Last night, I announced out loud to my husband and my cat, that I am officially attempting to qualify for the 2020 Olympic Trials Marathon. The thought has crossed my mind many times in the past three years after a handful of my friends, teammates and competitors qualified and ran the 2016 trials in LA. "Yeah, I'll do that eventually," I said. "I have plenty of time."
What I've realized though, a marriage, two mortgages, and a baby later, at thirty years old I'm not getting any younger! Yes, I know, that's ridiculous, thirty by no means is ancient and I am POSITIVE my best marathon years are ahead of me. The Olympics though, only come around every four years and with more kids and responsibilities to come, it is not going to get any easier to accomplish my goal of running in the trials.
What is Your Greatest Accomplishment?
I have never had a job interview that didn't present some form of this question. The answer for me was always easy. After days, months, and years of waking up early and getting runs and workouts in, even when I didn't feel like it, [insert running accomplishment here.] Running wins and successes have always been my go to answers for this question and employers love them. They show that I am goal oriented, a hard worker, persistent, disciplined, and blah blah blah, all the other traits found in a great employee.
Lesser valued accomplishments of mine such as; getting through four years of dating a medical student, being the wife of a surgical resident, growing and carrying a human for nine months (not to mention not drinking for nine months!), birthing that human, leaving my breadwinner career to stay at home and raise that human, having nipples tortured by an electronic pump every two hours for five weeks (and then she finally decided to nurse!); are all right up with those collegiate titles and marathon wins, but are not ones I would use in an interview. The lack of external praise for your efforts as a stay at home mom is one of the toughest parts about the job. You feel like you are working so hard, yet you're not any richer or about to get a promotion anytime soon. As a runner, the lack of internal praise may be even harder for me to bear. Every day is a cycle of feed, change, play, clean, sleep, repeat; all in hopes that I am in the process of raising a person that will one day become a decent and productive human being. I would not change a thing about our decisions to start a family and for me to stay at home, but the relentless and seemingly regressive cycle has been more mentally draining than I ever could have imagined. It has also left me without the one thing that every runner needs - a goal.
A New Goal
Eight months after my daughter was born, I received the opportunity to run in my hometown's greatest event, the Boston Marathon. I ran pretty much through my entire pregnancy, and started back up three weeks postpartum, but I knew I needed a marathon on the calendar to get back to a more consistent training schedule and higher mileage. I claim to have no time goals, (but that's a lie...my goal is under three hours,) and that I just need to run five days a week including a long run. Six weeks after my entry was accepted and five weeks until race day, training has surpassed my expectations and I am feeling stronger than ever!
With this being said, I am a realist and do not expect to run the Women's B standard of 2:45:00 this Patriot's Day. I see this year's Boston Marathon as a practice 26.2 mile run and the opportunity to work on my two greatest hurdles in the marathon; nerves and race day nutrition, (more on that later.) Most importantly though, it will be a day where I will get out there, toe the line in Hopkinton, and celebrate my greatest accomplishment to date, becoming and learning how to be a mother.
This year's Boston Marathon will serve as a major step to my new goal in 2019. As of today, I have exactly nine months to put in the sweat, miles, and mental preparation to cross the line at the California International Marathon in less that 2:45:00!
