It has been a week and a half since I ran the New York Marathon and things are surprisingly normal. I’ll be honest with you… kind of surreal! Did I actually run that? I mean, it flew by so dang fast!

Adjusting to life post-marathon is a weird process. It is almost like it was a dream. Thank goodness for the medal hanging in my office or I might forget. (Not!)

While reflecting on my experience I came up with a list of things I will and won’t miss about training for the 26.2 mile experience. Shall I share?

Five Things I Won’t Miss About Training For A Marathon:

• GU. When I am training it is God-send. But I would never, ever consume it on a normal basis.
• Body Glide. I love it and I hate it. Lubing myself up doesn’t rank high on my every day “to do” list.
• Getting up at 4am on a Saturday morning. Do I even need to explain this further?
• Pain paranoia. I’m tired of wondering if I a small twinge means that I am getting a new injury.
• Blisters. You haven’t seen blisters until you have seen my feet while training. I have a gift for blistering, apparently. No. Idea. Why.

Five Things I Will Absolutely Miss About Training For A Marathon:

• Feeling like a badass. There is something awesome about knowing you’ve run 18 miles before most people have even had their morning coffee.
• A goal. In this crazy-paced world, it is difficult to set goals and achieve them. Once you commit to a marathon there is no turning back.
• Gadget-mania. Analyzing your time and watching your pace on a satellite run wrist watch is all sorts of fun for the geekily inclined, like me.
• Friendships. It is hard to describe the level of friendship that one develops when training with a partner. When you spend 2-4 hours together on a long run you have loads of time to talk about… EVERYTHING. It is like a girl’s night out, only wearing sneakers.
• Food free-for-all. I could eat as many carbs as I liked. It is a bread and cheese lover’s dream!

So how am I doing these days? Excellent! My legs were sore for about four days after the marathon and other than that, no permanent damage.  When my IT Band flared up I used Salonpas pain patches and felt great pretty quickly. (These little ditties were my secret weapon in the weeks leading up to and after the race. They look like giant band-aids and stretch to fit the area you need them for. They smell minty and are instantly cooling. I never needed to take Advil, I just put the patches on the side of my knee and it went instantly to the area. Worked like a charm. I can’t recommend these enough. So glad I discovered them!)

At this point I’m back to small runs 3x a week. I do about 3-4 miles. I’m sure I’ll get back to the long runs again shortly, but I have a couple of out of town commitments in the next two weeks so I will have to do the treadmill for awhile. My biggest fear is loosing my stamina so I’m gonna try to keep the long runs to a minimum of 10 miles on the weekend.

Next on the list of things to tackle?  Who knows?

Tags: five things i will miss about training for a marathon, five things i won't miss about training for a marathon, new york marathon 2010, Things I Will & Won't Miss About Training For A Marathon

This weekend was an overwhelming, non-stop whirlwind of action. Our stay in NYC was brief – we got there on Saturday at noon and left Sunday night at 9 (Lori & I) but it was exhilarating. (Katie & Brian stayed one day longer.)

If I were to try to write a blog post detailing the experience though, I would be here forever! So I opted to do it in a timeline this way… (My personal thoughts are in paranthesis.)

Trains. Taxis. Hotel. Expo. Pasta Dinner. Cupcakes. (Wow! Magnolia Bakery Rocks.) Early Sleep. Shuttles. Ferry Rides. Fort Wadsworth. (Aww, I Used To Live Here!)Runners Village. Heated Tent. (Coffee And Fooood!!!!) 10:40am. Orange Wave. Overzealous Pacer Group. (Why Is The Pace Girl Sprinting? Come Back Here!) Long Bridges. Photographers. Mile 4. Music. Cheering. Screaming. Water. Gatorade. (Where Is My GU?) Live Bands. Costumed Spectators. QUEENSBORO BRIDGE (AHHHH!) Another mile. (Who’s Idea Was This, Anyway?) Hills. Great Signs. Music. Another Boro. Another Bridge. (Really?! Was That Necessary?) Church Service. Rap Music.  ”Jared” Faces Everywhere. Disgusting Bathrooms. Another Bridge. (Who Designed This Course, Anyway?) More Cheering. (Needing Water ASAP.) Another Mile. AT&T Not Working. (Excuse Me But Why Does This Course Never Seem To Go Down Hill?) “The Wall.” Stretching.  Five Miles To Go. AT&T Still Not Working. Parties Everywhere. (Is That “Where’s Waldo” Running With An Armadillo?) Central Park. Lots Of People! Screaming. (Are We Done Yet?) Fans Everywhere. (I Can’t Run One More Mile. Oh Hell, One Point Five To Go.) More Photographers. Cow Bells. (Did We Just Pass The Chilean Miner? Crazy!) Lori & Brian. (Squee! There They Are!) So Close. The Finish Line! (Thank You Baby Jesus!) Big Hugs! Finishers Medals. Commemorative Picture. Fluid And Food Bag. (All I Want To Know Is…Did We Beat Jared Or Al Roker?) Long Walk Out Of The Chute. Freezing Cold. AT&T Never Works. (I Can’t Believe We Did It! I Think I Need A Steak!) Proudly Displayed Medal. Train Ride Home. 1:00am. (Somebody Remind Me To Never Do This Again.) Sleep.

