My Running Journey (Pt. V)

Before I begin, the world has felt cruel and unjust. I'm attaching some resources to donate, if you're able:
- Gaza Emergency Funds - check out organizations here.
- Support hotlines for LGBTQIA+ folks are at risk - Donate to The Trevor Project here.
- Immigrant Communities are at risk - Visit Immigrant Defense Project here.

Hello friends,
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It's been a minute! From completing my 60Mindful challenge, to then persevering through 75Hard, I've taken a bit of time away from the monthly blog schedule.

​It's been 8 months since my last running update, and there have been some neat running milestones I wanted to write about! When I last checked in, I had knocked out a couple more races and have been upping the mileage in preparation for my first marathon. I'm proud to share that since the last post, I've PRed in my 5k, and have hit a sub-30 minute time twice in local races. But in this post, I'm wanting to focus on some of the bigger distance achievements, since that's normally the primary goal for me. Here's how things have been going since October:

I Ran My First Marathon

   It wasn't anything fancy. I didn't enter into an event, I didn't have spectators. I picked a date in early december, and my buddy Cooper and I set off to hit a marathon distance. Cooper prefers trekking, but still treks pretty damn fast. I had already prepped with a 20 mile run the month prior to this, so I learned approximately when to expect my calves to hurt, when I'd start hitting a wall, when I might start blistering (i.e. I'd be changing my socks). So come marathon day, I felt prepared. Sometimes before big runs like this, I just make sure I'm prepared and I set off before I have time to overthink. We definitely started this run later in the morning than I wanted, and with it being December, we were fighting the sunset towards.

   I remember during my 20 mile prep, that mile 18 was where my wall was. This time, however, I made sure to invest in calf sleeves and extra socks so I could prevent (or at least hold off) that wall for as long as I could. My wall didn't truly show up until mile 20 this time. I felt strong enough, but the walk/running definitely picked up at that 20 mile mark. I luckily had Jordan show up, with some extra fuel, and he finished the final 10k (6.2 miles) distance with me. It was his longest run at that point, and he helped me finish strong. We waited for Cooper to complete his marathon, which was a bit delayed since he slipped on some ice early on, but it was such a major achievement and I'm happy to have had a small but supportive squad through it.
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I Ran My First Ultra-Marathon

   In march, I ran my first ultra-marathon. It's true what people say--once you run a marathon, you keep coming back. The race I signed up for was an 8hr race, where we're looping a mile course repeatedly and racking up as many miles as possible within that time. There were folks also signed up for 24hrs and 48hrs in that same race, so major kudos to them. Mathematically, I should've been able to hit 37 miles in 7 hrs, based off my marathon average mile pace. But when I took off, my anxiety was already sky high. I had such a hard time getting my heartrate to a lower place, so I started walk/running from about mile 4. I cried a couple of times out of frustration, that's for sure. I didn't do full stops too often at all. But just the sheer annoyance at the fact that I felt such a disconnect with my mind and body was bringing me down. By the end, with support from my buddies (and fellow participants in the 8hr race), I clocked in at 30 miles for this race.


   It feels funny to be self concious at my performance, since in itself I know logically that 30 miles is already a major achievement. But my biggest goal in these races is to feel accomplished. My anxiety is typically pretty low when I'm by myself, on the bike path, like how I completed my marathon. But I'm trying to desensitize and lower the pressure on myself a bit. I need to crack the code. I'm grateful that this loop was flat, because I was surprisingly not too sore afterwards.
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I Ran The Flying Pig Half Marathon

   This wasn't even originally on my mental list of races to do, especially since I'm not as familiar with Cincinnati culture (Jordan's still teaching me new things all the time). But when I first met Jordan, we talked about hopes and dreams, bucket list items. One of his goals that he mentioned was completing the Flying Pig Half Marathon. So about a year into us knowing each other, for our first Christmas together, I registered us for the 2025 Flying Pig Half Marathon. He had a running background through the heat of covid, but it was about just getting back into it. He crushed five-ish months of training and we both had amazing energy during this race. It was such a blast, and it was my first largely populated race I've entered. The hills weren't as frightening as I thought they'd be, and I coached myself to stay strong as I climbed each one. But the miles went by quickly, the crowd showed such amazing support, and I also got to unite with some buddies from run club at the end of the race. I'm very, very proud of Jordan and myself to knocking this one out. Also this was a PR for me, and Jordan set a PR for himself. So onto the next one!
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I Completed A Trail Half Marathon

   This one hurt. This race happened two weeks ago, and I had a similar feeling to the 8hr race. I ran this with my buddy Micaela (and I'm glad I did, since we were hearing some creepy noises once it got dark). I felt pretty strong in the first 9 miles--typical inclines here and there, a swing bridge, some asphault and plenty of woods. But once we hit that mile 9, that's where the major hills started. This course is notorious for having rolling hills in the second half (I've only partaken in the 10k on this race in the past, so I did an out and back on the flatter half only). I started to really ache, all down my legs to my feet. I was just frustrated at how much walking I did, and how slow I felt. It's still a major achievement, I understand, but it was again one of those races where I didn't feel as satisfied with the outcome since I felt like my body was going against my brain. I want to come back swinging and really overcome those hills. At least it puts a goal in mind.
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What's Next?

   My aim is to fight through the anxiety and the mental wall on races like these. I want to hit huge numbers one day, and it starts here. I'm planning to sign up for more and more hilly courses, I even signed up for one last minute for this weekend. I also am aiming to do some majorly intentional heat training. I have a 50k race (31 miles) scheduled in August, so this is something my heat training and my mental toughness improvement plan (I'm unofficially calling it) will be in the forefront of my brain.


Thank you guys so much for checking in, and remember to check out the resources at the top of the page. Stand up for what's right, stand up for the folks who can't. We need community now more than ever.

Keep on grinning!

Lydia