The halfway point
Seven weeks in. Seven to go.
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This is me, looking victorious and feeling downright giddy after last week’s 16-mile run. It went beautifully. One of those confidence-boosting runs. Naturally, I’ve now convinced myself that my next long run will be disastrous. I’m due for a bad one, right?
I did some light math this week.
And some finger-counting led to me the realization that I am officially at the halfway point in my Eugene Marathon training.
With that discovery, I first felt excited.
“Wow,” I probably narrated in my head. “I’m halfway in! I’m at the top of the mountain, and now we descend! If I can do what I’ve done so far, surely I can finish this out. I’ve got this!”
I love my delusional confidence, I really do. It serves me well. Ish.
And then, a shift in that narrative.
“OK wait,” chimes in Bad Angel Ali from my other shoulder, wearing an edgy leather jacket like Michelle Tanner from Full House, when she was trying to be a bad girl so Danny would break up with Gia’s mom. (How do we always end up here?)
“I’m only halfway in,” Bad Ali says, stomping on a cigarette like end-of-movie Sandy from Grease. (I realize these references aren’t working. Stay with me.)
“That means the work has only just begun. I’ve done seven weeks of base building, and now the workouts are going to get long and hard and intense and sweaty.” (Nothing further to add here… I’m tempted to make a joke, but I won’t, because I’m a mature, grown adult!)
Marathon training is funny in this way. And in many ways, I’ve forgotten so much of what goes into preparing both the body and the mind for running 26.2 miles.
It’s a lot of work!
I think it’s very easy to let marathon training take over your life. I see that a lot. Nothing wrong with that!
For me, though, I’m trying to stay true to my initial declaration: I want training for a marathon to be fun and to add to my life. I don’t want it to dominate my days. I don’t want it to negatively affect me or the people in my life. I want this to be a fun pursuit, an exciting challenge, a worthwhile endeavor.
So far, so good. Honestly.
With seven weeks under my SpiBelt, I’m feeling really great. Mentally, I’m solid. I’m sound. I am enjoying the training, and I don’t feel inundated or overwhelmed by it. All is well. No edits.
Physically, well… I think all is well there, too!
Last week’s 16-mile long run was an amazing confidence boost. Sure, I had to stop halfway in to completely change my outfit in my car because I was so over-dressed, and yeah, I made a bathroom stop at mile 11. Other than that, though, I felt fantastic. Coach Kaitlin asked me for “hot miles” at miles 4, 7, 10, and 13. I loved the variety of this workout, and I kind of nailed it. It’s rare that I feel super confident in my running abilities and my ability to hit certain paces or times, but the goal here was to “pick it up” on those miles, and I did. And then I felt great on the miles in between. (Should we call those the “cold miles?” The cold never bothered me anyway, so let’s go with that.) (Actually, no. I hate being cold. The cold bothers me every single day between November and March.)
So, a confidence boost! At the halfway mark!
Today (I’m writing this on Thursday afternoon), I ran 8.5 miles with my new friend in town, Ally. Ally is quick. Ally is much faster than I am. Ally sees bathrooms and asks if I need to use them, and reminds me that she doesn’t mind stopping. Ally is a dream.
But boy was I dragging on this run. I think this was my first “I really feel like I’m in the midst of marathon training” run of this cycle. Nothing hurts, nothing aches, all is well. I just feel, at this point, like I’m really doing the work.
I have to admit, it’s a little satisfying. I love that feeling — delightful exhaustion!
I’m working on my nutrition. I’m working on my on-the-run intake and fueling. I’m working on mapping out enjoyable long run routes, which is not easy when every turn in this town leads me up some kind of massive, mountainous dirt road.
I suppose my key takeaway from the halfway point in my marathon training is that I’m really loving it so far. I’m enjoying the workouts, the long runs, and the rest days.
I hope I stay healthy. I really, really hope I stay healthy.
And I am excited to see what the next seven weeks hold.
More on all of this, today (Friday) on the Ali on the Run Show. (A self-indulgent solo episode, sharing a bit of my marathon history, and my takeaways from this point in the process.)
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This week on the Ali on the Run Show:
The Everyday Runner, Kristian “K-Money” Mines: Kristian Mines represents all of the best qualities you’ll find within the running community. She radiates joy, positivity, and energy. She started running in her forties, she completed her first marathon in Chicago last year, and she’s a proud back-of-the-pack athlete. Her goal as a “voluncheerleader” is to make sure no one arrives at a finish line alone.
Jess Movold, On Her First Year of Motherhood & Returning to Racing: Jess is one of my best friends, and I always love getting to have her on the show. In this episode, Jess reflects on her first year of motherhood, which was not without its challenges. Jess gave birth to her son, the appropriately-named Battle, at 26 weeks pregnant. He spent 167 days in the NICU. It was a grueling, emotional, at times traumatic start to motherhood for Jess. And! Nearly one year later, Battle is a happy, healthy, growing, adorable little guy, and Jess is gearing up for her first postpartum marathon in Boston next month. Lots of beautiful reflection here, and some exciting updates.
What I’m watching: I’m still working my way through my rewatch of The Bold Type. I’m very excited for Ted Lasso Season 3 next week. And by the time I get through that, I’ll be ready for Love is Blind Season 4. All the quality television over here! And I’m not a big Bravo gal, but wow, I’m so happy for all of you Vanderpump Rules fans! I have never seen the show. I don’t know what a “Vanderpump” is. I don’t know anything about anything on this show. But it’s very clear (based on everywhere I scroll) that something dramatic happened in the past few days, with Sandoval cheating on Ariana with Raquel, whose real name is actually Rachel?! It seems really scandalous, and I’m happy for all of you diehard Bravo babes. I gather it’s been a really exciting few days with a lot of great memes and hot takes. Happy 4 U. I really am.
What I’m cooking: I was randomly craving tortellini last week? In my 37 years on this planet, I have never craved tortellini. Let’s blame marathon training! I bought some, I Googled “easy tortellini soup recipes,” and I landed on this one. It was easy, and I ate this soup for five days. (Don’t tell me that’s too long to keep eating leftovers. I hate waste!)
On the go: In the past two days, I’ve added several [potential, not yet confirmed, but likely!] trips to my 2023 calendar. I’m looking at L.A., Atlanta, NYC, Ohio, and…Zurich! Stay tuned. Things are getting exciting.
On the run: 18 miles today! I can do this!
On the home front: Our dryer broke. RIP. So we are officially in the market for a new dryer, and this is not really something I feel like spending time researching, so, in the lamest request ever, uh…please hit me with your best dryer suggestions and recommendations in the comments! TYSM.
And so…
Take good care of yourselves. Take good care of each other. Please share your favorite [easy] recipes with me. Thank you so much for being here. And whatever you’re going through, keep going.
Love,
Ali
Congrats on the training! Loved the Bold Type as well. Just on here to also recommend "Shrinking" on Apple TV if you're a big fan of Ted Lasso (Roy Kent is a producer) :) Good luck on your long run!
Woooaaaahhh. You’re halfway there!!!
I ran the Glass City Marathon in 2019, and I had a VERY specific Spotify playlist formula, which I swear helped me PR. I started off with a few songs , then mixed it up with a few comedians, then more songs, then more comedians, so on… At where my goal 20 mile was going to be, I found a really cheesy motivational speech on Spotify. I swear this helped me push. Then following that was my personal pump up jams that took me to the finish. I finished 5 minutes under my goal time. I did leave about a half an hour of music from my favorite band just in case that day did not go my way, but I didn’t end up needing it.
Good luck, and I hope you have so much fun rest of your training cycle!