I have been training for my second marathon since August 23, 2021.

That’s sixteen weeks of getting up early, running when I want to, running when I don’t want to, prioritizing running over everything, running when it’s hot out, running when it’s cold out, running before the sun comes up, running after the sun goes down, running by myself, listening to music, listening to audiobooks, hydrating, refueling, checking my pace, stretching, praying, counting mailboxes running up hills, flinging my arms wide running down hills, thinking, philosophizing, breathing, and enjoying being out in nature.

It was an interesting phenomenon this time around…I burned out mentally about halfway through my training. I don’t know what happened, but it was REALLY hard for me to stay motivated. Once I’m committed to something, though…I have to see it through. But man the struggle was real. The taper is always tough for me…those two weeks at the end where you cut your mileage way back to rest your legs and gear up for race day. It tends to send me into a bit of a mental tailspin. So, I ended up doing most of my mileage on our stationary bike at home those last few weeks and wondering if I would even be able to/care to run on race day.

I drove down to Huntsville, Alabama on December 10. I checked into the hotel, grabbed dinner at Taziki’s, headed back to the hotel to get all of my gear ready for the run, showered, and got into bed early. I woke up around 530 am the next morning, checked my email, and saw that the marathon was canceled due to the weather. It was the weekend of the tornados. It put a lot of things into perspective just knowing how many people had lost their homes and their lives due to the severe weather that morning. I packed everything up and drove home.

I decided to get up the next morning and run the 26.2 miles at Crockett Park, my favorite local park for long runs. The weather was perfect, and Tom and the boys came out to cheer me on for the last few miles. (Jonas even ran with me for the last mile…which I don’t think was too rough on him because he could walk and still keep up with me at that point because I was running so slow…haha.)

I’m so grateful to have crossed that finish line.