sweet sixteen

I've learned a lot with marathon training---things about myself, about running, and about others. I can officially say that I understand the highs and lows of running: last week was a low, I hit the wall and doubted myself. Today I felt the elusive 'runners high' as I completed 16 miles in 2:32, which is right at a 9:30 mile. I'm quite proud of myself for staying positive throughout the run even when I started to hurt. It must have been my new sports sunglasses:
Nate had to work today, so I attended the group run down at the lakefront. I met a new friend [!] and we ran together the whole time, which obviously involved us chatting up a storm. This is concept is new to me: running and talking, without music. When I run with Nate we don't have much to say so we just listen to our Ipods and veg out. Although it definitely expended more energy I am pretty pumped to make a new running friend and proud of myself for ditching the Ipod. Besides, I'm pretty sure you aren't supposed to wear them for the marathon anyway so I should probably get used to the pounding of my feet as my new form of music.

This will be both of our first full marathons and we were blatantly obvious with our lack of training knowledge. Want to know why? Both of us wore brand new shoes today for the long run, which apparently is a big no-no. Some hard core dude came up to us afterwards and asked how we were doing, while we were hurriedly removing our shoes and socks. We told him that our new shoes were killing our feet and he just kind of grinned: I guess we are supposed to wear our old shoes for long runs and rotate the new ones into shorter runs. Whoops!

You wanna see my new fabulosities?


Here are the old kicks: worn down, kind of ugly, blah:

And these are my new babies, in all of their pink glory:)



I had to stay with Asics but decided to switch it up a bit from my trusty Nimbus style--I went for the GT-2130 and adore them so far [minus the killer blisters throbbing on my footsies right now].

So thank you ladies for all of the support after my 'bad run' post. I definitely thought about some of your words during this run and it helped me get through. Next week will likely be an 18 miler [yikes!] if we run with the group again. This training stuff is no joke but right now, I love it:)

Who else is in training right now? Anyone contemplating a full marathon? If so, I say go for it! But I suppose we'll see how the rest of training goes before I get too gung-ho, right?

13 comments:

  1. Yay! It's nice to hear you sounding so positive again! And congrats on the 16 - very, very impressive.

    We're only training for a half in late September so I bow down to your determination :)

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  2. its so nice to find someone else to motivate you and make you WANT to go on those runs. yay you!

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  3. Congratulations on your long run (and making a new running buddy). I always run the races with my iPod anyway. I think they tell you can't for liability reasons... like getting run over because you can't hear the car coming. Love the new (pink) shoes! I'm a Kayano lover myself... I've gotten a new pair every year for about 9 years now. You can't beat Ascics for the long ones, I say.

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  4. 16 miles - WOW! Very impressive, Julia! Your pink shoes are so cute!

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  5. YAY Julia! Nice work on the 9:30 miles, definitely not the sunglasses, but your awesome willpower! It is a good idea to start working in runs sans music. There is a nice cadence to listening to your own footfalls.

    Lol though at wearing new shoes on your longest run to date! :)

    I'm wearing Nimbus right now, but have been looking at the 2130's glad to hear you like them!

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  6. Hey, way to go! Anyone who can run 16 miles (let alone a full on marathon) has impressed me!

    I am trying to train for a triathlon, but the running is the one part that is dragging me down, so I don't know if it will actually happen...

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  7. i am glad you had a good run, and made a new friend! new shoes, new friends= a great run, yes? :0)

    i LOVE those shoes, i am actually looking for new workout shoes, i don't run but i do speed walk (when i am not lazy, and i have been lazy a lot lately!) so maybe i will have to check out some new pink kicks :0)

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  8. I love that first pic of you! Diva! Oh, and I can't even run 1 mile!

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  9. Love the new shoes...you can never go wrong with pink. :-) And congratulations on the 16 miles. You guys continue to impress me.

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  10. Nice work on the 16-miler! That's a really good pace.

    I've been out of town for the last few group runs, but swear to God I'm going to go one of these weekends.

    I need some new shoes bad...

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  11. Wow, congrats! I'd consider myself a runner, but I have no idea if I could run 16 miles. You guys are champs :) Love the new kicks as well.

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  12. Wow-congrats on completing 16 miles and having such a positive attitude! I had those same gold and white Asics and thought they were hideous. The pink ones are so much better. I've since switched back to Brooks, which are currently good for my knee problem.

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  13. sixteen miles is FANTASTIC! much to be proud of! the hardest part for me is keeping myself hydrated, I always forget to drink the water, so when I run long distances I constantly think to myself - am I drinking enough? am I sweating enough?
    sometimes those terrible workouts (like the 15 miler the weekend before) are the best to teach us lessons about what we really need. way to overcome. you are doing a fantastic job - and a 9.30 pace! AWESOME!!!

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