One Year to 26.2: One Year to 26.2: Race Day (PART 4 – Lindsey Clark)

This is the fourth in a 4-part series on my journey to training and completing my first marathon. I’ll cover (1) my ‘why’ and training, (2) nutrition, (3) mental preparation, and (4) the stories from race day. For anyone thinking about training for their first marathon, I hope this can inspire you and provide some understanding of what you might experience in your own training journey. 

The Taper

The marathon was December 13^th, and when November came around, my training was peaking and the taper was near. I recall a couple of long runs didn’t go quite as planned, and my last long run was supposed to be 20 miles. I think I made it close to 17 miles and had to call it. When I got home, I wrote in my training journal that I was ‘deeply tired.’ Coach Lana picked up on it and commented that I had likely met my max training load. That made a lot of sense-although the year had been great in a lot of ways, and I had PR’d every race length that year, too, I was honestly getting exhausted. Every week was several days of strength and cross, then a super long run every Saturday, and Sunday was usually devoted to a short shakedown run and rest and recovery. The marathon was on my mind a lot, too, and it was just taking up a lot of space in my life. Looking back, I think it was important to get there, to feel what it was like to get close to race day. As my fitness increases and more events happen this year, I think I’ll learn how to handle it a little differently, but this was my first time experiencing what it was like to get to a peak training load.

Race Day Preparation

When my taper started, I began to really start assembling what I needed for travel and for the race. Talking to Coach Lana prior to the marathon I recall she said, “the marathon should really be just like any other day.” That hit me hard. At first I was like, but this is the big event! This is the culmination of the entire year! But then, it made a lot of sense. Most people will tell you, do everything for race day that you’ve been doing in training. Don’t change anything at all-nothing. Plan the exact same nutrition, wear the same clothes, make sure you are in shoes that you’ve been using for a little while at least. Do all the same things. I did just that-I even packed a loaf of my regular bread, peanut butter, and jelly to make my regular pre-run nutrition that I had been doing for at least a few months at that point. I wore the exact same clothes I was comfortable with. I wore my same vest. Everything down to my socks and underwear was the same as I had been using for long runs. I did pack a lot of extra things just in case. Luckily, the weather was going to be super perfect, but I absolutely had rain gear and everything. I was only traveling for 4 days, but packed a huge suitcase full of stuff. I had all my regular things, but I came prepared. 

One thing that I didn’t quite expect was the taper itself. I wasn’t prepared for how I would feel during that time-I even recall feeling honestly ‘lazy.’ I was still running 6-10 miles on the weekend, but when you have been running double that, it feels really light. I was honestly worried that I wouldn’t be ready, but I learned that you must honor the taper. It’s critical to have that rest and recovery type training prior to a big event, but honestly it did feel really strange. 

T minus 2 days 

The race was on a Saturday, and I left on a Thursday to drive the ~7 hours over to Kiawah. A few notes about that couple days-one thing I did that I think was smart is that I hydrated a LOT those 2 days. I drank probably around 140 oz of water each day on both Thursday and Friday, and I had been hydrating well all that week. On Friday, I stopped fluids around 5 PM-I needed to sleep well and didn’t want to be up all night going to the bathroom. I also carb loaded well both those days. I wouldn’t say I ate a lot of calories, but most of my food intake was carb heavy. I also avoided a lot of alcohol-I had maybe 2-3 drinks a week the last couple months of training, and I think limiting alcohol intake really helped a lot. 

On Friday, I participated in the shakedown run on the island-that was a lot of fun. I really wanted to have the full experience, so I tried to really participate in all the planned activities. There was a group photo and I was able to meet some other runners. I enjoyed that a lot. I also bought the pasta meal that was offered to runners-I picked that up with my race packet and I spent a lot of time at the expo. It was in alignment with what running had really taught me that year-be present. I wanted to take in all the experience. 

Coach Lana had instructed me to try and stay off my feet the remainder of Friday, so I went back to the hotel and just walked down to the beach for a while and sat around the hotel. Early, around 4PM, I ate about half of the pasta meal. It was a gigantic portion! There were carolers in the lobby, so I listened to them, then retired back to my room to prepare. I had to get up around 5 AM to get ready, so I laid down all my clothes, nutrition, and any other items out for the morning. I fully charged my Garmin and my phone. Down to every detail-I even had all the stuff ready for my pbj assembly early in the morning. 

Race Day

One of the things I struggle with is sleep. I don’t typically sleep well at all, and I was worried with all the excitement around the marathon that I wouldn’t get good sleep. But I prepared very early, and honestly around 6:30 PM I lay down in bed. I was very deliberate in trying to settle my mind and rest. When I woke in the morning, I had slept 7 hours, which honestly, I thought was a win. I wish I had slept maybe 10 hours, but it could have been worse, so I’ll take it.

