Toledo - Glass City Marathon

As I've been writing about in my blog, the injuries since mid-February have really detracted from my training. In long runs that should have been 17 miles or more I was lucky to get in 7 miles. The longest long run leading up to this marathon was 2 weeks previous to the event and only 12 miles, I was supposed to do 20 that day. A majority of my runs came in at 3.5 to 4 miles. I was running in discomfort and doing my best to not cause more injury through taping and post run practices of icing and elevation. 

Needless to say I was nervous for Toledo. I really wanted to run this and devised a mental strategy. I gave myself two thoughts to follow. The first was 'run conservative', be okay with really slow miles, keep your stride short, and don't worry about passing or being passed. Basically to just relax. The second mindset was to rethink how I've handled these things in the past when it comes to distance traveled and left to go. No to get to mile nine and ponder the distance that remains, but rather I would think and say out loud "Okay, just give me another mile. Just one more" at the beginning of each new mile marker. To be honest this worked wonders for me. I knew I severely lacked the training for this run, but I was able to come up with a way to survive and finish. I will be using this mindset in future marathons along with proper long runs.

Lastly the crowd, volunteers, and runners of Toledo are amazing and I can see why this marathon is celebrating its 42nd run. The course is beautiful and smart! Well thought out and full of variety. From straight runs through city streets, aging and well kept neighborhoods, and a gorgeous park, there was never a shortage of interesting sites and enthusiastic supporters. Thank you Toledo, you rock!