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First Marathon Story: Starting Over: From Career-Ending Surgery to a First Marathon w/ Maya Struhar

  • Writer: Taylor Sayles
    Taylor Sayles
  • Mar 16
  • 3 min read

Maya grew up as a dance teacher's daughter. She danced competitively through high school until an injury in her senior year resulted in hip surgery that completely reshaped her pelvis - a career-ending injury for a dancer. She continued dancing in college and studied dance, but after college, movement paused for a bit, and it took her about eight years to find running.


The Best Friends Convince You To Run Races

Maya started over after moving back to her hometown of Des Moines, and was looking for something to do as she adjusted. She signed up for a 5K with her friends, thinking she could easily run three miles (spoiler alert: she could not). Even though she walked a lot of it, she had a good time, and it sparked her interest in running.


Her friends then "cajoled" her into running a 10k, and once that was over, the question was asked: how crazy would it be to run a half marathon?


They party-paced a half marathon in October, and then, as Maya describes it, she became the crazy friend: "If we can do a half marathon, I think I can do a full."


Maya was on the fence about doing a marathon, but thought if she signed up for the Des Moines Marathon a full year after the half, she could probably do it. A friend from work started talking up Grandma's Marathon, and Maya wanted to do the half marathon. Not realizing the popularity of the race, when she signed on a day and a half after registration opened to sign up, only full marathon slots were left. And the rest, as they say, is history.


She registered for her first full marathon. Not in October, but in June.


When Self-Doubt Creeps In

Maya's approach to training was flexible. She found a Pinterest plan that she was able to reference, had dialed in fueling on her first half marathon, and finally got fit for running shoes (which truly changed everything).


Self-doubt crept in as she started getting to the longer runs. On her first 14-mile run, she couldn't even make it to 12. How could she run a marathon if she couldn't even replicate her half marathon from months prior?


But showing up is better than showing up perfectly. Maya went out the next weekend and rocked the 14 miles, and started to realize that she would be able to run the marathon.


Maya used half marathon races to help her with her training, giving her aid support and confidence through 13.1 miles. She calls it an "expensive life hack" but a fun way to complete your training.


One of the things she kept coming back to was the reason she started running. She was unhappy in that chapter of her life and needed something hard that she could control.


Running Her First Marathon

Maya went into the taper confident after a great 20-mile long run. Leading up to the race, she was both nervous and excited. In a My First Marathon Podcast first, she went on a first date on her marathon shakeout run with her now-boyfriend.


It really hit her at the race expo that she was going to run her first marathon.


She ran with girls she met at the start line for the first 15 miles, all running their first marathon. She hit the wall around mile 22, but she kept telling herself she could walk the rest of the race and it would all be fine. She could walk the rest of the race and still be a marathoner. Crowd support at mile 25 spurred her through until the end.


At that point, she had only been running for a little over a year. She thought about all she had overcome in the last year, and seeing the people around, supporting runners through the finish line, felt so incredibly special to her.


Lessons Learned

  • Enjoy the steps and the alone time.

  • Run when you want to, walk when you want to.

  • Make the right choices for you, regardless of what the people around you are doing.

  • Running is supposed to be fun.

  • Training is important!


Want to hear Maya tell the story herself? Listen to the full episode now: Starting Over: From Career-Ending Surgery to a First Marathon w/ Maya Struhar — available wherever you get your podcasts.


Listen to my most recent mini episode: How To Dial In Your Fuel Strategy



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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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