Five Life Lessons From Marathon Running
It’s the time of year when people start school again. I miss the start of school. It offers an opportunity for growth and learning new things. When I was a student and teacher, each new school year made me both excited and nervous. I knew I was going to be challenging but I also knew I was going to learn and grow as a person from these challenges. Now removed from school (for the time being), I miss that feeling each new school year brought.
While reflecting on a run this week, I thought about how each new marathon training block and race offers some of the things a new school year brings. Training and racing a marathon teaches and allows you to grow as a person. Right now, I’m training for my fifth marathon. I thought it would be a fun exercise to go back and reflect what each marathon training block and race taught me.
Sprouts Mesa-PHX Marathon, Feb 2019–2:53:34
Ahh the first marathon. There is always a lot to learn from the first one because it is so hard to get the first one right. My longest run going into this one was 17 miles. I also had not practiced fueling at all and figured I’d just drink some gatorade out on the course and took a gel if I felt like I’d be fine. I was not.
I bonked really hard around the 21 mile mark. I was completely out of gas and remember having to fight every step of the way the last five miles. Each mile was a battle to the next mile mark.
‘Just get to 22 then you can walk. Just get to 23 then you can walk.’ It was that mindset that got me all the way to finish, without walking. I ran a huge positive split (1:21xx then 1:31xx) but managed to fight all the way to the end. I remember finishing that race and being really proud that I never walked and managed to finish.
Until that day, I had never had a run that hard. I had never felt that empty at the of a race. I never imagined that I could push myself that hard and dig that deep.
The lesson I took away from this one: You’re capable of much more than you think you are.
Colfax Marathon, October 2021–2:48:53
It took me two years and eight months to get back on a marathon starting line. There are a few reasons, starting from least to most important. First, it took a while to convince myself to get ready to run a race that painful again. It’s often said that you won’t sign up for your second marathon until you forget the pain of your first.
The second reason it took so long to get back to the start line is Covid. I was scheduled to run my second marathon at the Boston Marathon in April 2020. Obviously, that event was cancelled. I was offered the opportunity to defer my entry or take a refund. I took the refund.
The third reason and most important reason it took so long to get back to a start line is because I thought I was done with competitive running during summer 2020. I didn’t officially announce it or anything but I thought I had retired from racing. Training took up a lot of my time and I thought I wanted ot take a step back and just become a more casual runner. I took a refund on my Boston entry because I thought I would never compete again.
As more events began to happen again though, I started to get the itch. I felt like I could run faster than I did in Phoenix. I craved the structure of training and wanted to works towards a goal again. I was coaching at the time and that helped reinvigorate the feeling of competing and trying to be my best.
Colfax came around. I trained hard and actually practiced taking some gels and fluids. It was my hometown marathon (Denver) and wanted to do my best there. Looking back on it, I cannot believe I thought I wanted to walk away from competitive running. That’s such a big part of who I am and understand the world. I’m so grateful I returned.
The lesson I took away from this one: It’s never too late to return to the thing you love.
Detroit Free Press Marathon, October 2022 — 2:41:02
To this day, the best marathon race I’ve ever run. I spent a good amount of this buildup unemployed. For the record, I don’t think you need to be unemployed to run your best marathon.
But I think the unemployment part has significance. At this point, I was fresh off of leaving my teaching job. While I was unemployed, I was job searching and spending a lot of time wondering who I was and who I wanted to be. For many years of my life, I had worked towards being a teacher. Now I had left and wasn’t sure who I was or what I wanted to do. One thing I had at this time that I knew for sure was that I wanted to keep running. A lot.
Unfortunately, my runs did not give me the answer of who I wanted to be. I’m still searching for that answer. But I did gain some valuable insight. While job searching, I kept hesitating to apply for jobs because I felt I was unqualified or couldn’t do it. I’d read the description then talk myself out of applying.
I was also listening to a lot of podcasts on my runs. My favorite is the Ryen Russillo Podcast, a great listen for any sports fan. My favorite section of that podcast is the life advice section. In one life advice section he said something that I think about to this day: “Never put a salary-cap on your life.”
