#249 – I Ran My 1st Marathon

Hey, money boss parents, welcome back to the money boss parent podcast. Anna Sergunina is here, and today I want to talk about something that I just did. I ran my first marathon. So let's dive into it, because I've been taking some time to share this, and I think there's lots of interesting ideas and lessons learned, and I hope you are excited to hear about it, just as I am to share it with you. So here's the thing, running has always been a part of who I am. I've done it for years, kind of on and off, but there's something special about lacing up my shoes stepping outside. I do love to go outside. I do not like running on a treadmill. I feel the fresh air, and, you know, it kind of lifts you up, and you just go. And it's just, it's more than just a physical activity for me, if I have to think about it globally, it's a form of meditation. It's a way for me to clear my mind, to connect with myself. So when Yuri suggested this idea of running a marathon together back at the beginning of 2024 I was all in. I mean, some of the backstory, which I'll share with you in a bit, and the challenge intrigued me. I knew there was a lot of opportunity to push myself. I mean, writing casually is not the same as training to run 26 miles or 42 kilometers, and it was definitely beyond my comfort zone. But I thought that, wow, I have like, seven, eight months to train. I can totally do it. Little did I know that this journey would teach me so much about endurance, resilience and the importance of taking life one step at a time. So more on this in just a bit. All right, my friends, I'm going to tell you the story, and hopefully it doesn't take forever, but I feel like there's so many little details that happened over the last seven, eight months that probably going to take me some time to pull together, but it's been probably four weeks now, not almost four weeks since we run the first marathon, and I am finally ready to talk about and really just took the time to soak in everything that happened and so forth. So as I mentioned earlier, this idea of running a marathon came it wasn't my original idea, so I can't take any credit for it, but since I am the runner in the family, and always have been, I've have a app on my phone called Nike, and to tell you the truth, and I had to prove this to Yuri, because I went back and I pulled thank God it had records going back to 2017 all the runs that I've done. So as he raised the hand and said, What do you think about running a marathon? I was like, you want to run a marathon? You're not even a runner. You hate running. And so he had a different challenge to overcome. And I was like, I can do it. I can totally do it. Look. I mean, I have proof. Little did I know what it was gonna involve and take but that's how that idea was born. We registered for San Francisco marathon. Now, the reason for picking San Francisco is because, I mean, it's the most iconic route that you can think of. I mean, you run through Golden Gate Bridge and back, and you get to go through a very interesting parts of San Francisco, through the Golden Gate Park. And, I mean, I just can't say no. A side note, I love San Francisco as a city. I don't want to live in it, but it's an awesome city to go visit. So when this opportunity presented, and it's like in July in San Francisco, which it tends to be foggy and colder, I was like, yeah, why not? Right? Because when you think about running a marathon in the summer, you kind of have to plan ahead with the weather. But it was like a perfect location, a perfect weather. So, you know, I just said yes. So we started to start a training now, again, because I'm not a professional runner, more of a casual and just kind of like doing it, had to do some some digging and research to figure out, like, how do you train for marathon, right? Like, there's got to be a program to to get to. And as you can imagine, when you just Google something like that. There's so much information that it gets to be overwhelming.

