“Success doesn’t come from pie-in-the-sky thinking. It’s the result of consciously doing something each day that will add to your overall excellence.” – Coach Nick Saban

About two weeks ago, I sent a text to some friends saying my next blog post would be titled, “Don’t Run a Marathon.” The idea was a little reverse psychology for myself—maybe if I talked about all the “good things” I’ve learned and gained from training for this marathon, I’d actually start believing them. After I sent the text to my friend/colleague/running expert/marathon coach, Claire Golding, she replied, “Hey, are you good?”

Find you a friend who will ask, “Are you good?”

I had just come off a 40‑mile week and was preparing for my longest training run: 22 miles last Saturday (November 15th). My negative thoughts were growing, and I was dreading not only the next morning’s run but the next week (and honestly the remainder) of my training. My perfectionist tendencies were creeping back in as I became anxious about not completing my runs exactly as prescribed with various family and holiday activities approaching. I was also feeling beat up and tired from the training—I was literally fantasizing about living in my purple Christmas pajamas, glued to the living room couch for a week after the dang race.

I replied to Claire’s message: “I really am good—it’s just not easy AT ALL. I didn’t think it would be easy, but as an adult, I don’t think I’ve challenged myself to this extreme physically and mentally before. CrossFit Opens, basic. Pole vaulting as a Pre‑Masters athlete post‑childbirth, okay. Even my labor pains passed easier than marathon training.”

Instead of reminding me that I paid to do this race—like my husband did (LOL, true story)—Claire reminded me that I was in the peak of my training during a busy season of life. She reminded me that it was normal to feel the way I was feeling but also encouraged me to rest in the fact that I had been consistent up to this point, even to the point of a peak‑season breakdown. She encouraged me.

Find you a friend and/or coach like Claire who will encourage you when you are doing hard things. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 says, “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.” I can’t speak enough about how much Claire has impacted my life through running this past year. I am so grateful for her.

Claire checked on me after my 22‑miler last Saturday, and I told her I’d get my thoughts back to her the next day. I planned on grinding out a Sunday blog update with all of my latest running revelations. After my 22‑mile run, I indulged in an entire cheese pizza from Heat Pizza and a fountain Coca‑Cola—judge me all you want, but it was glorious.

After running for four hours on Saturday, I felt I had some good material to hash out. Instead of “Don’t Run a Marathon,” the revised title would be “22 Reasons Not to Run a Marathon,” to parallel the thoughts from my Saturday long run.

Here I give you: 22 Reasons Not to Run a Marathon (the abbreviated version)

1. Don’t run a marathon if you don’t want to invest in a good pair of running shoes (or a few pairs).
2. Don’t run a marathon if you only want to run on a treadmill—I once did 16 miles on it, and I was one mile away from a self‑induced hypnosis.
3. Don’t run a marathon if you don’t want to be more disciplined.
4. Don’t run a marathon if you don’t want to eat with more discipline.
5. Don’t run a marathon if you are “not a planner.”
6. Don’t run a marathon if you enjoy having a flexible schedule.
7. Don’t run a marathon if you don’t want to improve your time management skills.
8. Don’t run a marathon if you don’t want to test your self‑control.
9. Don’t run a marathon if you don’t want to talk about nerdy marathon things with your marathon friends.
10. Don’t run a marathon if you want a quick fix.
11. Don’t run a marathon if your main goal is weight loss. (I’m sure some have experienced this phenomenon, but I’ve probably gained 5–10 lbs.)
12. Don’t run a marathon if you enjoy life in the comfort zone.
13. Don’t run a marathon if you don’t want to run outside your neighborhood loop.
14. Don’t run a marathon if you don’t want to challenge yourself mentally, physically, spiritually, and emotionally.
15. Don’t run a marathon if you only want to exercise—those 3+ hour runs are not exercise; buddy, they are adventures.
16. Don’t run a marathon if you don’t want to go to bed on time.
17. Don’t run a marathon if you enjoy sleeping in regularly.
18. Don’t run a marathon if you enjoy doing social events regularly – this has been a challenge during football season in Tuscaloosa and the Holidays
19. Don’t run a marathon if you “don’t like to commit to things.”
20. Don’t run a marathon if you don’t believe in delayed gratification.
21. Don’t run a marathon if you are easily tempted.

