First Marathon Story: You Owe It to Yourself to Try: Training for a Marathon She Almost Didn't Start w/ Alyssa Newman

Taylor Sayles
Jun 8
5 min read

Podcast guest Alyssa is interviewed by host Taylor Sayles

Alyssa was a tennis player in high school, and her running experience was really just running around the track before practice. In college, movement stopped entirely, but after graduating, with a lot of free time, she joined a gym. Being in the gym, by herself, was intimidating, but she slowly built her confidence and started some weight lifting. She eventually moved over to the treadmill, committing to 30 minutes after her lift.

A few months later, she started to notice the distance. After hitting a 5K distance, and seeing others running on social media, she thought about looking at races in her area.

She joined the Florida Track Club, an organization that put on a race every month. And it was then that she started thinking about running her first half marathon.

Training for the Half

Alyssa started early with her training, understanding that 13.1 miles was a far distance to run. At the same time, she got into a Master's program. Her longest long run was 10 miles, but she had trouble wrapping her head around not training for the full distance. She ended up running the half marathon herself a few months before the actual race, just to make sure she could do it. She ran 13 miles with no fuel, and no water. She was completely depleted and run down.

After that awful run, Alyssa started looking more into fueling, and learning more about nutrition while running. She began to develop a plan, but was still getting more nervous as the race approached. Unfortunately, a freak storm in Florida cancelled the race, and instead moved up to Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Her cheer squad could no longer make it, but she was determined to run the race. Alyssa grabbed her chews, her water, and drove up to the race on her own.

Alyssa focused just on finishing the race, there was no thought about pace. The course ended up being pretty lonely, although since it was a loop she saw a few other runners. At mile 8, her watch battery died and she had no idea how far into the race she was for the rest of the time. But she finished!

Sitting next to a fellow runner who had also just run their first half marathon, she thought about how insane a full marathon would be, and how much that would never be her.

The Best Friends Convince You To Sign Up

Alyssa joined a run club that summer, and everyone was talking about a full marathon. Although at first she thought they were crazy, they slowly wore her down, and a run club friend who ran a similar pace started looking at potential races with her. Alyssa landed on the Space Coast Marathon.

Training started 25 weeks out. The first few long runs were 14 miles - longer than she'd ever run. She was in classes year-round, working full-time, and marathon training was like another job on top of that. She spent a lot of long runs on her own in the heat of Florida summer. She forced herself up at the earliest hours to avoid the heat, enjoying the stillness.

She bragged to her coworkers about the mileage, enjoying the challenge of those longer runs. But the day she ran 18 miles sticks with her.

It started out great. The weather was perfect, cool and cloudy, when she started out. She was making sure to think about her fueling strategy. She was on her way back home, when she realized she had planned the route incorrectly and had an extra mile on the end. The heat had ramped up, and she felt terrible. She called her mom, said she was going to walk the rest of the way home, but wanted someone on the phone with her just in case she wasn't ok.

She kept up with her training. The 19 miler, the 20 miler, both went ok. Although the weather was gradually cooling down, it didn't feel much different to her.

Becoming a Marathoner

Alyssa entered the taper nervous. There were still 6.2 miles more before she'd cross the marathon distance. She questioned her choices and whether or not she could do it.

But she headed to the start line with her mom. She was so nervous she couldn't eat anything the day before. No carb load, no nothing. She felt sick.

Ultimately, she chose to drop down to the half marathon rather than run the full marathon. She was sad, but knew it was the best decision for her. Her mom supported her decision, letting her know that she would be proud of her no matter what distance she ran today.

She fell in with a run-walk group, saw a running influencer she looked up to (who she probably wouldn't have seen if she'd done the full marathon), and was still feeling good at 12 miles. She broke away from the group and finished the half marathon.

She was still sad when she got home that she hadn't finished the full marathon. Alyssa went online and searched for marathons in the area just a few weeks out. She knew she could be a marathoner. She found a ultramarathon race with a marathon option - that had no shorter option than a marathon - knowing she'd have to run the full distance no matter what.

Alyssa still had nerves the day before. She knew what it was at least this time, and knew how to manage it. She forced herself to eat the morning of, too. Seeing people doing 50K, 50 miles, put it in perspective.

The first few miles started off great. She took half a banana with her, and off she went. Her race strategy was run-walk, after she felt so strong during the half marathon a few weeks before. Even though she was by herself for most of the race, she had a great time. The whole marathon felt so good. She took the time pressure off, and just focused on enjoying herself and crossing the finish line.

At the last loop, she was entering unknown territory. She stuck to her strategy, and she was just smiling. She was ready to run the last mile straight through, and crossed the finish line a marathoner.

Lessons Learned