So I've asked a few friends around I have some friends who are professional marathon runners and all kinds of other races, and they've done some awesome stuff. So a guy highly recommended, named Hal hidgen came into play for lots of different directions. And so he has a program called novice marathon training. It is 18 weeks training program that includes three short runs during the week. So we would have Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Is the short. Runs, and then on a Saturday you do a longer run. And so the skip the schedule starts out like week one, you run three miles, four miles, three miles. And then, like on a Saturday, you run six and it starts to increase every week. And so by the time you do get to week 18, you have completed a lot of running, and the longest distance on this training schedule would have been 20 miles. So, like, that's two weeks before the marathon. So it's like, you've done all of this training, and on the days off, you also do cross training, so that, you know, you're strengthening your entire body. So it's not just, you know, putting in the mileage. But when you do get to run your marathon, you've kind of experienced, right for the most part, what it is to like to run six miles, you know, in the on the long, longer runs 10 miles, 12 miles and so forth. So 20 was kind of the top for us to do. So that sort of set the bar. But more on this, on this later, a couple of other lifestyle adjustments we had to make. I mean, drinking occasional wine or, you know, having just a glass of wine in the evening, have really started to like deteriorate, like the performance the next day. So really had to play with it. We do love wine. We live in California, that is something that I can't, you know, can't get away with without, but it does really dehydrate your body. And so if you're training, you're trying to improve your speed. And really, for me, like it was, it was more around training to how to run, getting my body adjusted to running that many miles, and so I really had to be strategic about it. So that's a win for sure, because then otherwise, you know, what's the point if you're waking up the next morning and you're not 100%

and it really took a while for the body to adjust to the mileage. I mean, I remember week week one, and it's really because the official schedule was 18 weeks, but we started running, like, probably almost two months before, just because we knew we had the time and so forth. And even so, when we did start the official schedule, it still took time for the body to adjust to, like, building up this mileage now, like at first week, when you were required to run three miles one day, and then the four, and then three again, and like a six, that felt like a lot. But when you do get to, like week 1618, when you're running like 20 miles on a Saturday, that feels like nothing, right? So it all is in perspective, and little did I know that this is how it was gonna unfold. I because I've never done something like that. And, you know, all my life, I wasn't really an athletic type of person, so I couldn't imagine that this is how I would build my strength halfway into the actual training schedule, we had to either do it on our own, or it happened that the timing worked out well run a half a marathon. So just to practice a half a marathon is 13.1 miles. And it happened that there was one it was actually two weeks off our schedule, but we still kind of adjusted in the other she was in San Jose. And actually fun story that Liam got to do the kids race on that day when we did the half a marathon too. So he got to participate, because he, I mean, he could see us doing this staggering schedule, you know, Monday through, sorry, Tuesday through Thursday. Like, Okay, mommy goes for a run, and daddy goes for a run. And on a Saturday we do the same, like, when the mileage got to be like, you know, 1012, or even more, on a Saturdays, we would ask his parents to come and stay over so that we can go together. And because it takes, I mean, if I have to run for two hours, then he has to run for two hours, I get that takes, like, half a Saturday just to get going so, but practicing these kinds of runs and doing that one half, half a marathon in San Jose was a really awesome experience. I mean, it was hard, it this is not working in a park, right? And we were, like, halfway into the training schedule. And so a lot, a lot of build up of the mileage happened in the second part of the training. Side note too, right? I mean, you kind of plan this training schedule, but the life outside of running does still happen, right? You have work, you have, you know, family, we we've gone on vacations and awesome places that we ran were like, just, just, really, every street in our town, like, I know exactly from stuff. This is funny, but that's maybe how runners think from, I know distances from our house to, like, you know, one part of the town, I was like, oh, that's four miles. I can do that. And, you know, or that's three miles. So that's 10 miles. So it's like, now, I. Know, every corner and every street on vacations, like we ran in Miami on the beach. We were on a cruise in April. I mean, imagine running on a cruise ship. A cruise ship had a mile long track, so we did rounds of that. But it's a it's a really fun experience when you're running and you look outside and it is kind of partially outside, and all you see is just water, so you kind of lose your your breath for a minute. We ran in Hawaii too, right along the beach line, which was awesome. It was quite humid, but I'll take it so lots of awesome places, because you got to kind of fit it in and make it all work. I've listened to a lot of podcasts, as you imagine, and for me, I like to have music or something in my ears. I feel like this is a really productive time. So if I go out, you know, for 30, I mean, 30 minutes run is only, you know, like