7 marathons, 7 continents, 7 days
Maintaining motivation when the goal keeps getting further and further away
I can’t believe a year has passed already! One year ago, in this exact moment, I had just finished my 5th marathon in less than 6 days, and I was about to board a plane from Spain to Brazil and attempt to run another 2 marathons in under 24 hours. The goal: to run 7 marathons on 7 continents in 7 days (or 168 hours).
As to be expected with travel, we faced several UNEXPECTED travel delays and challenges. We were behind schedule. As I sat on on a bus headed to the airport in Madrid, my friends were already on their way to Miami to meet me for my final marathon. I could not wrap my head around the fact that I would see them in less than 24 hours… but, at the same time, I had to travel to 2 continents and run 2 marathons before that would happen!
I had this crazy, massive goal! I had been training for over 2 years. Throughout my training, several factors outside my control delayed the race start by several months. I had prepared to start my journey in November of 2021; however, world travel was still really challenging at that time. So, the race directors pushed the start back to February of 2022. I was trained and ready to go. Now what?! Thankfully, my coach helped me find an upcoming race as an opportunity to test my fitness, and then take some time to reset! I was blown away when I ended up with a 30 minute personal record for that marathon! Seeing how much faster I'd gotten helped to invigorate me. I was excited to get back to training and take on the 7-7-7!
With less than a month til “go time", we still did not know whether we could travel into Australia. Yet again, the race was rescheduled. This time, we would start in October of 2022. Not a huge deal to me this time. I had qualified for the Boston Marathon at my last race, so I had something fun to work towards! After Boston, I would take a short break, then start to ramp up those miles again. I needed to be sure I was ready to run 7 marathons in 7 days!
The summer came, and I hit the peak of my training - frequently waking up at 2:30am to run 3 hours before a 6:30am business meeting. I thrived on this training! Every time I had a crazy early morning or an especially tough training day, I reminded myself that “I GET to do this!” The goal was scary and exciting. I’d already seen so much growth and improvement! I felt like a badass. That’s how I fell in love with the process!
But, no matter how much you prepare, there will always be factors outside your control. At the end of August, during the peak of my training, just weeks before I was scheduled to fly to Cape Town, and after one of those 3 hour runs that started at 2:30am, I returned home to an email that the race had yet again been delayed. We would now start on January 31, 2023. This news devastated me!! How could I keep training like this for another 4 months?!?! I was physically and emotionally exhausted. I had been pushing through because I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. And now, as that light got dimmer and further away, I had to keep going!
I immediately texted my coach - not even considering it was 5:30 am - and she talked me off the ledge. Once again, she helped me find a fun goal race to pour my energy into. Then, she gave me a full month off. She knew I needed a mental and physical reset. This recovery period only got me even more amped up for the actual race! I was ready. I could do this!
Enter January 2023. I hit a peak week of around 100 miles. And, then, we began the taper. I used the extra time to organize my packing list and focus on my nutrition. I had planned the 10 days before the race as a vacation - exploring Cape Town and just relaxing!
But, holy shit! It was so hard to relax in those days leading up to the race. I was equally excited and terrified! So many people outright told me what I was about to attempt was “impossible.” My dad even BEGGED me not to do the race. He was sure I would die! He was sure he and my mom would have heart attacks from their stress of just watching me attempt from the comfort of their home in Florida. It’s easy to second guess yourself when you have all these negative thoughts going through your head. I focused on my mediation and journaling practice. I focused on my breath work. I focused on staying present. I focused on the things I can control. Because, at the end of the day, the only thing we can control is how we show up: that’s the effort we put in and how we react to what happens to us.
This is the lesson that got me to the starting line! This is the lesson that carried me through…