Salary-cap applies to sports teams and how much money they spend so maybe you think the advice is about how much money you can make. That’s not my read on it. I think it’s more about not talking yourself out of things you are capable of.
At the Detroit Marathon, I ran a race that I was not sure I was capable of. For a time, I did not imagine that running that low in the 2:40s was possible. In other words, I was salary-capping myself. Same thing with the job search. I was salary-capping myself, telling myself I was not capable of doing things. This is a lesson I’m still absorbing and trying to put into practice, but I think it’s a valuable one.
The lesson I took away from this one: Never put a salary-cap on your life.
Boston Marathon, April 2023–2:46:03
Finally made it to Boston, three years later. I was really excited about this one. I was coming off a great race in Detroit and wanted to crush this one. It was the most ambitious training plan I had done. I was doing 20 mile long runs more than 2 months out. I was approaching 90 miles a week. I did some 20 milers on the treadmill and used that as mental toughness training. And it all worked. Until it didn’t.
With about a month to go before Boston, I got injured. I kept going through a cycle where I would run for a couple days then have to take a day or two off or bike those days just to feel healthy enough to run again. I felt like I lost a lot of momentum and with it a lot of confidence.
I managed to get to the start line in Boston and ran strong through about halfway but I could tell I was cooked at that point and had to fight the rest of the way to the finish. Not being 100% combined with Boston being the toughest marathon course I’ve run did me in.
I was overly ambitious and ended up doing too much in the lead up to Boston. By nature I like to work hard so my inclination is to continue to push and continue to work hard. This nature has served me quite well with running in the past, but it is also what did me in during this buildup.
The lesson I took away from this one: Learn when to keep pushing and when to back off.
Ann Arbor Marathon, October 2023 — ?:??:??
I haven’t run Ann Arbor or finished the training block yet so I cannot say for sure what the lesson is. But I am starting to get an idea. I think this marathon has been about trusting myself and the process.
I’ve written in previous weeks that I feel like training for this marathon has been good, not great. In all my previous marathon buildups, there have been workouts that have led me to believe that I’m in great shape and ready for the marathon. I have yet to have that moment in this buildup.
For a long time as a runner, I’ve always drawn my confidence from workouts. If I run this really hard workout, it means I’m in shape to run a really good race. Solid logic and holds true most of the time.
It is reliant on results though. This buildup I’m not trying to rely on results, I’m learning to trust that I know how to train for a marathon. I’m learning to trust that my body is in great shape even if I don’t have a specific day that I can point to in training. I don’t have to run crazy mileage and do crazy workouts. I learned in the Boston buildup that it was too much for me. So I’m approaching my training more cautiously.
By the way, it is working. I ran a 1:18 half marathon in June off a month of training. Followed this up with a sub 17 minute 5K in July, and then a low 58 minute ten miler last week. All these races show me that training is working and I’m getting in better shape. I have to trust that these next 27 days will go well and I’ll be ready for Ann Arbor on October 1st.
Monday, August 28th — Easy Run
AM: 7 easy in 53:09
PM: 4 easy in 29:30
Tuesday, August 29th — Workout Day
AM: 3 warmup in 23:06, 3 @ marathon in 18:23, .5 easy in 3:52, 3 @ marathon in 18:14, .5 in 3:50, 1 cool down in 7:11, 11 total in 1:14:39
PM: 2 easy in 14:46, Strength work
Wednesday, August 30th — Easy Run
AM: 7 easy in 51:36
Thursday, August 31st — Easy Run
AM: 8 easy in 59:59
Friday, September 1st — Long Run
AM: 18 mile progression, first 6 in 47:10, second 6 in 43:48, last 6 in 37:02, total time 2:08:01
Saturday, September 2nd — Easy Run
AM: 8 easy in 57:27
Sunday, September 3rd — Easy Run
AM: 5 easy in 37:17
