My weekend...part 2....YMCA Johnstown Marathon...for Lani

How do people run back to back marathons? The key is recovery. Once you cross the finish line the clock is ticking. You have less than 24 hours before you are going to step up to the next start line. Everything you do, or don't do, makes a world of a difference. 

I am a firm believer in eating as soon as possible following a marathon. After any long distance race, your body needs to be replenished, your muscles need to repair, but unlike all my other marathons this year, I'd be asking my body to repair over night.

Thankfully after I finished the Freedom's Run Marathon they had hot pizza. Protein is key for recovery, and with having to run the next day, calorie replacement is high on that list too. I had 2 slices and then shuttled back to my car.

Having to do double marathons is hard not on just your body, but on your family. Having to be gone so much this year, I try to minimize time away and make the most of the time I get to be home. So getting home Saturday afternoon meant mom duty. My husband Jeremy went to enjoy time with friends and I had the kids for the rest of the day. I got a shower, and tried to rest for a little bit, but there was plenty that needed to be done. After house cleaning and laundry, I ordered take out Chinese for the kids and my favorite, Thai food for me! It was a busy day!

I got my stuff ready for the morning as I had a 3 hour drive to Johnstown, PA. It meant waking up again at 4:30, but getting to sleep in my own bed was a huge benefit. I'd happily get less sleep and not have to stay at a hotel. Somehow I managed to again only get 5 hours of sleep. I stood in my bathroom, looking at the bags under my eyes in the mirror and wondered if my legs were as exhausted as the rest of me felt right then.

Moments like this, when your bed is 10 feet away, and the rest of the world around you is in slumber, it's so easy to want to just crawl back in bed and say not today. I had made the decision to run Jonhstown only a couple days prior. It wasn't a must do on my list. I knew that I had the chance to skip it if I didn't feel up to it, but as tempting as my sheets were at that moment, I knew this was more than just a race. I'm not running just another 26.2 so I can hang a medal on my wall (don't get me wrong I love my medals), this was another chance to be a beacon of hope and today I was running for Lani. I had already pinned her picture to the back of my shirt. This day was for her, not for me, not for my sleep or tired legs. I put on my shirt and got ready to go.

 Lani

Lani is 10 and one of over 1,500 orphans in the Eastern Cape of South Africa that I am raising funds for this year. Looking at her picture, and knowing how much she has had to struggle makes me think of my own children. This child, was someone's daughter and that hits close to home. My oldest daughter turns 10 at the end of this month. I look at her and am amazed. I can't believe how fast the time has gone. She's always coming up along side of me, measuring how tall she is. I'm tall, so she has her work cut out for her to gain height on me, but just the same I realize how much she has changed and matured. Not to mention how little time I have left before the teen years hit! I love my family and I've missed them so very much this year with having to travel for races; but when I look at Lani, I know that I made the right decision in doing this. If running today, and next week and the week after, etc, can give Lani a chance for a better life, then I will sacrifice today to give Lani a better tomorrow.
I would hope and pray someone would do that for my children if they were left in the kinds of conditions that Lani and these other orphans face. It's not about the work, it's just flat out the right thing to do. So coffee in hand, I headed out.

Johnstown had a 9am start time which worked out well for me. It's a small marathon, and it seemed that most people were running the other distances offered (half marathon, 10k and 5k), but I always look forward to running on ground I have never covered before.

Johnstown's incline plane usually takes runners to the start, but it is under repair right now

The beginning of the race took us through residential streets lined with huge trees. I anticipated my legs feeling tired and sore, but they seemed to have life left in them. The first few miles passed quickly and I was encouraged with how well I felt.

 Awaiting the start

By mile 5 or so we started going downhill and we had several miles of downhill. In most cases that sounds superb. The effort of downhill running usually feels easier than uphill, however, it is killer on your quads, and I was feeling the effects of the previous day with each step down. We were now away from homes, enjoying trees and solitude. I could only see a couple runners in front of me and that would be my view for the remainder of the marathon.

 It was a nice little marathon, the aid stations were regular and a few spots on the course a woman had a tray of candies/bars to keep us refueled. All the volunteers were kind and supportive, but there was a lot of time on the road without a single soul around.

 Funny little tavern I passed along the way

I found myself struggling through the middle miles a lot. I think my body was just flat out tired, and knowing I still had quite a few miles to go fizzed my motivation.  The trees were beautiful and I enjoyed the peacefulness of a lone run, but I guess that alone wasn't enough to energize me.

At one point another runner passed me and as he did I saw him reach into his pocket, take out a twenty dollar bill and hand it to me to donate for Lani. I caught up with him and come to find out he had also run Freedom's Run the day before! We chatted for a bit and then kept on with our own pace. I got the chance to talk with a very few other runners on the course, the rest of the time it was just me and the road.

Running alone can be challenging and good. It gives you lots of time to think, reflect and absorb the world around you. It also means you don't have much to distract you from the miles and miles you have left to run. I tried to keep my mind busy and ignore my watch. Eventually we started coming back to town and with just 3 miles left to go I found renewed energy. There were more people out to cheer us on and that was another great motivator for the last couple miles. I picked up my pace and found myself feeling awesome, even passing runners in that final stretch.

 Beautiful church around mile 24

Like the day before, we turned into a stadium for the finish line and as I looked at the clock I had to smile. I finished in 4:25, giving myself a huge "negative split" from my time the previous day in 4:43!

I have run over 60 lifetime marathons and have never ever gotten a post race massage at the finish line, but today I did. There was no line and I figured with having the 3 hour drive back home, the stretching would do my muscles some good.

As I laid on the massage table, I heard my name called over the intercom. Apparently I had come in 2nd place for my age group. I knew it was a small race, but I didn't think it was that small! When the full results were posted a few days later my 2nd place didn't seem quite like a victory as I saw that there was only me and one other woman in my age group, but all the same I was quite happy with my time.

 My medals

I'm recovery bound for another week, another double and 2 more orphans. Let's hope this coming weekend turns out just as well!

"It is more blessed to give than to receive" - Jesus (Acts 20:35)

Final Race Stats:

4:25:23 - final time

54 out of 66 overall

9 out of 14 women

2nd for age group (25-29)