three miles. So that's not very much, but let's say up to an hour right on most days, especially at the beginning of the of the training schedule. I mean, that's a good podcast episode. That's a good chapter of a book. And so I really kind of put that to you. So I listened to my favorite podcasts, the gold digger podcast, Ed mylett show, Carl and kids. A lot of these are marketing or like financial planning, podcast the human side of money. Lots of audio books, too. I mean audiobooks like eight to 10 hours, 10x easier than 2x by Dan Sullivan, who not how, by Dan Sullivan, and day trading attention, by Gary V so it just kind of mixed and matched. A lot of times I didn't even have music. I just, you know, if I was tired of listening, I would just, you know, have nothing in my ears on the runs that Yuri and I were together, obviously it was, it was fun. And the idea with long runs, for those of you who are listening, you want to maintain your heart rate and your speed at a certain level where you can still continue having a conversation, right? So you just, like, not, you know, like heavily breathing, you want to be able to talk, obviously, not at the level that I'm talking now, but where you still making sense that way. You know, you're running in what's known as zone two. And zone two is, is, is where your heart rate is anywhere from what you take is 180 and you subtract your age. So mine was in the range of like, you know, for 130 to 145 where I felt like, I, you know, I could do this for a long, long time. So you're training to run in that, what's called zone two, and running with someone obviously does help to kind of maintain that. And you have a watch so that you know you can Apple Watch or whatever other ones we have garments that help you kind of track that data and so forth so. And I also have always brought my phone, which my favorite Nike app, and Nike had a really awesome training. So I had a few, a few weeks, more than a few weeks, but weeks of coaching with actually just listening to coaches who kind of like walked you or ran with you on these runs. A couple other things that sort of developed, and as you can imagine, like it takes time for the body to adjust, and probably towards the second half, or as we got closer to the to the marathon date, I started to feel like the the like the hips, is the part of the body that gets the most like pressure news, because you kind of like, you know, bending your legs and you're just running right. And maybe everybody is different, but mine really kind of set there. So my right hip kind of started to feel weird, like just, you know, I mean, obviously you get tired, no doubt about that, right? And as the mileage increases and you're pushing through, especially like on the Saturday after long runs, we needed, like, a good day to recover, so I started to feel more pain. And finally, you know, got myself together and went to see a chiropractor, because I just, I just did. Could not imagine, right? And this is, like those mental barriers you kind of work through. It's like, how am I going to run 26 miles when, like, the side of my body is like screaming. So she diagnosed me with, like, its most typical

injuries that runners acquire is called IT band syndrome. So it's basically like this band that connects, like the part of a hip to and it goes all the way down on your leg, all the way to, like your knee. And so, so I had to do a few sessions, and she kind of like put me together. Now it really all is due to overusing new hips. I mean, on a good day when I'm not running, or you don't have these huge runs, like, it started to creep up for me when it was like, in the double digits for your for your miles, I'm totally fine. So it's like, you can live with it if you don't have to run long distances. But I wanted to finish this marathon like and this. Was the idea. So I had to do some of that. But I'm sure I'm not the first one that, you know, developed some of they say Yuri had some interesting stories too, with, like, his shoes. He switched, like, three pairs because something was not right. And, I mean, you kind of go through phase with it. Another interesting part two is that a whole family got involved. Like, when you tell people that you're training for marathon, everybody always has this, like, look on their face. They're like, wow. Most people, you know, if you're not a runner, you don't know. You just, you know that it's something big, you know that it takes a long time, but you don't really have a context as to, like, what's involved. How is that all working out. And so as we kind of laid it out for our family, and it took him a little time to sort of for that to sink in, and especially, like, towards the end, where they saw how many months we were running, like on Saturdays, and like most weekends were like, we're not doing anything. We just want to hang out at home and just like, let the body recover. So my dad actually came from Baltimore to wait for us at the finish line. So that was awesome. And so the whole family was there. I mean, we wanted Liam to see all of this. I mean, he's, he's kind of been in it with us. But then, you know, every morning he would wake up and say, how many miles did you run today? So being him at the finish line was the driver for me. I mean, I wanted to finish, and that's, that's who I wanted to see at that finish line. So family, all coming all together, definitely was a big deal. All right. Well, let's talk about what actually happened on a marathon day. So I mentioned it already was in San Francisco, and I was, I mean, I was sure, and I was comfortable because it was in San Francisco and it was summer, and you all heard the story that, and Mark Twain actually had this quote that the coldest summer I've ever spent in my life was in San Francisco. And so that's actually one of the reasons I don't like going there in the summer, because it gets