It has been over a year since my last post. So much has happened in that time.
- Got certified as a running coach through RRCA
- Started coaching several runners
- Completed the Boston Marathon
Let’s start with the first two items. In late 2022, after having been asked by friends if I could coach them, I decided to finally go ahead and take a course to become certified as a running coach. I did this over a couple of days via Zoom and it was so helpful! While I have many years of running experience (since I was 12) being formally coached in both track and cross country, and running both sports in grade school and high school, then continuing my running journey in college intermittently, until I became a very regular half marathoner and marathoner after having children, I knew just that experience wouldn’t be enough to effectively coach someone. Taking the course to be certified opened my eyes to the true process of coaching a runner to success. Since December of 2022 I have coached several athletes, and those who have completed races through my guidance have either hit time based PRs, become stronger runners, or both, as a result. I even helped one lady go from having not ran in years to successfully completing a 5k in 12 weeks time, completing it in her goal time as a postpartum runner! At this point, it is off season, but I am taking new athletes who would like to get started anytime either at the beginning of December for base building towards a marathon, or working on shorter distances. If you are looking to get started focusing on a true spring marathon training plan, early January is typically a great start time for those April races. As a marathoner, I typically prefer a 20 week training cycle, but 16-20 weeks is definitely a good training block to hit your marathon goals, and if you are experienced and have been running regularly, you could even shoot for a 12 week training block, depending on your needs.
If interested in working with me, my website is http://www.rischlingruncoaching.com
Now, on to the Boston Marathon, which was an amazing experience! I could go on and on about each historic area of the course, but I’m sure most of you reading this have probably already read about those spots. So, I’ll just say my personal experience was one where I was lucky enough to get to run with a lady I befriended from Instagram whom I went on the bus with to Athlete’s Village, walked to the start with, and actually ran 16 miles with before we separated. Finishing pretty close to each other, we were able to get an additional photo after. But the awesome experience of running with the same person in a race for that long is one I won’t forget. Throughout the race, my dear friend who lives in the area graciously drove to several stopping points with my husband to ensure they were in 4 different spots on the course to high five me, take photos, and even video. She caught a fantastic video of me as I was finishing up at Heartbreak Hill! She dropped my husband off near the finish so he was there cheering me on at the end of the race-it was amazing! The two of them were super supportive and we enjoyed a fancy dinner that night after (complete with me wearing my finisher shirt, medal and oofos recovery slides). 🙂 Overall, I chose to run this race for the purpose of enjoyment over any sort of goal time or PR. However, I did want to make sure I came in at a time under 4 hours. Well, I finished in 3:42 which happens to be 2 minutes short of another BQ (Boston Qualified time) for my age group. I was thrilled by how I did, and in the end I definitely had tears of happiness as I finished at such an iconic race, but I definitely feel as though I have unfinished business. Thankfully, my BQ in Chicago enables me to race Boston in 2024, so I’ll be back with the intent to get that 3rd BQ!
There is obviously a lot of other stuff that has happened in over a year as I’m a mom of 3 children and now have a high schooler, but this about sums up my running life. I don’t often write on here, though I do want to be better about it. If you are looking for more regular running content, check out my Instagram page at http://www.instagram.com/irish_runnergirl where I also have a Linktree that you can click on if you are looking for a running coach!
Happy running!
Irish Mother Runner 