Balancing Marathon Training, Family, and Weekend Sports
This weekend my daughter has another soccer tournament, with the first game starting at 8:30 AM today and my husband has a triathlon on Sunday. I will be parking at the soccer field, starting my run at 5:45 AM with the goal to finish by 8:20 in time to change and drink my Tailwind recovery drink on the sidelines by 8:30 AM. I’m tired just writing this email.
Another reason I’m tired is because we went to California Adventure on Wednesday! I live just 1 hour south of Disneyland, so it was a day trip. Growing up in Orange County, I’ve been to Disneyland many times, but I’ve actually never been to California Adventure. Disney is having a deal right now where kids get tickets for only $50, so we decided to take a trip up for the day (let’s be honest it was still quite an expensive day even with those “cheap” kids tickets, but we did hold out on buying the FastPass, which we ended up regretting a bit).
It was a fun day, but the “Disney hangover” is real – it was definitely a disruption to the work and marathon training week to go on a Wednesday, but I had to take my Type A hat off and put on my “fun mom” hat for a day and remember that it won’t be too long until our kids would rather spend the day with their friends, not us.
What My Chicago Marathon Corral Assignment Revealed
What my Chicago Marathon corral told me….
If you’ve ever run a major marathon, you know that you get assigned a corral many weeks ahead of the race. The corral assignments are kind of a big deal because it determines what time you’ll start the race. There are usually different waves with separate start times, and then corrals within each wave.
When I got the email from the Chicago marathon that corral assignments were online, I didn’t check right away.
Later, my friend Jen texted me with her corral assignment, expressing some frustration that it wasn’t accurate based on her submitted race time and estimated finish time, I got curious enough to log in immediately. I texted her first, “I’m not even sure what I put in. Depends on what my mood was.”
From Self-Doubt to Confidence
And by mood, I mean: Was I feeling ambitious and optimistic? Or was I feeling discouraged?
I went to my computer and logged in to the Chicago marathon portal.
“Corral E.”
It meant nothing to me. So I googled, “What does Corral E mean for the 2026 Chicago Marathon?”
That is when I discovered that I would be in Wave 1, the wave that starts earliest(yay!), with the faster runners. And that I would be the last corral in wave 1.
I was happy because it means that I’ll be in the same wave as my friend Kelley who I am sharing a hotel room with. I won’t be waiting around 30+ minutes after she starts, since presumably we’d be going to the start line together (it’s a mile or so walk from the hotel).
With more digging, I found a chart that showed the predicted finish times of my wave. Corral E is for an estimated finish time of 3:10-3:35:59.
At first, I was in denial: I don’t belong here. Apparently, I’d been in an optimistic, ambitious mood when I applied to the race.
I reminded myself: I put in my actual half-marathon time to qualify for this wave. I DO belong there.
How Marathon Mindset Shapes Race Performance
And then I noticed myself realizing… I believe I CAN run that time (my PR is 3:35:26). While the only goal I’ve had for this marathon so far is to run a sub 3:45 (my BQ time for next fall, assuming they don’t change the qualifying times again), my training is going well. My stress level is way down from last year. I’ve improved my mindset around racing and running. My fueling is better than ever.
Trusting My Training Instead of Fear
Last year, I took all marathon goals off the table due to life stress & pressure I was adding to myself to prove something with my marathon time.
But this year, I’m ready to make time goals again – not because of the BQ or what it means about me as a runner or a coach, but because I LIKE to set goals and work toward them.
And while I do think 3:35 is a stretch, I also believe it is possible.
And I don’t feel that pressure or fear of failure like I have in the past.
And that in itself, is a win.
Why Mindset Is Just as Important as Marathon Training
And after coaching many athletes to marathon PRs – I can tell you that the mental side is even more important than the physical side of training. And my mindset is growing leaps and bounds.
Curious – what do you think about the corral system at world major marathons?
Happy running,
Nicole Dobransky
PS If you’ll be in Chicago for the marathon, let me know!