foggy and temperatures like doesn't cross 65 and so I was sure. I checked the weather, everything was fine, and it was starting like that. But little did I know that the universe perhaps had other plans for us. It was a lot of people. It's a big marathon. It was 30,000 people. Now, not everybody started, not everybody did a marathon. I don't actually know the actual breakdowns, but every big race like that has 5k 10k they have half a marathon. They also have kids races, and then they have, you know, people that run actually on on in that race. Marathon was not the biggest they had ultra marathon. How about running two marathons? So, like, 50 some miles, and so that's a lot of people. So for us, it started at 515, in the morning, and we stayed in it. We stayed in San Francisco, right? You know, right next to to where the race was starting, it was actually starting, right? And for those of you who know the area, at the Embarcadero, and so we were kind of heading towards the Golden Gate Bridge, right along the marina, and then kind of climbed up this one hill, and then got to cross the Golden Gate Bridge. I mean, there's a lot of people, right? And they literally started sharp at 515 in the morning. And so as you kind of get dressed, and for me too, like one of the things that I learned about myself, like I don't, I don't need to have a lot of clothes on, and it's hard to predict, right? Because you're starting it so early in the morning. You may have your shorts and, you know, t shirt on. But in San Francisco, it was, it was chilly, and it was like almost drizzling with like this, you know, this mist that comes from having a lot of fog around. But we were so excited. I mean, come on, I actually didn't sleep that well the night before, and I knew that was going to happen, because for something like that, I was, I was worried about all kinds of things, not just running, but all of the other stuff that had to come together. So I used Garmin. I mentioned that already, that was the watch. Is still the watch that I use, and it's I found it to be better than Apple Watch, because for so many miles, when you use in a device, it keeps the batteries a lot a lot longer. So we started together, and then just about once we gone through the marina, climbed up. And so right before you get onto the Golden Gate bridge going across towards South Toledo, and like the the Napa Valley in the marine County, there are, there were just like, two very stiff hills and oh my gosh. I mean, we trained to run hills, but it literally just like, cut me to my core. And so I did, I mean, I did fine. We climbed up to the to the top and got on a Golden Gate Bridge. But I started like, I kept looking at my watch. And as I mentioned, like, I wanted to be in the zone too. But I think because there's so many people around, you're just excited, and people are passing you by, and it's like, you feel like you may be not running fast enough. My heart rate was just it was just never like, in the 140 range. So it was creeping up to be like, close to 150 and so I told Yuri, I'm like, and generally he does run faster than that than I do, and that's fine. So I sort of went into expecting that we will separate at some point. And so Golden Gate Bridge for, you know, for the beauty of it and everything you get to see, that's where we kind of like, right, take off, do your thing. And now, you know, just do it on my own. And so that's kind of where, you know, I ended up being on my own, which is fine. I mean, you're still running with a ton of people around you, but it's, it's, it's one of those things. So across the bridge, down into Sausalito, is a little loop, and then they kind of wrapped us around, and then put us back on the bridge, on the opposite direction, and then from there, you went into the city. On the way back on the bridge, it started to get, like, really windy. I don't know why, because I didn't feel that much wind coming across the first time. Maybe the side of the bridge was closer, like, you know, facing the ocean versus, like, the one facing the bay, but it was, it was windy, so like, and I had actually a jacket, a little lighter jacket, on just so that, just in case I had if I was going to be cold, and that was the spot on the bridge where I was, that's where I needed the most. And actually had a little hoodie. Now, one thing I didn't do, because I told you, San Francisco supposed to be cold, supposed to be chilly, supposed to be nice for running like it's a perfect weather. Did not bring a hat, and I didn't need it until certain point. Also in my training schedule, the most miles that we ever did was 20. Like that was the longest run ever. And I saw I knew exactly what it was gonna feel like, you know what? Where all the aches and pains and how much strength I needed and all the fuel I had to have, so 20 was kind of the top and so in your head, right? And this is my rationalization about it is okay, I could run 20 miles like six more at that point. Is nothing, right? But wait to hear what happens once you cross 20 miles and so. Interesting statistic I found about marathoners. First of all, this is only for the US population, but in the side note too, once you kind of start to research this topic, a lot of different ads start to pop up in my like, Instagram feed or on Google. So I started to, you know, read into things and so forth. So the statistic is, is for US population, and only 0.13 of people in us ever ran a marathon. And I was shocked. I mean, I was not trying to, like, you know, myself, and just say, like, here's a big achievement. No, I just, I just didn't realize that, um, why is it so small and interesting, too, that a lot of people that you know, we've shared with friends, most people don't like running. They're like, it's just not a thing. So maybe that's why the statistic is so low, I don't know, but it's just, it was just interesting to me.

