My Marathon

My long distance running journey began my first year in college. I remember trying to run 1 mile with my roommate; I nearly thought I could die-it was so exhausting for me. The mere thought of running MORE than just 1 mile seemed unbelievable. I could never... The next month or so, three of my college friends and I decided to run down the rows of the Red Rocks amphitheater; it was roughly about 3 miles. For some reason, Red Rocks became a type of "home away from home"; it was my new training ground. I continued to create new routes along the rocks and challenge myself with HIIT (high intensity interval training) exercises. By the end of my freshman year, I was running 3 miles a day about 5-6 days a week. During the beginning of that summer, I had a friend ask me to run a half marathon with her. I was excited and jumped to say yes, but deep down I felt discouraged-thinking..."Corrie, you could NEVER run 13.1 miles". But each week, I was stubborn and determined to reach that goal of 13.1 miles. By the end of the summer I wanted to be able to run 10 miles comfortably- and BY GEORGE I did it! I continued to keep up running long distance, and by Thanksgiving break 2017 I ran my first half marathon! I then decided that my next obstacle would be to run a full marathon.

January 2018 I moved to Switzerland and Hungary which inhibited my abilities to exceed 10 mile runs; although when I moved back home for the summer, I continued to push distance, and I ran my longest distance yet of 15 miles.

In October 2018 I moved to Australia, Uganda, and Greece where my distance was inhibited to 11 mile runs.

During one of my runs in Perth, Australia, I heard God tell me how PROUD He was of my running, and that He didn’t want me to stop (**read other blog for more information). When I was returning home from Perth in April 2019, I was frustrated to be coming home- it seemed like I was a failure for returning to “my mother’s house”. But I felt that God gave me ample time to train for my marathon. He challenged me to be true to my word and follow through (given that I had told many people that I was training for a marathon).

Although...I ended up in the ER about two weeks into being home for severe chest pains; I found out from the chiropractor that my clavicle, right shoulder, both hip sockets, left shin, right Tibia, and both ankles were out of place with multiple ribs puncturing my lungs which was limiting my ability to breath normally. My doctor was amazed that I had even been training as much as I did with all these problems going on.

Needless to say, while I was being put back together, I shaved 5 minutes off my 5 miles time! I then created my own training plan (based off of sports-medical doctor’s advice and articles). For the next 6 weeks- I continued with HIIT workouts, interval mile running, weight lifting, and pushing distance; each week I would add 3-4 miles. (10 miles, 13 miles, 16 miles, 10 miles, 20 miles, week off of long distance, and finally 26.2 miles!)

The week before my marathon, I was saddened that in a week everything I had worked for would be over. But on mile 24 it hit me. I felt God’s pleasure like never before. I felt Him saying how PROUD He was of me and that He didn’t want me to stop running. I nearly started to cry because I realized HOW HARD I had worked for this accomplishment-and I was about to finish it!

June 17th, 2019 I ran my first marathon. I thank God for challenging me and giving me the determination and perseverance to run this race.