When I ran my first half marathon in January, I missed my time goal by only a few seconds. That was no problem, especially since I think it’s good to set goals that lie just on the cusp of achievable or not. The concerning part of that race was the fact that I crossed the finish line barely able to go any farther. It was a tough run, on a difficult course, under the tiring circumstances of just having returned from Antarctica two days earlier. Overall, I was proud of what I accomplished, but I left the race feeling like I was nowhere close to the 26.2 miles I’ll need to run at the marathon in November. Even though I had made it half the distance, I didn’t feel like I was halfway towards my goal.
That race on January 26 was a defining moment in my path towards the 2025 NYC Marathon. I was humbled by the experience, and doubt crept in. I never expected it will be easy to run the marathon, but until that day, I was riding the momentum of one success after another in this running journey to a place of what may have been unwarranted confidence. That race brought back the feeling of pain I used to get from even shorter runs, and it made me realize there’s so much more I need to do to be ready for November. As a result, I dedicated myself to training harder and running more as I approached the next milestone in my marathon journey – the 2025 Brooklyn Half Marathon.
The race was Saturday May 17, but there’s so much more to the story than just race day. It’s a story of how I am learning this all as I make my way towards my first ever marathon.
Training
As I mentioned, I’ve been training harder. My priority has been to log more miles. Sometimes by running more often and other times by running longer distances. In 2024, as I discovered that I could make the 2025 marathon a goal, I ran a total of 39 times throughout the year for a total distance of 143 miles. This year – after just five months – I’ve run 38 times for 178 miles.
Another objective is not to sacrifice strength training. Admittedly, I haven’t lived up to this as much as I should. I have sometimes sacrificed that extra day in the gym for fun stuff like climbing or golfing. But those sacrifices can also have consequences . . .
Injury
For the past ten years, I’ve been working on achieving a body that could run without pain, but achieving one that can run 26.2 miles is a different beast. Which brings me to what happened just three weeks before the Brooklyn Half . . .
On April 26, while in Florida to take my dad to his first Pearl Jam show, I went for a short run the morning of the concert. It didn’t have to be a long one since I knew I’d spend that night jumping up and down to the soundtrack of my life for my dad to finally see. Nothing noteworthy happened during the run, but my knee was sore afterwards. Not the biggest deal, I thought. That is, until I took that first jump when the band picked up the pace with Given to Fly and said, “Oh shit!” I couldn’t jump, and I was in way more pain than I had realized. Dad didn’t know any better as I raised my arms, sang with the crowd, and bobbed up and down, but I knew something was wrong, and it scared me.
Sure, I had the half marathon coming up just three weeks later, but that wasn’t my biggest concern. I could skip that race just fine, and I’d only be sad to be missing out on the experience. What really hit me was how fragile this goal of the marathon is. It’s lying on a razors edge balancing training, health, and luck. Anything can happen between now and November even if I train perfectly. After this injury hit me, doubts crept in about whether I will ever run the marathon.
Treatment
For the next few days after hurting my knee, the pain would not subside, and I knew that the Brooklyn Half Marathon was in jeopardy. That was ok. I’d do whatever I needed to do for the NYC Marathon, including skipping this race – or walking off it in the middle – if I had to. But I still wanted to run it, and most of all, I needed to heal.
I went for acupuncture, hyperbaric oxygen, ice baths, and applied the best CBD balm throughout the day. These remedies have worked miracles for me before, and this time turned out to be no different. I felt remarkable improvement after the first acupuncture session, and after the next one a week later, I was optimistic again – not just about the NY Marathon but about running the Brooklyn Half. So, the day after that second acupuncture session, I ran again. For the next two weeks, I kept my runs shorter and slower, just hoping to get through each one pain free. And I did. Just two days before the race I knew that I felt better than I did before I had even realized I was injured.
Preparing for Race Day
My prep for this race day was a stark contrast to the half I ran in January. Two days before that race I was flying back from Antartica, and the day before, I was catching up on sleep and ice baths. With this race, I planned out my runs, including a shakedown run the day before the half. A note here is that I never knew before that you are supposed to do a light 10- to 20-minute run the day before a long race. But I not only spent the lead up to this race researching everything, I also asked my running mentors all about their processes.
Thanks to my research, I properly monitored my hydration, altered my diet and carb intake appropriately, and came prepared with the supplements I needed for race day. I was ready!