While this could have been the end of the blog post, it’s not. If you’ve kept up with any of my blog posts, you know I don’t do quick updates. You’ll need to keep reading to get to reason #22.

Last Sunday morning (November 16th), I was planning out my week of runs. Of course, I was dreading my 20‑mile long run the next weekend, and I was already cringing at having to wake up at 4:45 AM to do my two 6‑milers. How was I going to structure the week to get in what was necessary while I also traveled out of town with my family? Should I run 20 miles before I leave? How could I run 20 without disrupting my family’s plans? Maybe I could run 10 in the morning and 10 at lunch?

Jim Rohn said, “Indecision is the thief of opportunity.” I wallowed in indecision on Sunday morning, and in the matter of a single distracted second, a decision was made for me. I fell down the steps while checking my phone after putting my youngest down for a nap.

I fell hard. Directly on my sacrum. I was able to crawl onto my stomach and down the rest of the stairs, where I writhed in pain for about five minutes. I still had another child to care for, groceries in my car, and this silly blog post to write. Despite the many things I needed to do, in that moment, all I could think about was how hard I had been training (hard relative to me and my stage of life) and how in one second, I may have flushed my chance to run the Rocket City Marathon down the toilet.

On Monday morning, I woke up and, to my surprise, the pain wasn’t worse. It still hurt like heck when I sneezed or sat in a semi‑reclined position, but it wasn’t worse. When I broke my pinky toe, that sucker woke me up multiple times and was 10x worse the next day – I was pretty sure I didn’t have a fracture, but I also knew a fracture would mean no training and no race. I knew I had to go about my injury the right way. I would tell any patient who had the same mechanism of injury to go see a non‑surgical sports medicine doctor as soon as possible.

PSA: I recommend seeing a non‑surgical sports medicine doctor to anyone dealing with an acute sports injury. First, they are excellent diagnosticians. Second, they won’t tell you to stop what you’re doing or training for unless it’s detrimental to your health. They often help you figure out the exact diagnosis then they help you navigate the path back to recovery with conservative treatment options.

I scheduled an appointment with Dr. Brett Bentley at University Medical Center to get a thorough assessment. While I was getting my pelvis x‑rayed, the radiology tech told me she understood why I was so uncomfortable—of course, my thoughts began catastrophizing. But moments before Dr. Bentley came back to give me the news, I had already decided that if I had to defer the marathon because of a fracture, I would. It would really stink, but I would try my best to cling to all the lessons learned along the way and cling to that for a future marathon. Even if that meant even more delayed gratification.

The Lord has used pain and injury in my life to bring me closer to Him and to bring His plans to fruition. I recommend keeping a prayer journal because I can look back in these seasons and see God’s provision in my life. My ACL. A herniated disc. A flare up of the same herniated disc during the same season Lauren and I decided to open Physiolete.

Thankfully, sitting out the marathon was not the news I was given. Dr. Bentley diagnosed me with a sacral contusion, aka a bone bruise. He said I would most likely be able to run the marathon, but training would be uncomfortable until the bruise healed. I cross‑trained a good bit this week and managed a slow 10‑miler on Friday. I don’t want to be overly cheesy, but that run was 1000% a God wink in so many ways. I’ll keep those details to myself, but as strange as it sounds—I am thankful life kicked me in the butt last Sunday.

I listened to a podcast this week on Noah building the ark. The main theme? Obedience. Noah understood his assignment from God the moment it was given until the day his work was finished. I am by no means building an ark with my marathon training, but post‑fall I’m reminded that it’s the small, obedient steps taken daily that get us closer to our goals.

Like the GOAT, Coach Saban said, “It’s the result of consciously doing something each day that will add to your overall excellence.”

So to be honest, marathon training is hard. Some days it feels mundane. Some days I don’t want to wake up to run. Some days I feel slow and draggy. Some days I fantasize about living in Christmas jammies. Some days running is a pain in the ass—literally.

But thanks to the fall, I have a fresh perspective. I’m choosing to consciously do something each day to improve myself, even when it’s hard—to take small, obedient steps toward my goal and trust the process. And that brings me to my 22nd reason not to run a marathon:

22. Don’t run a marathon if you’re looking for the path of least resistance.

James 1:2–5 says, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

Want to improve your perseverance? Train yourself to do hard things.