Slow Down

Today is the first day of my training for the San Francisco Marathon. Last night before bed I had the idea that no matter what was asked of me today I would attempt it. Climb that wall with your bare hands - absolutely; drink icky flavored sports drinks - okay; tie your shoes and go for a run - no problem. It was a good way to fall asleep - knowing that tomorrow there would be no challenge I couldn't face and try my best at. 

I woke up before my alarm at 6:23 am. I had forgotten my water bottle upstairs and didn't want to wake the kids so I bought a water along the way to training. I sat in my van watching people gather at the tent, way too early to go over. When I stopped for water I also bought a cup of decaf coffee and a scone. I'd had 2 bites of the scone and about a quarter of the coffee when I went over to the training sign in tent (still 30 minutes early) to find out the first steps in training. 

During introductions I learned that writing down information about your runs is a good idea: what you wore, what the weather was like, food and hydration intake, any notes and the distance and time out. I also learned that taking hot showers (no matter how good it feels) is not a good idea after a cold day of running. I learned this from an experienced marathoner that stood next to me and talked about the runs she'd completed in the last year. I learned that stretching is vitally important and should be done at length at the end of run but that for longer runs it's a good idea to warm up before doing "pre-running" stretching. Hard to call it pre-running when it's really 1 mile into your run time but the warmth of the muscles is important, my pacer told me. 

We were instructed to ask any questions we had so I asked about side cramping (slow down, avoid shallow breathing, stretch and more potassium) and about how to learn to slow down. I think this is probably a problem for most parents - the usefulness of a slow pace often escapes us until too late but today I learned it's importance. I did not however get to a slow pace but I learned that my first lesson of running is going to be how to slow down and truly pace myself (or let the pacers do their jobs). 

I prefer to run moderately or fast - like you would when you see your bus at the stop already and you really don't want to miss it. Then I like to slow down or stop. I learned that walking is just fine and no matter how many times people passed me I tried to remember this. Our lead trainer told us that each experienced runner has walked sometime during a race and to not be ashamed of needing to walk. The motto printed on our training t-shirts is "run, walk or crawl" which may be the only way I finish the 13 miles in July. 

The next 8 weeks of training are to prepare us for a 12K run in March so there isn't a lot of talk about marathon running at the moment. I'm thankful for that because with the 2.1 miles today I had to walk about a quarter of it just to make it through. I tried to pace myself but my too fast pace plus the side cramps didn't help me stay with my group. 

As we all stood in line afterward waiting to pick up our training t-shirts and sign in I noticed a lot of people saying things like, "I'm here and that's the point" or "The hardest day is the first day." They're right but for me not only was I there, at the end but I felt really good too. I can't wait for the next challenge: boot camp on Tuesday night, and for learning more about running, training and staying positive. My brain is full of all the tid-bits I learned today and I can't wait to jam more in there next week. The learning curve is steep but as I told myself last night today there is no challenge I'm not willing to at least attempt. 

Things I learned: 

slowing down is necessary to finish

stretch

let others help you

Things to work on: 

see above

Today's run: 

weather: overcast and pretty windy early on, wet from overnight rain.

hydration/food: no bottle on the run makes for super thirsty at the end, scone and coffee didn't upset my stomach at all.

distance: 2.1 miles

time: just under 30 minutes

gear: two technical long sleeve t-shirts (one came off half way through), 3/4 length pants, not very good sports bra, running shoes with thicker running socks. 

notes: side cramps suck, two long sleeves are too much for even a cold overcast day, don't forget your water bottle, talking while walking is easy - talking while running is hard.