Here's how it went down... About 8 weeks ago Scott came to me and said, "I'm going to run the Rochester Marathon this year". We really hadn't been running much this summer except for a handful of 5k's, and as super human as, I still thought he was crazy. I knew I was out. I was about to start the Ultimate Reset where I wouldn't be able to workout for 3 weeks. No training and no runs mean no marathon for me, and I was more than happy to go as a spectator.
Fast forward to two weeks ago. It was the annual Toronto Vegetarian Food Festival and we drove up for our 3rd year in a row. This year we were excited to get to see Rich Roll speak. For those of you who don't know, Rich Roll is a vegan ultra marathoner and ultra triathlete. He has overcome amazing obstacles in his life and didn't even get back in the training scene until he was 40 years old. He has a new book out called Finding Ultra and as we watched him speak that night it was hard not to leave motivated.
So what do I do? I sign up for a 1/2 marathon from my phone in the car on the way home... and it's in 2 weeks. I was going to run the Rochester 1/2 Marathon while Scott did the full. I had done 1/2 marathons before, this was going to be my 5th, but I had trained for all the others. I hadn't ran more than 3 miles since the Buffalo Marathon this past May, and I hadn't run at all in almost a month because of the Ultimate Reset, but I had it all figured out. I was going to get in four good runs, a 3-miler, a 5-miler, a 7-miler and a 10-miler. Perfect!
Well, I should have known, nothing ever goes as planned. The day of the 1/2 marathon comes and I had done 2 runs, just the 3-miler and the 5-miler. I was already signed up so I figured I'd just go and limp through it and try to enjoy it as much as I could.
The morning of the Rochester Marathon Scott's GPS watch took it's final breath. Perfect timing. I gave my GPS watch to Scott since he was actually trained and running for a good time, and I was going to run with my iPhone. I had a little over an hour on the drive to Rochester to get my phone ready with a playlist and to make sure I had a running app that would work.
Scott took off at 7:30am with the other runners doing the full marathon, and I was off and running 15 minutes later with the rest of the 1/2 marathoners. I was one mile into it and feeling pretty good.... and then it hit me... I have my iPhone... I can Instagram! Instagram is my newest little addiction (and if you'd like to follow me I'm @juliehendersonfitness). So it began, while running I snapped a shot of the crowd in front of me and along with a slew of others, I hashtagged #mile1. Two miles later, #mile3. I did this every mile or two until I realized... I seriously only have about 3 miles to go! I was having so much fun running while Instagraming that it totally took my mind off the race! I took a picture of my shadow while running on the towpath of the Erie Canal, of a guy in a gorilla suit with a blue cape cheering on the crowd, even the winner of the full marathon passing me at mile 13.
While it was one of my slowest 1/2's ever (only faster than my 1st 1/2) it was one of the most fun 1/2's I've ever done and I was surprisingly walking much better than most after. I'm still not sure how I pulled it off and still felt so good, but I can only imagine it's from a combo of (mostly) clean eating and just coming off of the Ultimate Reset.
As for Scott? In true Scott super human fashion he PR'd (Personal Record) his previous full marathon time by a few minutes and finished strong in under 4 hours!
Fast forward to two weeks ago. It was the annual Toronto Vegetarian Food Festival and we drove up for our 3rd year in a row. This year we were excited to get to see Rich Roll speak. For those of you who don't know, Rich Roll is a vegan ultra marathoner and ultra triathlete. He has overcome amazing obstacles in his life and didn't even get back in the training scene until he was 40 years old. He has a new book out called Finding Ultra and as we watched him speak that night it was hard not to leave motivated.
So what do I do? I sign up for a 1/2 marathon from my phone in the car on the way home... and it's in 2 weeks. I was going to run the Rochester 1/2 Marathon while Scott did the full. I had done 1/2 marathons before, this was going to be my 5th, but I had trained for all the others. I hadn't ran more than 3 miles since the Buffalo Marathon this past May, and I hadn't run at all in almost a month because of the Ultimate Reset, but I had it all figured out. I was going to get in four good runs, a 3-miler, a 5-miler, a 7-miler and a 10-miler. Perfect!
Well, I should have known, nothing ever goes as planned. The day of the 1/2 marathon comes and I had done 2 runs, just the 3-miler and the 5-miler. I was already signed up so I figured I'd just go and limp through it and try to enjoy it as much as I could.
The morning of the Rochester Marathon Scott's GPS watch took it's final breath. Perfect timing. I gave my GPS watch to Scott since he was actually trained and running for a good time, and I was going to run with my iPhone. I had a little over an hour on the drive to Rochester to get my phone ready with a playlist and to make sure I had a running app that would work.
Scott took off at 7:30am with the other runners doing the full marathon, and I was off and running 15 minutes later with the rest of the 1/2 marathoners. I was one mile into it and feeling pretty good.... and then it hit me... I have my iPhone... I can Instagram! Instagram is my newest little addiction (and if you'd like to follow me I'm @juliehendersonfitness). So it began, while running I snapped a shot of the crowd in front of me and along with a slew of others, I hashtagged #mile1. Two miles later, #mile3. I did this every mile or two until I realized... I seriously only have about 3 miles to go! I was having so much fun running while Instagraming that it totally took my mind off the race! I took a picture of my shadow while running on the towpath of the Erie Canal, of a guy in a gorilla suit with a blue cape cheering on the crowd, even the winner of the full marathon passing me at mile 13.
While it was one of my slowest 1/2's ever (only faster than my 1st 1/2) it was one of the most fun 1/2's I've ever done and I was surprisingly walking much better than most after. I'm still not sure how I pulled it off and still felt so good, but I can only imagine it's from a combo of (mostly) clean eating and just coming off of the Ultimate Reset.
As for Scott? In true Scott super human fashion he PR'd (Personal Record) his previous full marathon time by a few minutes and finished strong in under 4 hours!
 On the tow path of the Erie Canal around mile 8 of the 1/2 Marathon |  Scott finishing the Rochester Marathon |
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