Beverly Ramos watched footage from nearly every available marathon course on YouTube during 2020, when her hometown of San Juan, Puerto Rico (and the rest of the world) shut down, forcing her to take her training runs from the road to the treadmill. She also filled her schedule with workouts on the stationary bike and strength training. “It was a little bit hard, getting on the treadmill every single day and not being able to train with people,” says Ramos, who says she loves the social aspect of distance running. Plus, her treadmill could only go as fast as a 5:20 per mile pace — which, believe it or not, is slower than her typical speed workouts. “When you’re in this kind of situation, you have to obviously do the best you can with the things that you have available,” she says.
Speaking of advice for future runners, Ramos has some tips for anyone looking to start in the spot or wanting to sign up for their first race: Focus on what makes you feel good. Then, have a few back-up plans when you hit the starting line.
"I always try to go into a marathon with different goals because sometimes you go with one and it could be crushing [if you don't hit it], she says. "If you're not meeting that expectation, it could be devastating emotionally." She suggests aiming for smaller, more specific goals that can help you focus on something other than the finish line — certain splits, hitting a certain point of the race at a set time, or simply feeling good at a specific mile.
"What I can say for sure is that if you feel healthy about the things that you're doing, then you're going to have a good result at the end," she says. "And I feel like this is what's [running] is all about — feeling good about what you're doing."
