The first day of NYC marathon training began on July 4th- one of my favorite days of the year! I was really happy to be home in Atlanta to run the Peachtree Road Race with my family. The only catch- ever since the Queens 10K I hadn’t been feeling 100%. I decided to start the PRR, not push it too hard, and stop if I experienced any terrible pain. Out I went! I love this race SO much and really had a blast running it. I never felt terrible pain so made it all the way through the rolling hills to Piedmont Park. It was a hot day, one of the warmest ever, and taking that into consideration with my body not being 100%, I was pretty happy with my time. I met my brother at the finish and we waited for the rest of the family to complete the race.

Both my brothers, my sister in law, and my parents- YAY! (Dad is 37 years straight, Matt is 25 consecutive years, and mom is 36 total!) 

We chilled at the pool after and I soon noticed my ankle was not feeling great. I hobbled through Hartsfield and LGA back to the City and finally called Custom PT. 

So here I am, three weeks into training, having run a total of about 5 miles. I’m not allowing myself to totally freak out yet. Here’s why:

+Jess isn’t freaking out. At least not to me. My coach is fantastic and has been very supportive. She’s had me doing tons of other cardio- mainly spinning- and strength training. She’s responded to the zillions of emails I send her- at least one every other day, and is always very encouraging. 

+Custom PT is a lifesaver! I’d been hearing (seeing) about them everywhere so was excited to give them a try. They are all not only very friendly and welcoming, but also extremely experienced in working with runners. The worse kind of physical therapist is the one who says, “You know, running just isn’t great for your body.” My reaction to that is- PEACE OUT! Don’t tell someone they can’t do something they love. The lovely ladies of Custom PT know my goals  and have set a custom PT program for me INCLUDING some running. They’re really helping me strengthen those key spots- core, glutes, feet!!, and the massaging there is out of this world 🙂 They use a fantastic app called Training Peaks. It holds me accountable to doing my exercises daily and is super easy to use!

+Lastly, I joined a gym. Why? Because it’s 3 blocks from my house and this:

Heaven. 25 meters. Salt water. While swimming is good cross training, it’s not the best way to keep up my cardio so I’ve been spinning at the gym. This isn’t any usual spin class, it’s like the IMAX of spin classes. It’s funky but different and I’m loving it.

Cruising through a glacier world and conquering super steep hills!

So thanks to all the support from everyone listed above I’m actually feeling really good. Hopefully in my next update I’ll be running closer to 25 hour a week. In the mean time, I feel like I have enough time to prepare and train well, and maybe even snag that PR.