And so since I was like, this is this is something I can do, I can just run right like it was. It wasn't anything hard in my head, but it is hard. It is painful, but it's doable with the with the right plan and the right schedule. Now also realize that it's a lot of it has to do with your mental game, especially running long distances. It requires a lot of mental strength, and you build that strength. It's not I mean physical strength comes from you growing the mental strength too. And it really took me a while to understand it. Like, really taste it. I mean, the body will, will, will cooperate, and it will, because you train it right, but, but the mind is the only thing you really have to work on. So, like, even an example of 20 miles, like you can, like, interesting side of this too. Like, whenever you start a run, you say, Okay, today I'm running 10 miles. I've seen this on and on through different weeks. It's like, in case, like there was maybe half a mile more to run, because somehow I took the wrong turn. That was, like, the worst time. Because you set yourself a goal to run 10 you accomplished that. Your watch, right? You know, gave you the sign, and all of a sudden everything just changes. So it's like, if you can't put your mind to something, and with the miles, it was like, that was the destination, you can totally, totally, totally, totally do it. So I've got to taste of it, the taste of it. I mean, when you are in the. Moment you're not realizing, but as you analyze this, and every week, as you grow and grow it, it becomes easier. It's not easy, but it does become easier. And so I guess, and I wondered a lot of times like, how this particular program and so the guy who developed it as a long time runner, I mean, he's a well known and a running community. I'm sure there's been 1000s of people who kind of went through it. So there was and is a lot of thought behind it. But I think out of all of this, that's probably like my biggest realization. Now, I needed a lot of it to be with me for the marathon day, right? Because, I mean, here I am, you know, running, and you know, through crossing all of these might, you know, and there were markers for each of the miles that you would cross, but when you get to mile 20, that's when it starts to, starts to be interesting. Because for me personally, that was the most that I've ran. So I didn't know what to expect. And we when you don't know what to expect, that's when this strong mental place is really important to be. And so I'll talk more about that in just a bit. But a lot of things also occurred right after 20 mile 20 mentioned that I didn't bring a hat, and for whatever reason, however, the weatherman was reporting the weather that morning or the day before, I did not see the fact that the sun was gonna come out like it's it was supposed to be foggy. It was supposed to be like clouds everywhere. But I completely missed that part. And so towards the end for the last like hour and a half. And I even saw that in the pictures that I took. I had my phone with me. I could see how the the sky was clearing up and the sun was coming out, and I just couldn't believe it otherwise, like looking at the sky saying, Oh my god. Why? Where did it come from? Like it? This is not supposed to be and so as you're crossing, like, the biggest, you know, mileage, distance you've you've done, and all of a sudden, these conditions change, right? All of a sudden, it's not as cool as it used to be. Of course, you were tired. I mean, I had a friend ask me afterwards, like, what is sort of like threshold of of the mileage that you run, that you're still kind of enjoy it. And I had to think about it. And I think if I had to put a number on it, I think half a marathon, so 13 miles is still a pretty good distance where you actually enjoy it. I mean, it's, it does start to, you know, your get legs get tired, if you don't have any specific injuries, you know, maybe you're doing really well, but after that, it's pushing through a lot of pain, and so you have this mental war going on, right, with with yourself, and then you're also making sure that your body's cooperating. And then these external conditions, right? Somebody's like crossing or passing you by. And then there's hills in San Francisco, like every you know, everywhere you go, and now the sudden, you realize, oh my gosh, am I actually going to make it right to the to the finish line? And so 20 miles was the magic for me, because after that, I really had to really learn a lot about myself. So the finish line, I mean, it was from this 20 mile mark to the 26th right? It's 26.2 miles a lot. And you know, that was towards the end, obviously, and somehow, I'm not sure if this is how the races has always been, has been designed, but that's, I think that's the part of the city where it does, did have the most hills. There are not, like the steepest hills, but, I mean, you know, a block long hill, and then from there, you kind of go downhill. And I found that it's a lot harder to go downhill, right? Because you were kind of starting, you were pushing up the hill, and was, you know, kind of using your arms, and sort of a lot of people were walking. I did have to walk towards, like, the end on some of these hills, although my goal was not to stop