NYCM FOMO
As this year’s runners are gearing up for the New York City Marathon in a few short days, I’m having waves of nostalgia and FOMO (if that’s even a popular acronym anymore) over memories of the best day ever.
In 2019, I kept a training journal and consistently posted my race results on social media throughout the summer leading up to the big race to record my journey and, in true personal trainer fashion, what worked and what didn’t work to prepare for such an undertaking.
I meant to publish the weekly recaps as I went along, but I was mostly handwriting my journal entries in a notebook at a coffee shop or in the dark, noisy (and FILTHY) basement break room between client personal training sessions. When you wake up at 4am every day to commute, train clients for 4 hours, do your own long running workout in the hottest part of the day, dash to the shower, eat like you’ve been starving for a week and stretch and foam roll, train your afternoon clients for 3 hours, eat dinner early while making updates to clients’ programs, and then train clients for another 2 or 3 hours before you get to commute home and pass out before 9pm…your creative brain is quite shot. The last thing I wanted to do was look at a computer screen when I’d been awake and engaged at 100% for 17 hours straight.
As we all know, the world shut down in 2020 and with the gym closure, I was able to coach clients online and catch up on transferring my journal entries and notes onto my website’s blog (and some much-needed sleep). I didn’t know who would care about me using my marathon training as part of my grieving process for my brother or the details of my track workouts, but I put my content out there anyway and the web traffic of those pages was unexpectedly higher than just a few close friends supporting their enthusiastic mermaid in her crazy adult athletic endeavors. I had mere acquaintances reaching out to tell me that my marathon day post made them feel like they were running the race themselves. To me, if I inspired just one person, then it’s a great day. I am so grateful for your ears and sharing my stories through “word of mouse”.
I loved uploading my first marathon experience in 2019 during the 2020 lockdown. However, once businesses were open again, I paused writing to hustle again in this tough post-pandemic economy. While the nostalgia of the New York City Marathon is as fresh as the crisp fall breeze, I thought now was an appropriate time to share reflections of last year’s training and event. Stay tuned for marathon content in your feed this week, my friends!
Flying on fresh legs on Flatbush! NYCM 2021.