During 2022, I had the opportunity to coach at CrossFit Westwood whom I share a building with. While coaching really was not on my radar at the time, it gave me a way to share my love of fitness and running with others. After giving birth to my son, I had to adjust what all I could handle in terms of job requirements. I stepped back from coaching and stepped into my role as a mom. However, as I returned to work from maternity leave, I felt like something was missing from my day to day. This is where the idea of starting a run club came about.
Running has always been something that I am passionate about. As a child, it provided me with so much joy and energy expenditure. As an adolescent, it gave me comfort and time to escape. And as an adult, it does all these things and more. I decided when getting back to fitness after my son, I wanted a goal. The first idea that popped into my head was getting back to running.
In 2020, I ran my first full marathon. Unfortunately, due to COVID, this was an unorganized event. My actual scheduled race was canceled, twice. Regardless, I stuck to my training plan and I completed the distance. But part of me never really felt like I accomplished this goal.
Flash forward to 2023, newly postpartum, I decided it was time to try again. Only this time, I wanted a team behind me. Thus, the creation of the Imagine Performance Therapy Run Club!
In October of 2023, I launched Imagine Performance Therapy’s Inaugural Run Club. I welcomed runners of all levels but tailored our training plan to completing the half marathon or full marathon distances. For myself, I had two races in mind. I would complete the BMW Dallas half marathon in December of 2023 and the Ascension Seton Hall Austin Full Marathon in February of 2024. Whoever wanted to join me on the ventures was more than welcome!
On our first run club meeting we had over 20 people show up to run! I was so pumped! There is nothing I love more than meeting others who are interested in taking on distance running or just enjoy having a group to train with! October was a great month of training together, we had so many people consistently show up and many experience their first long run over a 30 minute duration!
As we settled into Texas “fall” numbers dwindled some. Unfortunately, this is where I often see people shy away from training for a road race. Inconsistent weather in Texas can often make it less than enjoyable to wake up at 5AM to hit the pavement. But a good group of us stayed the course. The Saturday long runs soon became my favorite runs of the week. Even with many of us running different paces, it was so fun to start and reconnect with the group post run. Accountability does wonders for staying on track with a training plan. This is something I preach to my patients daily!
As December approached, a group of us were gearing up to run the BMW Dallas Half Marathon. I, myself, felt pretty prepared, however, I was definitely under recovered. Anyone else ever trained for a half marathon in the thick of a sleep regression with your 6-7 month old? Probably not my brightest idea! But come race day I was pleasantly surprised but what my body could handle. I went out there and I maintained a pace faster than I intended and walked away feeling great. However, that was not the best part. The best part was the other runners who thanked me for showing them what a structured training plan could do for their running. Multiple runners were able to negative split their half marathon and hit new personal bests! This is where my love for coaching really returned.
Following the BMW Dallas Half Marathon, it was time to shift gears and begin prep for the Austin Full Marathon, while also providing tailored training to those running the Cowtown Half and Full Marathons at the end of February. For a handful of runners in our group, Cowtown would end up being their first official half marathon. For myself and one other, the Austin Marathon would be our first official full marathon! The excitement was brewing!
Since October, I had been creating the training plan to lead everyone to these end goals. To say I had no doubt about my programming would be a lie. I have always had a degree of imposter syndrome. I really wanted to see my training plan not only allow individuals to finish the race, but hit the goal times that they were shooting for! I continued to tweak and modify the plan as we settled into the holiday season and embarked on the new year.
With the start of 2024, our group had definitely become quite a bit smaller. I tried to not get too in my head about the number of people attending our runs, and focused on the individuals who continued to show up and express their enjoyment of the run club and programming. We had just 6 weeks until the Austin races and 7 weeks until Cowtown. This is the part of any marathoner’s training that can get quite lonely. But not this time, this time we had a small but mighty group to support each other on some of the most grueling training runs yet.
Now here is where things got a little frustrating for me. At the end of January, I had what felt like some peroneal tendonitis pop up. So far throughout the training, I had avoided any form of overuse injury. I felt like I had done a great job of listening to my body and modifying training outside of my runs appropriately. However, the overuse bug got me regardless. Even PTs can miss some warning signs. I did what I could on my own as a PT for symptom management and rehab, I even skipped a few runs. But, symptoms were not going away. I was fearful of the worst, a stress fracture. I reached out to an orthopedic friend of mine and had him take a look. I needed to know just how much harder I could push my body, or if I had truly missed some big warning signs. The good news was, there was no evidence of fracture on X-ray. The bad news was, I had all the hallmark signs of a stress reaction (the beginning of a potential stress fracture). So I did what I really had hoped would not have to happen. I completely bailed on my run club for a full week.
