The “word on the street” is coming from one mouth in particular—that of my coach, Jordan. I'm not the most confident person in general, let alone the most confident runner. Coach is trying to instill some confidence in me that I can go out and win a marathon. Realistically, I’m just trying to run a good time that I’m proud of. I'm running the Cheap Marathon because I forgot to sign up for Boston. A lot of people in my close running circles are curious as to how I “forgot” to sign on for the Boston Marathon, arguably the spring marathon in New England. I've run it the past two years by qualifying. I was excited to run it for the first time two years ago, and last year I PR’ed. I pre-registered for this year, but then work and life got in the way. I spent so long trying to qualify for Boston as a new runner that I just took this year for granted and forgot. I’m chalking it up to a learning experience and hope to get back on the cycle of running Boston every year from here on out.
I started running in 2018 after watching the Boston Marathon. That shared group experience of celebrating the runners really motivated me to sign up for a marathon. I had never run a race before, but that didn’t stop me from diving right in. I started with a 10K in the spring and immediately signed up for the Newport Marathon that fall. That was all it took. I ran 3:32 at that race which I was super happy with for my first marathon, but I remember finishing and thinking that I could go faster. I wanted to go faster. I immediately “caught the bug” and signed up for my next marathon in the fall of 2019. Since then, I’ve become more consistent with training, increased my mileage, and I've gone faster every race. Now I'm targeting a sub 2:30 attempt hopefully this fall. Attempting to shave off a full hour from my marathon time has been very motivating.
Well… I take my recovery very seriously. Some would say that my whole life is centered around recovery. I value my beauty sleep above all else. If I don't get nine or ten hours of sleep a night, I'm nonfunctional. I get made fun of for that a lot, but to me it's especially important. Other than that, I spend a lot of time in the gym even though it might not look like it.
SOME WOULD SAY THAT MY WHOLE LIFE IS CENTERED AROUND RECOVERY. I VALUE MY BEAUTY SLEEP ABOVE ALL ELSE. IF I DON'T GET NINE OR TEN HOURS OF SLEEP A NIGHT, I'M NONFUNCTIONAL.
When I first moved to Salem, MA, it was important for me to pick the right gym that fit my personal style. I’m a project manager by day, and in my line of work it’s crucial to do your research. So, yes, at one point in time I had three different memberships to three different establishments. Now it's just down to two.
Oh yeah… Strava is my number one social media platform right now. I’m one of those people who changes the run title of every single run. This usually includes some stupid internet meme or something else completely nonsensical. If it isn't on Strava, then it doesn't count toward your mileage. It never happened.
I moved my brother home from Colorado to Cape Cod, MA. We drove straight through with no stops other than for gas. To track our progress, I did a loop at each gas station and posted it on Strava. I started to look for segments around these gas stations I could take. Much to my chagrin, there aren't many gas station segments in the middle of nowhere; that didn’t stop me from looking, though.
I have two pieces of advice, the first of which is to focus on consistency. More than anything else, consistency is what has helped me the most in my progression. It's easy to get bogged down in the professionals’ workouts and constantly compare yourself to what others are doing on Strava, but slow, careful progression built over time through consistency is the real secret sauce. My second biggest piece of advice is to join a running group. Join the run! I spent so long wanting to join a running group, but I was nervous that I wasn't fast enough or cool enough or whatever. I ran by myself for a long time before finding the Notch Run Club. Running together has honestly made such an enormous difference in my ability as a runner and my enjoyment of the sport.
