{"id":20641,"date":"2013-11-05T11:15:34","date_gmt":"2013-11-05T16:15:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/?p=20641"},"modified":"2016-07-14T16:02:34","modified_gmt":"2016-07-14T20:02:34","slug":"lessons-learned-running-100-marathons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/fitness\/lessons-learned-running-100-marathons\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Lessons Learned While Running 100 Marathons"},"content":{"rendered":"

I started running in 2006, and ran my first marathon in Spring 2008 \u2014 motivated largely by the race sponsor, Ben & Jerry\u2019s, and their promise of all-you-can-eat ice cream at the finish line. Two years later, I broke the world record<\/a> as the youngest woman to run a marathon in all 50 states\u2026 but I didn\u2019t stop there. This weekend, I ran my 100th<\/sup> marathon at the ING New York City Marathon<\/a>, becoming one of the youngest members of the 100 Marathon Club at age 28. I\u2019ve learned a lot over the last 2,600-plus miles, and the things I\u2019ve discovered have helped me in both running and, more generally, in life. Here are my top 10 takeaways from going the distance 100 times (and counting!).<\/p>\n

\"Laura1. Judge the effort, not the distance. <\/b>My first goal, back in 2006, was to run one mile without stopping. It honestly took me two months to train to do that, and I completed my first 5K \u2014 with walk breaks \u2014 a month later. I was so proud of myself that I thought it was basically an Ironman \u2014 three miles seemed so<\/i> far to me at the time! Sometimes people tell me that they are \u201cjust\u201d doing the half-marathon or the 5K.\u00a0 But it\u2019s never \u201cjust\u201d any distance; it\u2019s personal to you, and it\u2019s a huge accomplishment to push yourself out of your personal comfort zone.<\/p>\n

2. You can do anything for 10 minutes! <\/b>After graduating college, I started doing a race or long run every weekend \u2014 graduating from the 5K to 5-milers all the way up to 10 miles. I wasn\u2019t training for anything in particular, but it just didn\u2019t seem that hard to go only a single mile further than I had gone before. I still use this philosophy when I\u2019m coaching pace groups in a marathon<\/a>, reminding them to just try to make it to the next mile marker. Usually in 10 minutes, you start to feel better anyway!<\/p>\n

3. Without a goal, you\u2019ll get nowhere. <\/b>Running marathons made me commit to training, traveling and running months in advance \u2014 even if I didn\u2019t much feel like it when the time came (though my mood usually perked up once I got out there!). Having a larger goal in mind helped me push through when the going got tough \u2014 something that eventually helped me break a world record.<\/p>\n

4. Positive attitude is everything. <\/b>While physical training is incredibly important (and I\u2019m not going to argue that you can run a marathon without it!), your mental state can shift your final time by as much as 20 percent. My fastest races haven\u2019t been on the easiest courses or when I felt the best rested, they happened when I woke up feeling great and excited about the day ahead. Even if you miss your \u201cA\u201d goal, see if there\u2019s an alternate \u201cB\u201d goal (like not walking up the final hill) that will still give you something to strive for \u2014 and help you maintain your positivity.<\/p>\n

5. There\u2019s more than one way to quantify a race.<\/b> When I ran the 2010 Disney Marathon<\/a>, I didn\u2019t care about my time \u2014 I wanted to get pictures with as many characters as I could along the route. When people asked \u201chow did the marathon go?\u201d I responded with, \u201cI got 119 pictures!\u201d Running the fastest isn\u2019t the only (or even always the best) way to enjoy a marathon.<\/p>\n

6. One person\u2019s success doesn\u2019t mean another\u2019s failure.<\/b> Your friend might be disappointed to run a 3:05 marathon instead of going sub-3, while you\u2019re thrilled to finish under five hours. But you can both support each other and share in each other\u2019s successes (yay!) and failures (break out the H\u00e4agen-Dazs).<\/p>\n

\"Laura<\/p>\n

7. Helping someone else to reach their dreams can be just as much fun as reaching them yourself<\/b>. <\/b>I\u2019ve worked as a coach and have also served as an official pace team leader at over a dozen marathons. There\u2019s nothing more rewarding than encouraging someone else to do more than they thought possible \u2014 and then seeing the smile on his or her face when they realize they\u2019re stronger than they think they are. Even when I\u2019m not an official pacer, I\u2019ve always talked to people and made friends along the way in my marathons. Smile at those you see on an out-and-back, or see if you can talk someone who\u2019s walking into running along with you for company.\u00a0 Friends make everything better!<\/p>\n

8. Sometimes it\u2019s just not your day \u2014 and you need to know when to quit.<\/b> My 35th marathon was in Newport, RI, and the 2009 race<\/a> featured 40 mph winds, 40-degree temperatures and pouring rain. I stopped at the halfway point to warm up, forgetting that when my muscles cooled down I\u2019d be colder than before, and then was shaking too badly to continue. It was a tough decision, but I\u2019m so glad I dropped out<\/a> instead of jeopardizing future races. Instead\u2026 I went back<\/a> to Rhode Island a month later to run a six-hour ultramarathon \u2014 and covered 33 miles in that time. I also went back once again in 2010<\/a> for redemption on the original Newport course, nailing my 4th<\/sup> fastest finish ever.<\/p>\n

9. Don\u2019t be constrained by your plan; live in the moment and do what feels right.<\/b> When I headed to Alaska for my 24th<\/sup> marathon, everything went wrong<\/a>: I missed my original flight, had delays on my new flight, and arrived in town at 2 a.m. just five hours before the start of the race. I didn\u2019t expect to do well, so I didn\u2019t really look at my watch when I started running. Halfway through, I realized I was on track for a PR \u2014 and to beat Sarah Palin\u2019s time on the same course. I started chanting \u201cBeat Palin\u201d to myself as I ran, and ended up doing just that \u2013 as well as finishing my first sub-4 hour marathon and winning 3rd<\/sup> place in my age group.<\/p>\n

10. Finally, remember that<\/b> the finish line isn\u2019t what it\u2019s all about<\/b>. When I was going for the world record, my 50th<\/sup> state was almost a bit of a letdown. So many marathons had gone into this goal that despite the fabulous party my friends and family threw for me, the finish was somewhat anticlimactic. It really proved the point that life is about the journey, not the destination \u2014 and that\u2019s proven true of each and every marathon I\u2019ve run.<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s next? I haven\u2019t yet wanted to commit to doing 200 marathons or even 150, preferring for the time being to take a bit of time to bask in the glow of my accomplishment. But I\u2019m sure there will be another goal, more running adventures, and inevitably a few more marathons along the way. To stay up to date, visit my blog at www.50by25.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At age 28, Laura Skladzinski has run 100 marathons \u2014 and isn’t stopping there. Find out the biggest lessons learned along those 2,600-plus miles in this inspiring guest post. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":20648,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,24,6],"tags":[104,111,103,108,341,357],"class_list":["post-20641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cardio","category-exercise","category-fitness","tag-goals","tag-marathon","tag-motivation","tag-running","tag-tax1living-well","tag-tax2running"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20641\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}