I woke up this morning super sore after yesterday’s race – that’s what I get for taking such a long break from marathoning! However, on the bus on the way home, I was elated thinking about how I had done. (Full race report to come tomorrow). It was by far the worst job I’ve ever done as a pace team leader, both from a finishing time standpoint and because of my lackluster cheerleading… but I was still so proud of myself. I had gritted it out to the end despite being sick, and a bunch of people in my pace group had actually told me I did a good job and thanked me! All I could think was how much I missed running marathons, and more importantly, getting to inspire and help other people to reach their goals.
I have been in a bit of a running rut lately, and starting to wonder if the marathon chapter of my life was closed. Maybe my “thing” was just breaking the record and running all 50 states, and now I ought to move onto the next “thing”? I have had no idea what that could be though. Marathoning as a goal was so easy because it was so black-and-white: I had a list of the states that I had left to do, and then I created a calendar to figure out when I would do each of them, and then I just needed to fill in the logistical details and of course run the marathons.
But now, there aren’t any really concrete goals that interest me – for example, I love traveling, but I don’t care about visiting a specific number of countries or anything like that. I want to generally have fun and enjoy life, but there’s a lot less direction in that than there was in my 50 state marathon quest! Anyway, I digress. I don’t know that marathoning is my “purpose” in life, but I know I get so much pride and joy out of pacing a race and helping “my” runners reach goals they didn’t think were possible. It’s like doing my first marathon over and over again, and I just love that feeling. As I’ve said in many interviews when they ask me what it’s like to finish so many marathons, the thrill of crossing the finish line and knowing you did “the impossible” just never gets old. Even with all my recent adventures, I’ve been missing that lately, and yesterday cemented that I can’t imagine a life where I’m not marathoning.
Another plus for marathoning: it burns a ton of calories, so it gives me a bit more license to eat what I want! In celebration of my accomplishment, this morning my mom and I went to Sarabeth’s for an early breakfast, and she treated me to a fabulous pumpkin waffle. Unfortunately, my fork was a lot quicker than my camera, so this is all you get:
(If you’d like a better picture of the whole thing AND the amazingly delicious recipe, check out the blog of Sarabeth herself, where in January she graciously provided the recipe)
I had thought it was tough to walk over to Central Park South because of the soreness in my knees before, but it was nothing compared to how hard it was to waddle home afterward. I was perfectly replete after just 1/4 of my waffle, but it was probably the best thing I have eaten in weeks (sweet, spicy, and cake-y), so I knowingly just kept eating! Sometimes you just have to indulge 🙂 Still, all I could think about was Janae’s recent post about tummy time, as I wondered if it really worked. I wanted me some of that!
The rest of my day was spent relaxing at home (tummy time!), catching up on TV shows, and trying to convince myself to go to the gym. I have to remember that while marathoning may feel like you can take a week off, that’s a sure method for weight gain. When I was the healthiest, I was doing marathons a few times a month but still working out so as not to neglect other muscles. Back to the weight training tomorrow! Today, I’m just hoping to get in a light biking or elliptical workout to help get my muscles moving again.
Hope you all had a great weekend! Can’t wait to hear about how all your own races went 🙂
Sorry I missed you yesterday, but glad you had a good pace-group–you got everyone in on time and that’s what counts! I have definitely spent the past 24+ hours being gluttonous.
I’m interested to see what you come up with as a “next thing.” 🙂
Good work Laura!!! Sometimes we have to step back and take a look around before we move forward.
Glad to see you again!!
Hey Laura,
I was one of the ‘halfs’ that joined you around mile 5. Didn’t think I could do the rest @ 10m pace, but you were great – was really impressed how well you kept everyone going, and how you called the hills out. I was really going down at the end, but even after we split off, I could still hear you pushing us forward (unless I was hallucinating at that time). You definitely helped me get to the end, and with a best PR I’ve had in a half in years. So – thanks! You mentioned this site but I couldn’t find an email, so I’m spamming your blog. Hope to run with you again at a future race.
– Jonathan
Hi Laura! I was in your pace group on Saturday! I was one of the halfs (I was the person who walked up in the corral and asked if you had any halfs with you). I thought you did an EXCELLENT job. If I hadn’t been running with you I think I would have gotten so discouraged by the lack of miler markers I would have dropped out. I’ve never run a half that fast before, it was a big decision for me to try and hag with the 4:20 group, but I did it, and now I’m reconsidering my plan for my marathon in May!
You did an excellent job and I’m so glad I ran with you! I did break away after mile 10 but that was only b/c I’d gotten up the confidence to believe I could actually take those last couple miles a little faster!
THANK YOU!!!!!!
congrats on getting through the sick and still running AND leading a pace group. And you may have thought you were a subpar leader, but clearly your runners did not! And I saw some pace leaders trickle in with NO ONE with them.
To all in my pace group, I am so glad to hear from you!!! You can email me anytime at laura at 50by25 dot com – I will make sure this gets into the sidebar, as it seems to be missing right now.
Thanks to everyone else for their support 🙂 A full race report will go up later this afternoon!
oh.my.god.
Just followed your link from your comment on my blog… holy crap, you did all 50 states by the time you were 25??? Amazing!!!! And I’m just now hearing about your blog??? I’m going to have to go back and read the entire thing…
Anyway, thanks for commenting or I might never have found your awesome blog!
Belated congrats, too! And I’m sure you’ll be hearing more from me…