{"id":56,"date":"2018-09-11T19:50:04","date_gmt":"2018-09-11T19:50:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/?p=56"},"modified":"2018-10-22T13:43:48","modified_gmt":"2018-10-22T13:43:48","slug":"rebecca-jewett-trachsel-running","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/2018\/09\/11\/rebecca-jewett-trachsel-running\/","title":{"rendered":"A Race Against Time"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><em>In addition to her running ambitions, Rebecca (Jewett) Trachsel \u201997 is a high school cross country and track team coach in Lexington, Mass., and a mother of two.<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p class=\"p1\">It\u2019s 4:45 a.m. I ease out of bed, throw on my running clothes, gather my gear (headphones, gels, water bottle, hat, gloves), and prepare to head out for my 20th marathon. <i>\u201cWhat the heck am I doing?\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">Just three weeks earlier, while running the Shamrock Marathon in Virginia Beach, I injured my calf. I thought I would need months to rehabilitate, but here I was, getting ready to try again. And not only try again, but attempt to hit the goal I\u2019ve been chasing relentlessly since the fall of 2015: to run a marathon in under three hours.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">I\u2019ve always been a runner. Running was something I did for fun, to work through problems, or simply to check out mentally. In high school, the track coach convinced me to join the team, and I quickly fell in love with the feeling of flying around the oval.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">At Colgate I joined the cross country and track teams. The adjustment to the harder training, along with college in general, was a challenge, but I committed myself fully. After graduation, while I still ran occasionally, I was focused on my career and navigating life beyond college.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">Ten years later, I was married with two kids, and I decided I wanted to run the Boston Marathon. You know, just for fun; a bucket list item. To qualify, I ran a local marathon: I needed a time of 3:40, I finished in 3 hours and 39 minutes. It was one of the hardest things I\u2019ve ever done, and I was thrilled that I\u2019d pulled it off. At the same time, I couldn\u2019t believe I was going to do it all over again. I told myself, after Boston, I would officially be done with marathons.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Fast forward to 2015: I was 40 years old, and I was lining up in Albany, N.Y., for my 12th marathon. My personal record was 3 hours and 11 minutes. I\u2019d been working with a coach and increasing my training intensity, which was resulting in faster times. For this race, I was feeling nervous but cautiously optimistic. As I ran, every mile felt better than the last, and I knew something magical was happening. I found a new gear for the last 10K, and my smile grew bigger with every step. Elated, I crossed the finish in 3 hours and 4 minutes. I had no idea this was a possibility; suddenly, I had to readjust my thinking.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">Since then, running a sub-three-hour marathon has been my only goal every time I start a marathon. I have attempted it on eight occasions. Twice I have run 3 hours flat. Last winter, in the Harrisburg Marathon, I crossed the line in 3 hours and 7 seconds. With each near miss, I had pushed beyond a place I\u2019d never thought I could go, but rather than celebrate, I was frustrated every time I didn\u2019t see a 2 on the clock.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">In my last attempt, I crossed the line in 3 hours and 1 minute. For days, I was down on myself and running in general. Then my husband, Jeff \u201996, said, \u201cMaybe you need to let go of the time goal for a while. It doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s not going to happen. I just don\u2019t think it always needs to be your main focus.\u201d It was exactly what I needed to hear.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">I\u2019d started to lose the joy of running, and, as a result, forgotten why I do it in the first place. I love to train and race, not only to do well, but also because I enjoy the experience as a whole. I\u2019ve lost sight of that lately. My story is not over\u2009\u2014\u2009this is just a new chapter. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">This fall I will line up for my 22nd marathon. I will train as hard, if not harder. I will try again. But my main goal will not be time. It will simply be to run well and be proud of the outcome, no matter what.<\/p>\n<p><em>Update: On Oct. 21, Trachsel ran the Baystate Marathon and made her goal with a time of 2:59.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Listen to Trachsel&#8217;s playlist, &#8220;Trax Race Against Time&#8221; below.<\/em><\/p>\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/embed.spotify.com\/?uri=https%3A%2F%2Fopen.spotify.com%2Fuser%2Frunningwithmusic%2Fplaylist%2F0Jm3PmnHjSUWmYZ0FW2zUJ\" style=\"display:block; margin:0 auto; width:300px; height:380px;\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/iframe>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;With each near miss, I had pushed beyond a place I\u2019d never thought I could go, but rather than celebrate, I was frustrated every time I didn\u2019t see a 2 on the clock.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1221,"featured_media":174,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[78,82,99,103,112],"coauthors":[159,164],"class_list":["post-56","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-voices","tag-marathon","tag-motivation","tag-psychology","tag-running","tag-sports"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/palXSH-U","amp_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/09\/Voices-trachsel.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1221"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":870,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56\/revisions\/870"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=56"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}