and, you know, not to walk like, that's that was a personal goal. You're not required to do that. But riding down the hill was something else, because you all of a sudden, you know, you kind of got to the top, and then you're starting to, like, increase the speed. So I don't think I enjoyed that that part that much. I was prepared for the going up the hills, but going down the hills were was not one of my favorite things. And one of the, you know, obviously, at that mileage range, you're starting to feel all your, you know, parts of the body, it's hurting. Everything is kind of screaming and aching. And one what I haven't experienced at that point yet was I started to feel, and I'm blaming, blaming the sun, but I started to feel how like my feet, bottoms of my feet, were kind of like almost on fire. Her. And so I was like, Oh my gosh, why is this happening? Like, do my, you know, did I put the wrong socks on or, like, something, you know, you're kind of running and thinking about everything in your head. Did I have the wrong shoes? And these are the shoes that I've done a lot of mileage on. I didn't, like, didn't put anything new on myself to, you know, kind of spook the luck of all of it. But, you know, that's, those are the things that you learn as you kind of graduate to the next level. And so one of, one of the things that I think is worth mentioning is that every mile you cross after that sort of becomes the reverse of, it's not like, Okay, I've got one more mile to go, and that's a true like, you know, self affirmation. But it's more about like, Okay, I already did 20 miles. I already did 2122 it's like looking back and say, you know, repeating to myself, because after, you know, after a while, like, Okay, what's the point of putting yourself through such a humongous effort and pain, and that was really what helped me get over that barrier. I also wanted to highlight, this is something you learn in the running community is like, I think I'm a really a true marathoner. So one of the things that happens at during races, and you may have seen like, especially bigger races, like, when there's a marathon or an ultra marathon, you have, you know, stuff on the side of the roads. I mean, you know, because you're running and you're not stopping, so you may be eating your gels. Gels are those specific like fueling tools and cups water, kind of, you know, at the water stations, then you start to see, like, jackets and sweatshirts on the side of the streets. You You see people take off their clothes and just throw on the side of the street. So I got to a point where the sun was so hot and I had this lighter jacket that I was wearing on the bridge, and I sort of battled with myself. I'm like, this was my lucky jacket. I wore it a lot on my runs and training. But if I am a true marathoner, I'm gonna take it off and through it and, you know, throw it on the side of the road. And as I was running through the Golden Gate Park, I decided to just kind of leave it on the side and hope that whenever they come around after the race to a collection that somebody else was gonna benefit from it, and I, I felt sad at the time, but when I took it off, it was like a load of bricks came off my I had it on my wrist just because it was so hot. So I thought that it was cool because I was like, I feel like a true marathon runner taking my clothes off. Yes, I was running, all right,

the finish line when I saw the 26 marker on the horizon, and, I mean, there started to be so when you come closer to the finish line, they, you know, line up the the street with, like, you know, these barriers, and so people are standing and kind of waiting for you. There's a lot of people on both sides of the rails, and I was looking, started to look for my family. Now I had my phone on me, so they called me a few times just to kind of check. And our app actually a cool app that had that was part of the the race allowed, you know, friends and family to kind of track and see where you are, right. Because if they're waiting for you at at the finish line, you know, there weren't there for hours. Yuri was ahead of me. So, like I said, if we separated, you know, not kind of pretty early into the race. So I knew he was ahead of time, ahead of me, and he at the 26 mile mark, he had already crossed the finish line, and was just really waiting for you. So I started to kind of look around in both sides, and I spotted my family and Liam, kind of like, sit, you know, on the right hand side. And I'll tell you the truth, that probably was the most exciting part, because I wanted to see him. I wanted him to see me him. I'm referring to Liam. I wanted him to kind of experience this greatness, right? And I explained to him a lot what, what all effort is involved. I don't quite think he understands it just yet, but, I mean, he understands it on a five and a half year old level, but I just wanted him to experience this. And so that was like the highlight for me. And as I started to, you know, come closer to the finish, the Finish, finish line, like it was. And I also, I also turned a video on my phone, but it turned out to be a really crappy video, because it takes a special skill to run and record videos. But I still took one, and I was just like, this is something for my memory. So