Overwhelmed. That is how I feel.
If you have been following this blog for a while, you know that a lot has been going on in my life (mostly good)!
Right now I feel like I am carrying 400 pounds on my shoulders. All day long. Every day. #dramatic
Most of you know that Kyle and I recently bought our new house! We were super excited to work on many projects to get this place feeling like our own…and then he broke his leg.
If you follow me on Instagram, you probably know that Kyle fractured his fibula 2 weeks ago…yep. A few days after his 25th birthday. Poor guy has been hobbling around our 2 story house and trying to do as much as he can without aggravating the injury. I’m just happy that the injury wasn’t really serious. Glass half full right?
I know I am going to sound like a complete douche for saying this, but this is hard on me too. I am trying my best to handle everything. And I know there are a lot of single parents who handle this home-life crap much better than I. I have a good life so I have no right to complain. But man am I tired. I am responsible for yard work, garbage, moving heavy things ;) , cooking meals, packing lunches, laundry, cleaning, running errands, getting things for Kyle, etc. I love it all, but like I said, I am tired. I’ve done a little painting by myself, but mostly I just don’t have time to work on projects. So, if I’m absent from the blog world, you know why ;)
On to more fun stuff and less complaining!
Luckily I have still been able to keep up with my marathon training. I’ve only missed a couple (small) recovery runs. I do NOT want to miss the long runs.
Sunday was my longest run to date- 15 miles. Just thinking about the number was intimidating. I kept doubting myself and just KNEW I couldn’t do it. But this is how I DID get through it and learned that running is about lying.
- Talked my friend into running with me.
My BFF Shanna just so happens to be training for her first marathon too! Our running schedules somehow aligned and we both had to run 15 miles that day. Suffering together >>>> suffering alone. Misery loves company, or something like that? Time goes by much faster when you’re chatting away- I promise.
Same friend. Different run (our first half marathon!).
- Run an out-and-back and think of it in terms of half of the distance.
For some reason, it is mentally easier for me to run out-and-backs (run from point A to B, and back to A). I had a 15 mile run but I see it as 7.5 miles. I’m either weird or stupid and don’t know math.
- Don’t look at your watch.
Just don’t. You don’t need to see that you ran 4 miles out of 15. And then that you ran 4.19 miles out of 15.
- Take it 1 mile at a time.
I’ve read this one before and honestly I thought it was complete bull. I was like, taking it “1 at a time” is something you tell a child when they’re doing their super hard 2+2 math homework. NOT what you tell someone who has to run 15 “1’s at a time.” But seriously it works.
Around mile 5 (ha) I started to get bored and defeated. I was NOT looking at my watch and my friend told me, “Just 1 more mile!” I asked her, “Seriously?” and she laughed and said no. I told her she needs to learn to lie to me like a parent tells a kid, “Maybe we can go to the toy section.” So from then on she said 1 more mile. Her watch actually died half way through and then I took over this role ;) By miles 7-8 I was in a rhythm and felt good so I had no problem being her cheerleader/liar.
- When you get towards the end of your run, break it up in to distances you HAVE run already.
Once we hit 10 miles, we got excited because we were only a 5K away from a half marathon. We KNEW we could do this because we’ve done it before. Once we hit 13.1, we KNEW would could run 2 miles. We’ve done that a bazillion times! And when we hit the “1 mile left” mark, we thought of it in terms of time. We told ourselves we can do anything for 10 minutes.
And voila! 15 miles done. And not a bad pace for me/us either. I have slowed down considerably since my last half marathon because I have not been doing speed work. My goal for my full marathon is to FINISH, so speed work has taken a backseat. I credit our speed to Shanna- I know she pushed and motivated me (I hope I did the same for her too)!
I hope this helps any of you struggling with increasing your running distance! And for you experienced runners, please leave us tips :) and by that I mean money. This girl’s got a house to pay for ;)
Do you run with friends?
Have any long run running tips?
What distance overwhelms you?