The morning went as planned-everything was ready, so I just showered, dressed, got all my stuff, and went downstairs for a coffee. I shuttled over to the start line in the hotel shuttle-it was great to have a setup where there was a lot of support and infrastructure around the race itself. That might be a consideration when choosing your first race. I opted to participate in the pre-race warm-up right on the beach. I got to catch the sunrise over the Atlantic. It really was perfect, and I recall everything about it. I’m grateful to have experienced it. I ate my pbj one hour prior to race start.

I’ll admit I was nervous. The start of any race is my least favorite part-I don’t enjoy the start line, it’s crowded, I’d been planning a few bathroom breaks and the lines are always long, and I’m just ready to go. This was no different-I was ready to get into the race and into my flow. 

I took the advice very seriously to treat this as any other run. All my runs start with 10-15 min of walking warmup. I knew this would be hard at the start of a race, but I mostly stuck to that. I jogged a little just to get out of the crowd, but I actually started the marathon….walking. It sounds strange, but walking is a strategic part. I had been training with run/walk intervals, so that’s how I was going to finish the marathon. Honestly, I was at mile 6 before I even knew it! Only 20 miles to go.

Most of the race was really spent in the zone. I was heavily focused on presence-feel my body, focus on form, don’t forget my fuel every 30 min. I recall Coach Lana said to recall what music was playing at the start of the race, and I do recall a lot. I didn’t wear headphones the entire time-was just focused on my intervals, which were alerted by my Garmin watch. I was in a steady mindset, and I think it worked well. Most people had told me, mile 18 is where the ‘wall’ starts. So I was anticipating something to happen and the mental game to kick in. I think because I was very steady and consistent, my wall happened later. I recall looking up and seeing the 23 mile marker. Wow! I couldn’t believe it. Mile 23, a 5K left. That’s when my body started talking-my right hip started aching. I was growing more fatigued. My feet were hurting. I started with the mental game hard at that time. Not to sugar coat it, those last 3 miles were rough. I had to fight pretty hard to get through it-my pace slowed and I was looking for the finish line.

I’ll never forget rounding the corner and there were a lot of spectators. I knew the finish was right there. I’ll just….never forget it. 

Post-Race

After crossing the finish line and collecting my medal, I was able to get some spectators to take my picture, and I headed over to the snack line. Honestly, I wasn’t that hungry. That’s typical for me-I just consumed around 600g of carb, and I just wasn’t feeling like having much on my stomach. I ate a little bit and drank some lemonade. I was really trying to take in the moment. I shuttled back over to the hotel. My body was already getting pretty stiff. I hung around the lobby, talking with some other runners, which was great. We were all celebrating our achievement. It was wonderful.

I showered and did go back downstairs for dinner, but here’s one thing I didn’t expect-I wasn’t very hungry. I had a very modest dinner. I was thinking-why am I not hungry? I went to bed, and let me tell ya, 2 AM, I woke up and was STARVING. I woke in the middle of the night and my stomach was growling SO LOUD. Luckily my leftover pasta dinner was in the mini fridge, and I ate cold pasta in the middle of the night. Be prepared for that. 

I was expecting to be really sore and fatigued, and I was. The next morning, I got out of bed pretty stiff. Although I needed to rest, it was hard to sit down. I spent most of the next day walking around on the beach. Not a lot, but just slowly walking around, taking in the sights. 

Reflections

While the marathon was the culmination of 2025 for me, I have tried to keep a very deliberate perspective-2025 wasn’t really at all about that event. It was about what I learned about myself in the process. I think even if the marathon had for whatever reason not gone well, it still doesn’t take away everything I learned and the progress I made during months of training. My biggest lessons were learning to love myself again, prioritizing myself and something that brings me joy, learning to be very present and consistent, and challenging my body and my limits. Through that challenge and consistency, my limits shift, my body becomes stronger, my mobility improves, my paces get faster. At the straw plains half just this month, I have decreased my half marathon time by 30 minutes over a year of training. While it’s easy to publicly find pictures and results from races I participate in, I’m only ever in competition with myself, and my data over the past year show a tremendous amount of growth. I’m so grateful to Coach Lana and the KTC community. Practicing a lot of gratitude and having a growth mindset have always been important to me, but I think the process of training for a marathon have really solidified these concepts for me in a very real way. What was lost has now been found again.

I hope this 4-part series has inspired some out there to go after a marathon goal. For whatever your ‘why’ is, know that it’s an extremely fulfilling process, and there’s a lot of support around you! I’m happy to connect with anyone who would like to talk more, and I can be found on IG @zerolimitslinds or [email protected].