I was able to crop a picture of him, and every, you know, all of the rest of my family, kind of holding a sign and cheering. So, I mean, a slew of emotions started to come, like tears, laughter. I was coughing. I was short of my breath. I didn't know if I was just gonna. Like fall, because I, you know, it was just like, your legs are so heavy, the feet are on fire. And it was just, it was a lot. It was a lot to process. I mean, it happened so fast, but as soon as I did cross, you know, there's a finish line. You have to cross it so they can check in your your time and everything I, you know, I had to stop, right? Because you kind of coming to an end, and there's still people from, you know, from the previous finishes that are kind of, you know, piling up there on the other side of the finish line. And I just like, I stopped, and I almost, like, didn't feel my legs, right? I mean, this is running close to five hours non stop, and so I was like, almost like, fainted, but Yuri came close, because he was already there. And it felt, it felt amazing. I mean, it was hard. I'm not gonna sugarcoat it. It was, it felt very satisfying. I felt proud of myself and like it was like, this accomplishments that I did it, I finished it. I was never going for the speed or the time. I just, I just wanted to cross that line and kind of experience what it felt like to go through that. And as I think back on all the training for like 18 weeks, I've ran close to like 500 miles collectively. And so doing a 126 mile race is, is really nothing, right? Because I've already run so many over, miles, over and over, but it's just, it's just doing it on, you know, on a day like that, with all of that, those coming together, so as soon as you cross the finish line, you know they're standing there waiting for you, taking pictures, and these are all the organizers of the rays, and they hand you the medal. And this medal was heavy. I don't know what I expected. I had no expectations. Like, I know they give medals when you do something like this, but it really, like, as soon as they put it on your neck. I'm like, Oh my gosh, it really matched the intensity and hardness of this marathon, or at least it felt to me like that. And I was like, whoa, okay, I worked hard for this, and I know I deserve a heavy metal. It's beautiful, it's shiny, it's gold. And Liam loved both of them. I mean, he grabbed both of them once he saw us, and you know, he was like, these are my medals. I'm like, I worked hard for you. They are yours, and you can play with them the rest of the day, as you can imagine. I mean, there is a recovery phase, but we rested. We ate a lot of food. And side note too, like, when you run for so many hours, you lose a lot of calories. It's like my Garmin app said it was like, close to 2800 calories. So if you're trying to indulge in anything you want, that's the day that you can eat any kind of food. So you can imagine that I did recovery took a lot. I mean, the day of the marathon, it's a lot, for sure, we did a lot of different types of therapies, like, you know, hot baths in the evenings, cold baths, you know, after the runs and so forth. Like, the training schedule for 18 weeks is designed to help you kind of grow and push yourself into these boundaries and expand. But it's, you know, it's still, like, your body, physically, still has to adjust. And so right before, like, maybe five days before that week of the marathon, marathon was on a Sunday, I started to feel like a little, kind of itchy throat, and I was like, Oh no, that's nothing. Like, I'm not gonna, there's no way I'm gonna catch a cold or, or, you know, be sick like, this is just not gonna happen. It's summer, like I, you know, I just like, I scratched it out of my mind. It was there. I felt it even on, you know, on the day of the marathon. And so I just like I pretended. And this is, like, that idea of, how can you, like, mentally make these shifts. I pretended I was not sick. Like, no way, and so and so, as soon as, like, the next day, I think my body finally, like, it finally said, I need a rest. And so, like, if it's like, Monday morning, I was like, Oh my gosh, not only you're still very sore and recovering from the run, I had, like, a full blown cold, and it took me three days, so Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, to feel like myself today, like I did not start running for another week, just because I really wanted to rest. I wanted to sleep in the morning, I just, I just did not want to run, and it's still in the process of recovering. Because, you know, you kind of get out of the groove, like you have this big plan, and then all the sudden it's it's complete, it's finished. So like, I took my time to do that, which was, which was really necessary. So recovery did. Take, they recommend for you to take a whole week of not running. You can go for walks and such. But I, you know, my call decide, I think it. You know, after a week, you can certainly go on, go on runs and kind of start, if you want to start, you sort of can start this reverse schedule, sort of like do the shorter runs and so forth, something that we've learned as like you go to these races, is that, and it was fun, fun in the moment. And I wish we didn't commit to that, but it was like, okay, they