Why I Stopped Running Marathons for 7 Years, and Why I'm Finally Coming Back

I thought I'd take one year off from marathons. Instead, it became seven.

In this episode, I'm sharing the personal story behind my return to marathon running, from infertility and IVF to postpartum complications, recovering from a pulmonary embolism, and finding my way back to the starting line as a mom of two.

I'm also taking you behind the scenes of my training for the 2026 Chicago Marathon and showing exactly how I'm fueling differently this time around.

In this episode:

•  Why I stepped away from marathons for seven years 
•  Recovering from infertility, pregnancy, and postpartum health complications 
•  How Team Abbott gave me an unexpected path back to Chicago 
•  Why my goals look different in my 40s 
•  What to expect as I document my marathon training and nutrition journey

Apply to work with Natalie for 1-on-1 nutrition coaching! 

Have questions or want to request a show topic? DM us @greenletes

Check out Natalie's book 📕: Planted Performance

Transcript

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I left marathoning for seven years, and here's why I'm finally coming back. Seven years ago, I ran my last marathon. And if you had asked me when I'd run my next one, I'd probably say in another year or so. But instead, it ended up being seven years until I returned. And I really didn't plan for that to happen. Hi, if you're new here, I'm Natalie. I'm a sports dietitian, a mom of two toddlers, and this fall I'm running the Chicago Marathon, my first marathon in seven years. I've shared little bits and pieces of my story online, but I realize I've never really shared the why I stopped running marathons or why now feels like the time to get back. So that's what this video is about. Let's talk about what's happened over the last seven years. Back when I ran my last marathon, running was a huge part of my identity. I ran that marathon about a month after getting married, and then we decided to start trying to have a family. Fortunately, as these things go, it didn't go as planned. We went through infertility struggles, we ended up going through IBF, and we eventually did get pregnant with our first son, but it took about a year and a half. During all of that time, 2020 happened, COVID shut down the world, and marathoning just wasn't really a priority. I had my first baby in December of 2021, and then obviously I was postpartum, I was dealing with the life as with the newborn, and I got I did get back into running. I ran two half marathons in 2022, but then in early 2023, we decided to have another baby, and I'm not the type of person who runs marathons while pregnant, although some women do, which is absolutely amazing. But I let those dreams kind of go for a bit and had another baby. Here's where the story gets a little crazy. I had some traumatic health instances while giving birth. So I ended up hemorrhaging while giving birth. I needed a second surgery. And then also after birth, I ended up having a pulmonary embolism, which is a blood clot in the lungs. And I do a video about that story if you want to go back and watch it. But with all of that, obviously it was not just a simple birth, and I wasn't just dealing with postpartum and dealing with a baby. I was also dealing with the health struggles of coming back from blood clots in my lung and what that would look like. So that was about three years ago, and I ended up having to see a cardiologist. The cardiologist followed me for six months to a year. I was on blood thinners, I had to make sure that my lungs were healthy. And then after all of I started running again, little by little, little by little. Some races here and there, a half marathon here, no time goals, a half marathon there. Finally, last year in 2025, I started to feel ready to tackle the marathon again. But what marathon would I choose? I tried for New York City Marathon, put my name in the lottery. Of course, no one gets into that. Some people do, but I did not. I decided maybe I'll try again this year, 2026, put my name in the New York City Marathon Lottery. Didn't get in. Okay, so I'm gonna make my marathon goal in 2027. So in 2026, this year, I started completing the 9 plus 1, which in New York City, if you're unfamiliar, New York Roadrunners has something called the 9 plus 1, which is essentially running nine races and volunteering at one, gets you guaranteed entry, and being a member of New York Roadrunners gets you guaranteed entry to the marathon for the next year. So I decided this year I was going to do that. So I am still doing that. But with all of that, I also started looking into other ways to run the marathon, and I applied for something called Team Abbott. Abbott is the company that puts on the world marathon majors: New York, Chicago, Boston. I think there's eight of them now. It's Tokyo, Berlin, London, Sydney, and I think they just announced one in Cape Town in Africa. Uh so all that being said, they have something called Team Abbott, which is for people who have overcome health struggles. They run with Team Abbott, these marathon majors, and they give you entry into the marathon, complimentary entry into the marathon. So I applied to be on Team Abbott. Totally forgot I applied. And about two or three weeks ago out an email that I was accepted to Team Abbott for the Chicago Marathon 2026. Wow. Do I accept? Is basically they're asking me, do I accept my acceptance onto this team? I was not planning on running a marathon this year. I had not started training for a marathon this year, but I had enough time to train. So gladly, I accepted. 2026 Chicago Marathon would be my comeback story. I am starting to train for the Chicago Marathon. And here's the thing: life isn't magically easier. I still have two young kids at home. I still work full-time. Our evenings are busy, our mornings are busy, there's still laundry that piles come, there's still kids that need to be dropped off, dinners that need to be made. But I've realized that now in this season of life, and maybe until I'm retired and my kids are older, there's no perfect time, but I have to make the time. So my kids are kind of old enough to understand that I'm going out to exercise, I'm going out to run, and this is some time that I'm taking for myself. I'm also being able to show my kids that this is what achieving a goal looks like. And something that's kind of surprised me is that I actually don't even want to be the runner that I was seven years ago because my life has changed so much. I cared so much about hitting certain goals, crossing certain finish lines, but that's not really the only reason I'm doing this anymore. Now I care so much about staying healthy, being super strong in my 40s, recovering well from my traumatic birth, and then also fueling. Obviously, I'm a sports dietitian. So much of what I talk about is fueling. And I can tell you that the last two marathons that I ran, New York and Chicago, I did not fuel well. I was underfueling, I was not calculating the amount of carbs that I needed per hour. I probably was dehydrated. So that's why I'm sharing all of this. I went back and forth about whether or not I kind of want to document this because I'm not an influencer, I'm not, I don't do vlogs, but there's plenty of videos out there about I'm running a marathon and here's you know my story. But I wanted to share with you the fueling aspect of this, how I feel my long runs, what I eat before and after my workouts, how I balance marathon training with work and cooking dinners and being plant-based. And I'm gonna share all of that with some nutrition tips mixed in. Because at the end of the day, that's what why I became a sports dietitian to help people like you who are watching this fuel your uh fitness, whether it's a marathon, a half marathon, with plants. And I want to show you how I'm doing it and how I'm doing it the right way this time, because it took me until I reached my 40s and had two kids and fueled not the right way for quite some time to realize that I could do this. And I'll tell you that, as you'll see along this journey, that I have a lot of systems in place. I plan out my meals, I plan out my workouts, I get groceries delivered, I count my calories and macros some sometimes. I keep track of those to make sure that I'm eating enough. And I do step on the scale sometimes to make sure that I am keeping the weight that works right for me. And all of those things I will document here. So here's to Chicago 2026, Chicago Marathon, comeback story for me. There's no time goals, there's just a 26 goal. I have no idea what race day is going to look like, but I know that I'm gonna put in the work to make it be the best that it can be for me. So after seven years away, just getting back to this starting line feels like something worth celebrating. If you're training for a race or you're coming back to running after time away, or you're just trying to fit movement into your busy life, I'd love to have you along for the journey. Subscribe, leave me a comment, tell me where you are on your journey. Thanks so much for watching, and I'll see you in my next video where we will dive into the fueling.