1. Don’t eat taco chicken before your long run—the first
of many lessons I learned in the past few months as I trained to run a half
marathon.
2. Peer pressure can be a good thing—because I
never, ever, in a million years ever thought I would run 13.1 miles again….until
some friends talked me into the “opportunity.”
3. Razors are a runner’s friend. Armpit stubble and long runs don’t go
together.
4. Run with an amazing person, such as my friend
Debbie. The right running partner will
motivate you, inspire you and make the time fly by with witty stories. Don’t
run with Debbie though, because then she might be too tired to run with
me. Selfishly, I don’t want to share her
so go find your own running partner.
5.
When sending encouraging text messages to other
runners, always proofread. Otherwise,
your phone might autocorrect, “I’m giving you a big whooo rah!” to “I’m giving
you a big wet rash.” Then, no one will
want to room with you in the hotel.
6. When training for a half marathon, try to avoid
the never-ending winter of the Polar Vortex, if at all possible. It snowed on my first day of training in
December. It snowed, rained, sleeted,
froze…you name it…literally every week of training all the way through March
including the day of the race.
7. Ignore the myth that running helps you lose
weight. If you are unable to avoid the
Polar Vortex, you need some extra layers anyway. Use this as an excuse to carbo-load like crazy. Start early, eat often. But, as previously mentioned, just not taco
chicken.
8. Make the race far enough away that you need a
hotel room. People keep asking, “How was
the race?” Hmmm, I ran for 2 ½ hours. It was freezing cold and windy. Torrential downpours brought flood warnings
and my phone is still sitting in a bag of rice trying to dry out from the whole
ordeal. It was fabulous! I didn’t cook, clean, grocery shop, pay
bills, mediate teenage bickering, run errands or grade papers. I was with good friends. We talked.
We laughed. We dined in real
restaurants. Which brings me to my last
lesson…
9. Set a goal—13.1 miles in Philadelphia,
check. What’s next, friends? Moab in October or New Orleans in
November? Key West in January or
Nashville in April? I’m ready to train for
our next adventure. I’ve already started
carbo-loading!
Games and Activities--creating snuggly scarves and playing Pin the Nose on Olaf