do. I'm sure this exists in all the little cities everywhere you have kind of like, these challenges. And so we signed up. We didn't sign up, but we committed to doing what's called the Bay Area challenge. And so you had to complete five races in the 12 months period. And because we completed the marathon, we completed a half a marathon before that, it was like two big ones already done, and we still had a year to go. So don't you know, we're like, okay, we're just gonna continue that. One of the reasons we wanted that is because they gave you this really awesome medal. I saw it and you know, with my eyes when we were at the exhibit the day before the marathon. But more on that to come as we complete this challenge. But it kind of like came close to as they put this medal on my neck, realizing, like, wow, it is really awesome feeling. So how do I connect this experience of running my first marathon with life, personal finances and just, you know, just, just any other parts of the of our existence that you want to improve. And so I've been thinking a lot about this phrase, it's not a sprint, it's a marathon. And I know you've heard this before, and how it applies to all the areas in our lives, especially finances. I see it so often with clients,

how they are impatient and how they just want to get their financial plan done, check the box or ask a specific question and just like get the answer and move on and have expectations of their investments growing overnight, set the goals and never really think about The timeline and hope that overnight, the success will come. But again, this is like a sprint. So if you're thinking, if your mindset is centered around that you really are training for a sprint, which is a very short race, a sprint is like running half a mile at the very, very fast pace, but you aren't going to accomplish a lot, right? And so I want to remind you that our finances are like marathons. We are always training, we're always learning something, we're making money, we're saving, we're spending, we're investing, investing alone like this piece needs time. It needs years, it needs to compound and grow. We also get to enjoy it, you know, pass it on, educate our next generation. So, like, I can't think how we don't view the, you know, the the longevity of our life and our finances as a marathon, because it does take a lot to get there. So the best part of all of all of that is that we should focus on enjoying the process the hardship, right, all the pains that we go through, losing jobs, moving, not saving enough, maybe having debts from time to time, whatever, whatever it is right, whatever the life throws toward us, or maybe having the, you know, the growth and becoming better and improving, because that race is what makes you stronger, is what makes you the very silent that that person that could be experiencing the best. So run the next marathon with me, a financial one. I mean, I will update you on if there's going to be one, one, another one sometime soon, but I invite you to join me running the next marathon of your finances, because that's what it's gonna take my friends. So what's next? I think I'm finally ready to think about what I want to do next, like I have taken some time to kind of digest process, take a break, and I know we have to finish our Bay Area challenge. So we started. So that's like three more races after you know, it does include a marathon, but we don't have to do one for a while, so that's still on hold, but this time around, for physically, right? And for marathon training purposes, I want to focus on training to run faster like I want to improve my. Pace, pace, excuse me, and one day a big goal, right? But again, remind you that unless you have these goals and you're really working towards them, whatever it is running a marathon is saving for a house down payment or going to the next vacation I want to qualify to run for best Boston Marathon. There's, there's my my PACE. PACE is how fast you run a mile. Really has to improve tremendously, like I have to run that marathon that I just ran in half the time. So there's a lot of training that has to happen, but it's a goal, and it's a pretty awesome goal. When is that going to happen? I don't know, but it's it's probably a longer training idea, but what I want for you is to realize that no matter where you are in your financial journey, you can always get on this financial marathon idea and train to become better wherever you are in your life phase, it doesn't matter, because you can always improve, you can always make changes, you can always become better. So that's it, my friends, I know this is longer than typical, and I shared a lot. I'm sure there's other little details or things that I quite forgotten, but as this unfolded for me, I thought it was interesting to share with you. I'd love to hear from you if you've done something like this, or maybe you've done even longer races or some other challenges, physical challenges, in your life, and of course, always share how you do in your finances. Thanks so much for tuning in. Please don't forget to leave me a review. Those mean the world to be those give me inspiration motivation to continue running this marathon with you, and remember you are the bosses of your own money.