Road to 26.2
Thursday, January 9th- 5 weeks, 2 days until I get to run the Austin Marathon
The first long run that I trained for was when we lived in southern Oregon, it was a 15k in the mountains, around a lake up in the woods. I taught with three other teachers who were avid runners, and they talked me into training. I ran, but without a plan for my training or my nutrition. It was my first year teaching, I was coaching JV volleyball at the local high school, as well as planning a wedding for the following summer. My training didn’t go well, shocking I know, and I ended up straining my calf about a week before the race and had to back out.
After that experience, I decided that running over five miles was too hard, it was too much. It was too hard on me to orchestrate my hydration and nutrition. It was too hard on my family. It was too much time away from Luke. It was too hard for me to spend that much time not working and not with my family.
I let myself believe that for a long time.
Last year, when I finished my first half marathon in over a decade, I burst into tears. I ran straight into my husband’s arms and I’ll never forget what he said, “You did it, I love you.” So simple, so supportive. He was so proud of me, so happy for this accomplishment! At the next half marathon, I got through the last two miles (of all hills OMFG) just knowing that I would get to see my husband at the finish line.
This year, when I told him that I was going to run a full marathon, and that it would take a lot of time and weird food and most likely crankiness from me. Luke just said OK. When I showed him my 20-week training plan of four runs and two workouts a week, he just said, “Well, you can do it.”
My husband has never doubted me, questioned me, or even thought twice about the time this takes up in our lives. I have had to cancel attending events for his company, social events, family time, and more. I’ve spent our money on equipment, therapies, fuel, race entries, gear, etc… More than half of our life is taken up with me running or me recovering from running. There is more than enough for a spouse to become annoyed about, my hobby has kind of taken over our lives in this season. Not only has Luke never been upset about any of it, he has been unerringly supportive.
Next weekend, my husband has a big event through his company. It’s a weekend-long event and we generally go and stay in the town of the event for three to four days. It is a very fun event, and it’s an important networking event for the company. When we were going over our calendars together, I realized that this event fell on a weekend where I will have ran a half marathon the previous Sunday, and then have to run 20 miles that Friday of the event weekend. Clearly, that is not only not ideal, but not wise to put that much stress on your body and then attend a weekend-long outdoor event where you’re on your feet basically the entire time. I told Luke all of that, and asked if it was ok if I missed the event this year. He replied that it was fine, that he would miss me, but he knows that I’ll do a good job with my last long run. It blows me away what an amazing partner he is, especially through all of this training. We started dating very young, married young, and I could not have even imagined what an incredible husband and best friend that I would have 21 years later.
Training and running these races has 100% made me a better person, and I hope that I am at least a portion of a terrific partner for my husband, as he is for me. I always jokingly call us #teamschreiner but that is who we are; we are a team, we are a family, we are Team Schreiner.
I hope that y’all have a partner who loves you fully, protects you fiercely, and supports you unwaveringly. You’re worth it, we all are.
Xo,
Ellie
Ellie Schreiner's Blog 