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First Marathon Story: $10 Walmart Shoes to Marathon Finisher: Running the Austin Marathon w/ Ashley Bree

  • Writer: Taylor Sayles
    Taylor Sayles
  • 7 days ago
  • 3 min read

Updated: 5 days ago

Ashley Blankenship speaks with host Taylor Sayles about her first marathon journey.

Ashley wasn't very athletic growing up. She ran short distances on the track team and on the 400m relay team, and enjoyed that but never considered longer distances. Around 28, she started noticing some changes in her body that prompted her to clean up her eating habits and commit to a regular fitness routine. Running was not originally a part of that, but after going through a stressful divorce, one day, she just started to run.


She set off on the country roads with $10 shoes and a Fitbit, and her running journey began.


The Best Friends Convince You To Run

Ashley's best friend saw her begin to post her running journey, and asked her to do a half marathon with her. She agreed to sign up, not even knowing how long the distance was, and with very little knowledge about how to train for long distances. She fell in love with running and was ready to do a full marathon, but then the pandemic hit, and all racing came to a halt.


Running took a backseat to a new relationship and being a single mom. For a few years, Ashley focused on her family instead of running.


But she found her way back.


Signing Up For Her First Marathon

Late one night, Ashley was thinking about how she always wanted to run a full marathon, and signed up for the Austin Marathon. She woke up the next morning full of regrets, but found she had no refund options for the marathon. It looked like she was stuck.


She found a free marathon plan and found the My First Marathon podcast, and created her own marathon training plan that fit her unpredictable schedule as a 9-1-1 operator.


Ashley felt like she was starting over at the beginning. Slowly, her confidence grew, and her distance and endurance grew along with it. A few weeks in, she signed up to do a memorial run in honor of fallen officers. She figured she'd only be able to do five of the 29 miles total, but she ended up doing almost a full marathon already - 26 miles. It was a significant confidence boost. She stopped, she took breaks, she went slowly...but she did it.


Ashley battled through the Texas heat and humidity, hitting up to 20 mile long runs. As training progressed, she settled on a time goal of 4:30, which motivated her through the miles. She wanted to challenge herself and prove to herself that she could do something hard.


Running 26.2

Leading up the race, Ashley was both nervous and excited. There was so much build up, for so long - she had lived and breathed training and it all came down to this one day. She came in with a race strategy, ready to take one gel every four miles.


The crowd support was incredible, and motivated her through the first few miles. She felt good heading into the half marathon point. At mile 23, she was starting to get tired. At the end of the marathon, there was a huge hill, and she felt like she was going to throw up. She made it up the hill, and looked up and saw her stepdaughter screaming her name. It was the biggest boost. She sprinted towards the finish line. It was worth all of the early mornings, the long runs, and the sacrifices made to get there.


Lessons Learned

  • Study the course.

  • Make the training plan work for you.

  • Break in your running shoes.

  • If you miss some runs, it's not the end of the world.

  • Do what you set out to do.


Want to hear Ashley tell the story herself? Listen to the full episode now: $10 Walmart Shoes to Marathon Finisher: Running the Austin Marathon w/ Ashley Bree— available wherever you get your podcasts.


Listen to my most recent mini episode: What If Removing the Goal Got You the Result?



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Follow along with the show:

👣 Personal IG/TikTok: @tay.says / @taysays

🎙️ Podcast IG/TikTok: @myfirstmarathonpod

📺 YouTube: @MyFirstMarathonPodcast


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