#howtomarathon

[coachkai]

I’m talking EVERYTHING you need to know about preparing for MARATHON TRAINING tomorrow on Zoom! Tomorrow, June 18th 5pm EST 45 mins Share this with everyone you know who you think can benefit! Sign up for FREE here or link in bio: https://www.runcoachkai.com/running-calendar/how-to-prepare-for-marathon-training _ #marathontraining #howtorun #howtomarathon #howtorun #runningtips #runningcoach #runcoach (at ZOOM) https://www.instagram.com/p/CBjbthuHFAV/?igshid=1utqxmlyvhpuw

[howtojcrewblog]

Eat. Nap. Repeat. 🍳🌮🥞☕️🍕🍔🍪 | Thank you with all my heart to my family and friends, near and far, who cheered me on throughout training and the race! ❤️ Thank you #losangeles for being one of the greatest cities! 🌴Thank you volunteers; your water, Gatorade, oranges slices, red vines, etc were life savers! 👌🏻 Thank you beautiful strangers who came out and cheered with bells, high-fives, and funny signs --I do run better than my gov! 🏃‍♀️#myLAmoment #lamarathon | Also wearing @jcrew paisley windbreaker, scallop performance bra, and high-waisted crop performance leggings. Sunglasses are @oakley Frogskins with @revantoptics stealth black lenses! #howtojcrew #howtomarathon #sootd (at Lulu's Cafe)

[howtomarathon-blog]

How To Marathon As An Overworked Hurricane Of A Person

So here goes. 

I want to run the 2018 New York City Marathon in under five hours.

I want to start by talking about why I am doing this. Because this isn’t going to be easy. I imagine it will be one of the hardest thing’s I will ever do in my life. I imagine I will have my share of doubts. There will be moments I don’t want to get up and run, and moments I want to eat garbage food, and moments I DO eat garbage food, and moments that I will feel like a garbage person. This blog will chronicle my journey be my soap box for ranting about how fucking hard this shit is. So let’s talk about why I’m trying to do what feels like an impossibility right now - haul my fat lazy ass 26.2 miles through the streets of New York 11 months from now in under 5 hours. 

Even though it feels pretty impossible right now, I wouldn’t be doing this if it wasn’t possible. I generally don’t set impossible goals except when it comes to weightloss and fitness (shhhh). I am a runner, sort of. I have run 5 half marathons and one 16 mile race in the last three years. And yes - after my first half marathon I thought “Sweet Mother of Pearl I will NEVER run a marathon”. I didn’t have the distance on my legs and in my body. But after running the last few I thought... yeah I could maybe go further.  

What planted the seed for this hopefully-not-impossible challenge me was watching my best friend Molli run Boston last year. I want to say that i was inspired by her focus and determination as she ran her first marathon, and that I was moved by the iconic Boston crowds to try this myself... I mean, sure, that too, I’m not made of stone. But honestly, I was pretty jealous that she could did this thing that I couldn’t do. She ran a marathon. I got winded walking to the train that day. We may be a little competitive. She moves to New York - I move to New York. She studies abroad - I study abroad. She travels the world - I travel with her. She runs a marathon - I mean, come on! It was only a matter of time. 

But I think what truly convinced me was watching the NYC marathon this last fall. My boyfriend Olivier and I went out to cheer on the runners, and the energy from the crowd is incredible. Then as I watched this guy from team Achilles run by on his prosthetic leg with his hands in the air, and I just started crying. Losing a leg and finding the strength to run a goddamn marathon? This man has faced hardship and impossibilities that I will hopefully never know - and he was crushing this marathon with a grin on his face with the attitude of a goddamn warrior. I don’t know him, but this guy has been faced with a whole lot of can’ts in his life, and he said - hold my beer, bitches, and watch me do the impossible. I imagine that is what he said. If he can do this, I can do this. 

The nail in the coffin of why I’m running a marathon this year is my desire to do the thing that’s impossibly hard. I want to achieve the un-achievable. Let’s be clear - I’m not an overachiever. I don’t have the focus / discipline / organizational skills t o overachieve. Don’t cry for me, cause I fucking achieve plenty. I fucking achieve left and right at a B - B+ level. But I’m not going to sell you a bill of good of how disciplined i am - I’m a goddamn all over the place hurricane. Overachievers’ closets don’t look like mine. Overachievers meal prep. Overachiever’s do their laundry on a scheduled respectable timeline before they start wearing their undies inside out. That ain’t me..

But I am insatiable. I chase the sun. I want to do everything, be everything, know everything, live everything and eat everything (but that will have to go one hold while I train. Sort of. Hopefully. Damn it). I live big, loud, and hard, and I like it that way. I work a crazy demanding high pressure job and have high profile adrenaline fueled hobbies and I ride a vespa with a custom painting of Beyonce on it and I occasionally go on what some people have described to me as “death hikes”. Yeah. I’m an adrenaline junkie who occasionally takes “no” for an answer, cause i’m not unreasonable or especially difficult for when things are out of the realm of possibility, but definitely does NOT fucking take “can’t” for an answer. Yes. I. Fucking. Can. Don’t you tell me I can’t do something, I’ll show you. Yeah, I have something to prove, who the fuck knows why, that’s what I pay my therapist Lois 150 bucks every other week to figure out. But in the meantime, feeling like I can’t do this is why I’m going to do this. I can’t think of anything harder then running 26.2 miles in five hours. It’s impossibly hard. But I’m a glutton for challenge and it’s the impossibility of this that makes it appealing. 

So yeah. I am a little overweight. I am a lot overworked. I am an impulsive, high heat hurricane of a person who lacks discipline. I am not a natural athlete. I get bored while running. I am not a morning person. And I hate doing laundry. 

And I will run the 2018 New York City Marathon in under five hours. And I will chronicle this journey and the thoughts I have along the way here. Let’s. Fucking. Do. This. Thing.