My Experience with Long Distance Running

Some of my favorite memories with my dad is joining him for 5ks. This typically involved me sprinting for about a minute, then walking, and repeating the process for the entire race. Eventually, I learned how to pace and would steadily jog the entire duration. Fast forward to my late teens, I ran all four years of high school and was offered several scholarships for cross country, but ultimately decided not to pursue the sport collegiately.

In my 20s, I maintained running 3-4 days a week and it was my primary form of exercise. I would participate in fun runs throughout the year - I grew up in a "turkey trot family". At 23, I finished my first half marathon in Atlanta and I followed a training program just for mileage I found online. I do not remember the exact time but it was just under 2 hours.

While Nick and I were dating, we completed a half marathon in Chattanooga and again, loosely followed a training program for the mileage and finished in 1:53. We enjoyed pizza and beer the night before so we were not focused on a PR, haha.

At 26, I suggested we look at doing a marathon together. Nick was also a long distance runner and wanted to do one, so we signed up for a marathon near my family in Greenville, SC. We followed a plan that combined mileage and speed work, running around 4 days a week. Our goal was to break 4 hours and we finished 3:56. Thankfully after a few bad training runs, we both finished feeling "good". Yes, that is a massive mimosa I'm holding after the run.

We got married at 27 and I remember when we returned from our Honeymoon I suggested we sign up for another half marathon to do together. I wanted something to motivate me to keep up my mileage after the wedding - Nick was not as eager as me, but agreed to join. I had always wanted to do one of the Rock & Roll series races so we signed up for Savannah, GA. For this race we also prepared following an online program for mileage and speed work, and finished in 1:43.

I maintained higher mileage from this point on, and would run 6-8 miles two days a week and 10-16+ miles on Saturdays. I would intuitively taper down if my schedule didn't allow the higher mileage or I needed a break. At this point, I started listening to podcasts while running, which allowed me to really shift my perspective on the time I spent logging miles from exercise to "me time".

2020 will always take people back in time to the pandemic - I was turning 30 and decided I wanted to do an ultramarathon. I did research and found one near my family in Greenville, SC that was partially a paved trail so it was beginner friendly for trail running. I signed up, hoping by October things would have improved, but ultimately the race went virtual. Nick had agreed to train with me, but now we was also going to get to run with me. We created a hybrid plan from what but the biggest difference for this program was having long runs on both Saturday (mileage) and Sunday (total time). This was by far the hardest thing to train for but even while traveling, we managed to follow the program and finish the 31.1 miles in 4:58.

For the next two years, I did a handful of virtual half and full marathons because I was still running a lot of miles and everyone loves a medal, right? I'd recommend if someone is new to running and feels anxious about the logistics of doing a race, find a virtual option and have a friend sign up with you!

Two years ago, at 32, I hired a running coach to provide a workout program for me for a half marathon I signed up to do in the Summer. I do not recommend running a race in Atlanta, GA in the middle of Summer. I followed the plan for two months that included a lot of speed work, I finished in 1:40, unfortunately I paced myself too fast the first few miles and after chugging a cup of gatorade instead of water at mile 9, didn't feel the best during the run.

For now, at 34 and as a mom of a 9 month old, my goal is to do 3 runs during the week.

• one day is 3-4 miles at 5am on our treadmill at home because I do daycare drop off

• one day is outside 5-6 miles (my husband does daycare drop off and works out at home that morning

• one day (Saturdays) is 6-10 miles. My husband and I either:

  • run 6 miles together while pushing the stroller

  • run the 6 miles together but each run before or after to the trail head while the other drives our little one to it

  • alternate running times so someone is home with her.

While I still prioritize my running, in the last few years I've focused on consistently lifting weights 2-3 days a week. I plan to share some future posts on how I overexercised in my 20s (more is not better!) and my approach to exercise during pregnancy.

Final thoughts & tips if you are interested in long distance running:

• start somewhere - Do not feel like you have to immediately jump into an intense program (I didn't do any speed work for many years)

• find a way to dissociate - I love podcasts about pop culture and wellness

• find your support - I'm thankful to have a spouse that has agreed to do all these races and training programs with me, and now we communicate about schedules so we can try to balance parent responsibilities with getting some movement