The trending, healthy hobby throughout 2024 that has carried into 2025: running. Run clubs, Utah Runner Girls, and the completion of a marathon have taken the internet to the trails.
It sounds thrilling to be honest. Completing 26.2miles, pictures with your cute new medal and the Fast & Free Lululemon shorts that complete a runners “OOTD.” It all looks great on social media and sounds like a blast, but what does running a full marathon truly entail?
Well, I’m also not too sure, but we’ll figure this out together.
“im running a marathon!”
You’ve done it! You’ve officially told everyone you know that you’re running a marathon. You have made plans to run 26.2 miles and now everyone knows!
But now, you have to run a marathon… Everyone knows.
Once you realize you are truly committed, whether it be in fear of letting everyone you’ve told down, because it stills sounds like a fun idea, or the fact that you’ve already paid the $300 non-refundable entry fee. You’re running a marathon!
Training plans
Now that you’re committed, you need to actually be able to complete 26.2 miles. In case I haven’t mentioned it, a full 26.2 miles.
STRAVA! A runner gal’s best pal and the app that motivates and creates a training plan for you. This is a good thing because we’ve never done this before and the Hoka’s have already been ordered, and the app now has a Widget on my phone.
After accepting the fact that we now have to run most days, as well as hype ourselves up for the weekly long runs, ranging between 16 to 22 miles, the adrenaline has worn off.
eating
The one thing about a marathon I do love is food, and lots of it.
The food used to fuel our bodies for such demanding workouts are not only tasty, but they look great on the “eats” highlight of Instagram.
A huge positive with all the running we’re doing, whether we love it or not, is the guiltless pasta we can indulge in before and after a run. Carbs, serving as our now-runner-body’s main source of energy, are important and tasty. Having proven benefits on performance, endurance, and energy levels, the fat bowl of Chicken Alfredo is well deserved according to Runners World.
To simplify, your body is a gift; it runs, jumps and hugs the things you love. Feed it.
still running
It’s taking longer than we thought, 26.2 miles is a lot and 20 weeks is long. You’ve come this far and you’ve proven to yourself that you can do this and your body is capable of hard things, which is pretty awesome.
Your life might look a little different. You spend more time alone and in your thoughts because, while running is trying, it can also be kind of boring. Not all of us have views of mountains, lakes or valleys in our backyard, so making a playlist or podcast is vital to a successful run.
Some of my favorite things to listen to while running:
- Call Her Daddy: Alex Cooper is for the girls. Her spicy, gossip-like podcasts make a long run worthwhile.
- Anything Mel Robbins has to say: Since we’re already running, her self improvement podcasts are encouraging and make runs feel powerful.
- A good playlist: No matter what genre you prefer, making a running playlist you love makes any run feel like a music video.
Race day
You’ve made it. Every long run, canceled plan and bowl of pasta have lead to this day.
You’re excited, relieved, nervous and every emotion is coming and going. Race day, a day like never before, accomplishing something that has changed your lifestyle for the last 20 weeks and possibly for the rest of it. You’ve discovered your own favorite socks, shorts and shoes throughout your training and have them laid out the night before. You sleep, anxiously, adrenaline running, then you wake up. Typically in a new city with thousands of others who have the same goal as you. Suddenly, this feels real. You’re running 26.2 miles. You’re running a marathon.
After fixing your hair up how you’ve imagined since sign up, you pin your bid number and face the starting line. You’re running a marathon. Then, you’re actually running a marathon with people of all ages, cultures, and backgrounds beside you and others with signs and smiles. It’s real. You’re running a marathon. You’re running a freaking marathon.
Finally, after 26.2 miles, you did it. You’ve crossed the finish line and have officially obtained your newest wall decor. After pictures and poses and hugs, thoughts are racing. I can’t wait to do this again or I am never doing this again. Either way, it’s done. You’ve trained and completed a marathon, after never having done one before.
WHy
My point in all of this is: You can run a marathon if you have such desires. It is more than completing a race and posting on social media. The determination and the mental battle it takes to commit to it, the physical toll you take on, as well as the social aspects you give up absolutely altar your life.
Completing a marathon is hard. Trusting your body is hard. But doing it? The absolute best feeling. Whether you do it again or not, having never done so before, you ran a marathon, a full 26.2 miles (in case I haven’t mentioned enough). And that is something to brag about.