Vancouver Marathon- May 5, 2024


Honestly, this is the first time I've had a chance to sit down and write about my marathon experience. I have so many emotions attached to this trip so I'll try to make it as brief as possible.


Most of you have been around since the day I signed up for this race and my first day of training. But some might be new around these parts so I'll start with some quick backround of how I got to this place.


I started running about 9 years ago when my oldest was a baby. Both of my parents were long distance runners and my Dad has run multiple marathons and my Mom has run multiple half marathons and my uncle has run and won MANY marathons. However, I just always told myself that the running gene skipped me. However, after my oldest was born, and so many of you can probably relate to this I'm sure, I needed a CHANGE. Most moms cut their hair but that wasn't what I was searching for. I needed something for me but I had a hard time leaving my baby and I felt like I needed something to challenge myself. Something to pour myself into that didn't require leaving my baby behind. So I signed up for my first half marathon in Dallas.


Fast forward to 7 half marathons later (and less stroller pushing) and continued to tell myself and friends that I had no desire to ever run a full marathon. In hindsight, I genuinely think I told myself that story because I didn't think I *could* run a marathon. However, I have an incredible group of close friends who are runners and some of them have even qualified and run the Boston Marathon. (yes, they are incredible and I'm SO lucky to have those kind of supportive friends and resources). A handful of my friends had run 1 marathon, if not more, and I finally was starting to feel a little inkling of envy when they would talk about it so I had a mental checklist if I were to ever run a full.

  • My kids had to be in school full time
  • It had to be in a cool city that I'd never been to
  • It had to have an amazing route (I'd done plenty of races where the route was only meh and it makes a difference)
  • It had to be a spring race so I didn't have to train in Texas summer
  • It had to be in a place where I wasn't running in the heat

So after a lot of research I found that the Vancouver marathon fit every. single. one of my boxes. So I hired a running coach (shout out to my incredible running coach, Kamrie, if yall need a running coach I, personally, know and am friends with 2 amazing coaches) and hit the ground running, literally.


It took 6 months of training to get to this point because I wanted to give myself PLENTY of time and just in case we had to deal with sickness or an injury I wanted to be well prepared.


6 months of running in freezing temps (there were a few times that my hair that was literally frozen by the time I would get home), rain, wind, humidity and everything in between absolutely paid off because Vancouver was EVERYTHING I had hoped it would be. The route was absolutely beyond gorgeous and the weather couldn't have been better.


The first half was a little rocky because one of my closest friends was running it with me (this was her 2nd marathon) and the stomach flu hit her entire family the week before we left. We laughed about it saying that we were SO grateful that it hit when it did and everyone was recovered in time for our trip and she thought she was fine. We started the race with smiles on our faces, all the excitement and didn't go out too fast or hard but stuck to a comfortable pace. We even saw our husbands at a few spots along the route at this point to give us some mental boosts but things changed around mile 6 when I saw that she wasn't taking her gels and she said that her stomach was starting to bother her. *ruh row*


We continued to run until around mile 10 she told me that she thought she might throw up. This was a tough pill for her to swallow because at this point the realization that we aren't even halfway through the race and she's already not feeling well was beginning to set in for her. Since this part isn't my story to tell, long story short- she continued to push through and give it her all in between major stomach issues and panic attacks until she got to mile 14 and decided to bravely listen to her body and leave the course. She was SO incredible and strong and I'm so impressed with how well she handled the entire situation because, even though she was so disappointed, she listened to her body and didn't risk the chance of something even worse happening. It's how you handle a loss that really shows your true character and she was an absolute champion for running a half marathon while feeling like absolute and utter garbage.


Once she decided that she needed to be picked up- she told me that I needed to GO! (She had also told me many times before this point that she wanted to me to go on ahead of her but there was no chance I was going to leave a friend behind in that state and neither would any of you!) Of course I cried when I left her behind because I knew how badly she wanted this and what it took to get here but I knew that I had a lot of time and distance that I needed to make up so I booked it for a few miles (faster than my normal pace) to pass people and get to a place that I felt comfortable to slow down to a more manageable pace.


I was living my best life and feeling great about my hydration and fueling until about mile 20 when I started to recognize that I was entering what is lovingly known as "pain cave". This isn't necessarily the same as "bonking" because my fueling regime was holding strong with fueling exactly every 3 miles and I felt like I still had plenty of energy to keep going but I could now start to feel my ankles, hips and shins start to hurt and my legs were getting TIRED. Even though I was still loving the route and enjoying everything about my surroundings, I struggled to keep my focus on enjoyment instead of "holy shit this hurts and is really hard". I had to continue to remind myself of my mantras "forward is the pace" and "take it all in". My body was begging me to take a break and walk for a little while but my brain knew that if I started walking then it would take an enormous amount of mental and physical energy to get my legs running again and I wasn't about to walk across the finish line.


I think it was helpful that those hard miles were also while I was running along the seawall because it truly helped distract me from negative thoughts and I was able to get myself out of it by mile 23. By then, I was tired but my legs continued to be a metronome. I remembered to smile to myself like my coach told me to do when things got hard and before I knew it I was rounding the corner to the *incline* to the finish line. My absolute favorite Taylor Swift song is "Bejeweled" and that is what came on in the last stretch to the finish line.


As I crossed I was filled with SO many emotions and couldn't keep in the tears.( BTW- it's really hard to run and cry at the same time) I cried because it was the culmination of 6 months of training and sacrificing of time to get to this goal. I cried because my body was capable of something that is so difficult that only 0.01% of the population achieves. I cried because, damn, it was hard. I cried because my husband was facetiming my girls and they got to see their mom work towards a big goal and achieve it and I know that they'll always remember that. I cried because my husband told me multiple times throughout the training process and along the route that he was proud of me and I knew that he was. I cried because I achieved a lifelong marathon and this was a moment that I will never have again because you only run your first marathon once and it was literally everything I had hoped for.


Was I fast? No, I'm under no illusion that I'm considered a "fast" runner. But did I run for 5.5 hours straight? Yes, and that's a whole new level of mental fortitude. Will I do it again? Absolutely, I'm already searching for the race that I'll do in 2025.


Thank you so much to all of my friends and clients and people in my corner who have encouraged me and supported me thorughout this entire journey. The comments and love that I've received have meant more than you could even imagine.


If you made it this far in this blog post then you're the real ones and just know that we are capable of SO much more than we even think is possible.