 

Mile 17 came just after we passed Everest, and then as we headed into dinoland Kevin, the bird from Up, was out, so we decided to stop for a photo. As we exited the park there was a boat from the nighttime river of life show along the road, and I was excited to see it up close! The adventurer’s club cast was also out, talking with and entertaining runners as we ran by. As we left the “animal kingdom” area of the highway, there were a few more animals out, and the then we were headed for blizzard beach. The sun was high at this point, and we were taking a conservative pace - we just wanted to really enjoy the experience and complete the dopey challenge!

As we continued along the highway, Mike and I made a new friend and chatted with her for about a mile, before she hopped in the line to meet Minnie Mouse. We would yoyo with her for the rest of the course and get to chat a few more times. 

We would later learn that the marathon course got cut short for some runners as a result of the heat of the day, but lucky for us we made it to Blizzard beach before that happened. It was the first time I would get to run through that park, and actually the first time that I had ever gone to the park in general. We ran past mile marker 21 while in the park’s parking lot, and since the mile marker featured Mike’s favorite movie - Lilo and Stitch - I snapped a photo of him with it. We were closing in on the end of the race now, with 5 miles to go, that would bring us through three parks. 

Blizzard beach wasn’t operational as we ran through it, but honestly, I wish it had been. It was hot out, and the water attractions looked so nice! It was a huge tease to see them and not be able to cool down. Olaf was in the park though, with his own personal flurry going, and making a mini snowstorm over runners. 

Right after we left Blizzard Beach, we were given Bananas, and upon entering Hollywood studios through a backstage area we were handed Hershey kisses! It was a short distance through Hollywood studios, entering just after mile 23, and exiting before mile 24. We got to run by the tower of terror, and then past the front entrance gate as we left the park and headed toward the boardwalk resort, which would lead us to our final park - Epcot!

We ran around the boardwalk, stopping for photos with Pluto and Max before we finally, at long last, made our way into Epcot. Mile 25 greeted us as we entered the France pavilion in the world showcase, and our marathon was coming to a close. We took our time as we travelled around the world, meeting some princesses as we went. The park was already open to the public at this point, but runners had a priority line for characters that were out for the race. 

In the last stretch of park before we headed for the finish line, my husband Dennis was waiting for mike and me, with margaritas for us in hand. We said hello, grabbed our drinks, and headed for the last finish line of the weekend - the frozen drinks were so refreshing that it was hard not to drink them all as soon as we had them! 

We reached the final mile marker - 26 - and turned one more corner. The finish line was in sight. Mike and I ran through the finish, smiles on our faces and margaritas in hand. Plus, a PR for Mike, and a PB for me in the most fun I have ever had during a race. 

We enjoyed finishing our margaritas as we walked through the finisher’s chute, collecting drinks, snacks, and the best bling of the weekend - our well-earned Dopey Challenge medals. I was so happy that we had completed this race together, and I had so much fun thought the experience. 

We spent the rest of the day recovering, taking naps and eventually making our way to Disney springs for a celebratory brunch. It felt surreal that the weekend was coming to a close, and we were all left with the same question - when can we do this again?!