As the leader of the group, missing a group run or two is a part of life. Completely bailing for a full week made me feel like a bad leader and coach. However, the group I had been running with was in full support! They gave me words of encouragement and told me that hoped for the best outcome and that I would still make it to race day. Flash forward to a week out from race day. I was back in business! My foot was not 100% but I no longer had pain with walking and the swelling was completely gone. With just 3 days till race day, I was able to get one final training run in with two of my most dedicated running buddies!
And now, it was time to head to Austin. When my husband, son and I arrived in Austin for packet pick up, the nerves started to settle in. Was I prepared? Was my training plan enough? Would my son sleep at our Airbnb? Would my foot make me drop out of the race before 26.2 miles? There were so many doubts that crossed my mind, however then I remembered that I had already accomplished so much leading up to race day. First, I started a run club. I gave free access to fitness to the Fort Worth community for 5 months! Second, I stuck with the plan. I trained religiously for 5 months along side many others. Third, I trained and ran for a bigger purpose. I had raised over $1,000 for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. I was making an impact, even if it was just a small one on another community of individuals.
Race day arrived and I woke up with so much excitement! I had a great night sleep, I felt so much energy already flowing, and I was more than ready to hit the pavement for a few uninterrupted hours of running! As I joined the crowd at the start line, I could feel my adrenaline settling in. I was ready to go! And with the pop of the gun, we were off! I could not of asked for better weather. It was in the 30’s at the start but the temperature stayed below 50 for the entire race. This allowed me to stay cool and kept my hydration on point. My original plan starting out was to stick with the 3:25 finish pace group. However, I quickly realized that I had a faster pace in me. Before I knew it, we were through mile 8 and I was running under 7:30/mile pace, and I felt strong.
During the race, I kept telling myself to focus on what I could control. My nutrition, my hydration, my stride and my pace. I tried to avoid thinking about all the hills, the separation between me and the next runner, and where the heck I was in relation to the finish line. Along, the race course, I encountered multiple other runners that stayed in close proximity to each other for the last half of the race. It was very motivating to have someone pushing just as hard as you were, smiling and enjoying the process along the way. Another thing that kept me going was the crowd. This was something I did not have in 2020. In 2020, it was me, my husband and a single friend to guide the last 10 miles of the run. The Austin Marathon provided so much support from mile 1 to mile 26.2 with a crowd constantly reaching out for high fives, holding up funny signs and shouting words of encouragement. Definitely made me think twice about stopping and walking. Which I did not do!
When I decided to sign up for Austin, I had many people tell me that it was a really tough course and lots of hills. I knew this coming in. I can tell you now, this was definitely true. The first 5k was a steady uphill climb, with mile 8, 12, 19 and finally mile 26 being some very steep hills to climb! As I hit mile 26, this was the only point in the race that I felt like I might need to walk. But this was also the point of the race where I knew both my husband and son were standing there waiting for me to sprint to the finish, so that is exactly what I did! I came blazing across the line in 3 hours and 17 minutes. I had successfully held a sub 7:30/mile pace for the entire 26.2. Something that one of my run club buddies had told me he though I was capable of. I heard his voice many times throughout the race as I checked my pace on my watch.
After I crossed the finish line in Austin, although completely exhausted, I was so invigorated by the success of the race. I knew I did not do this alone. So, I sent a message to the run club thanking each and every one of them for being a part of my journey.
Training for a marathon can tell you a lot about yourself. For me, this marathon helped me understand just how important my community is. From patients, to run club members, to my friends and of course my family, I had so many people showing me support. Yes, a few told me I was crazy, but still told me that I could do it! Marathon training is not starkly different from how it feels to recover from an injury. As much as we want to road to be easy, with no hiccups or accidents. The process is not always a straight path. Often there can be twists and turns along the way. Having a solid support system can really help you reach the end goal. Whether that is returning to exercise from an injury, trying out a new form of exercise for the first time or completing your first marathon, let others be a part of the process. It makes the outcome that much sweeter!