Since half of the reason I was able to get across the finish line in the first place had everything to do with inspiration, I thought I would share some of the best signs I saw out on the course yesterday:

• “Toenails are overrated anyway.”
• “You can and you will.”
• “If Palin can run, so can you!”
• “Finishing is your only option.”
• “If marathons were easy we would all be doing it!”
• “You are stronger than you think.”
• “Chuck Norris never ran a marathon.”
• And my personal favorite… “You are not a wimp!” (Thanks Lori!)

I would just like to take a second to personally thank every single New Yorker (You know who you are. Heh.) who yelled a affirming statement directed at me. From the “You go Jen!” to the “Stay strong” to the “You’ve got this girl!” and the “Dig deep Jen, you are almost home!”… you made me cry, you made me laugh and you ALL got me over the finish line. You will probably never see this blog post or remember me, little runner number 53-416 from Maryland, but I was deeply moved and completely inspired. My gratitude goes out to you.

I can’t believe I just ran the New York City Marathon! Woo hoo!

Tags: ing new york city marathon 2010, mom blogger running marathon, new york city marathon 2010

Every number you could ever possibly be curious about when it comes to the New York City Marathon:

RUNNERS:

- 43,660 finishers in 2009; 45,000 expected in 2010

QUIRKY STATS:

- 2,328 portable toilets (1,694 at the start area)

- 16,000 lbs of discarded clothing collected

- 18.5 tons of cups recycled

- 132 bands play the course

- 48 timing locations, 106 clocks

- 52,000 PowerBars distributed at mile 18

- 72 UPS trucks to transport runner baggage

- 18,000 runners transported to the start via Staten Island ferry

- 500 buses used to drive runners to the start

- More than 500,000 photos taken of runners by Brightroom Photography

MARATHON EVE DINNER:

- 6,725 lbs of pasta

- 1,800 lbs of mixed green salad

- 15,000 New York MacIntosh apples

- 18,000 cans of Coors Light beer

- 21,600 bottles of Poland Spring water

RACE DAY FLUIDS:

Amount of Poland Spring Water used (cups):

- 1.6 million on the Course

- 90,000 bottles at the Start

- 45,000 bottles at the Finish

Amount of Gatorade used (cups)

- 687,500 on the Course

- 43,200 at the Start

- 45,000 bottles at the Finish

Number of fluid stations:

- 24 fluid stations, approximately 50 8-foot tables per station

- 4 fluid stations at start (one per start village; one in common area)

AWESOMENESS AT THE STATEN ISLAND START VILLAGE:

- 40,000 cups of Dunkin Donuts coffee

- 20,000 cups of tea

- 42,000 PowerBars

- 33,000 bagels

- 40,000 garbage bags

- 600 plastic table clothes

- Looped instructional CDs in 6 languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Italian

Tags: new york city marathon statistics, training for the New York City Marathon

Can you guess the significance of the following number?

3: 37

That is the amount of time that I spent running on Saturday morning… 3 hours and 37 minutes.

Another significant number?

4

That is the time I got up in order to begin the 3 hour and 37 minute run.

A final number for you to ponder?

15

That is the number of minutes that I missed of my son’s soccer game because of my 20 mile training run.

But at least I made it. I was a pungent but PRESENT mother. And because that mattered to my son, it mattered to me.

I’ve tried from the beginning of this training program to not let it interfere with my family life. I get up at ridiculously early hours of the morning to train so that the my husband and kids feel like they are a priority over the running.  At least, I hope they feel that way.

It is now six weeks until the New York Marathon.  I have two weeks left to raise $1,500 for the ING Run For Something Better Charity. It is truly an honor to help them fulfill their mission for children. Won’t you please consider donated a couple of dollars to my cause? Even $5.00 can make a difference to a child. Believe me, it is true.

Tags: 2010, marathon, New York City Marathon, run for something better charity, Running, training for the NYC Marathon

This week I am talking wimping out, blisters and my new uber-cool training shoes: Skechers!

Have you contributed to my charity cause yet? No? Well, I need you!  Please contribute here: Jen’s Charity Page

Tags: 2010 NYC marathon, NYC Marathon Training