First Marathon Confessions: Joan L-K

I've got another First Marathon Confession ready for you!  This one comes from one of my friends from high school- she's always been incredibly motivated and determined to complete her goals and I'm so glad she was willing to share her first marathon experience!

The Basics:
Name: Joan L-K
Age: 24
Location: U.P. originally [The Upper Peninsula of Michigan], Mt. Pleasant [Michigan] presently.
How many marathons have you run in total? 1

What's your running background?
I started running about twelve years ago in middle school track. I ran track throughout middle school, high school and then one year in college at Central Michigan University. I also ran cross country in high school.

Where did you run your first marathon?
Chicago

What made you decide to run your first marathon?
It was something to train for and something to accomplish after having to quit college track due to medical reasons.

What motivated you to put in the training miles on the days when you really didn't feel like it?
Knowing that if I didn't do it then, I would surely regret it mid race! Also, music really helped!

What's the toughest part about training for a marathon?
Your longest training run! That sucked! My blood sugar plummeted at the end! Make sure to practice when you're going to take your gels!

Tell me about your first day-of marathon experience.

My marathon experience was awesome. I carbo loaded the whole week before and ate a lot of bananas for potassium and peanut butter for energy. The night before, I did not sleep very well because I was so nervous. We (I ran it with a friend of mine) had to get up really early because the race started at 8 AM. Walking to the course, we were both very nervous, but excited at the same time! It was such a cold October morning, so we were all bundled up in St. Vinnies (a consignment store) sweats because we knew we would be getting rid of them somewhere along the race.

Once the gun went off it took forever for us to actually reach the starting line because of the 40,000 some racers that were present! You had to make sure that right from the beginning you started your marathon pace because it was very easy to go much faster than your usual pace! The course was nice and flat except for the very end. There were many people dressed up in awesome costumes. I saw Thing 1 and Thing 2 and of course, Elvis!

With the method that I trained with, the Jeff Galloway method, I actually started to speed up at the end instead of hitting "the wall". I had so much energy the last five miles or so, and when I crossed the finish line, I remember thinking, "Wow, that was it....I could go a few more miles!" Don't get me wrong, 26.2 miles is a very rough distance. Many times earlier in the race, I thought I was going to die! You have to be very vigilant about your blood sugar, because once that goes down, you will have a very hard time coming back from it! This almost happened to me in the middle of the marathon, but with some gel, I was able to recover.

The marathon was an amazing experience. I had a lot of fun! I hope to do another one someday, once I can get my body back into running shape!

What was something that surprised you or that you didn't expect either during training or at your first marathon?
That you need to use Vaseline in areas you never thought you would...enough said!

Are you training for anything right now? Marathon or otherwise?
I am training for Mommy get Her Body Back race...basically working on getting my pre-baby body back right now!

What's one piece of advice you'd give to first time marathon runners?
Hydrate and carbo load the week before. Also, not a big deal if you don't get much sleep the night before. The two nights before that are what matters.

Any other nuggets of wisdom/advice for first-timers?
Have fun!!!! Don't take it too seriously!



Thank you so much Joan for taking time out of your busy new-mommy duties to share your marathon experience!