1 week until the big day

One week from now I will hopefully have completed my first marathon.

Am I ready to run a marathon? Yes.
Am I ready to run a marathon? No.
Am I ready to run a marathon? I have no idea.

I know at this point you're supposed to trust your training, but I don't know if I trained enough. My longest run was 20 miles. I had I think 2 18 milers, and a 17 miler in there as well.

I'm nervous, anxious, excited, scared, with a little bit of taper rage all balled into one.

I guess all I can do at this point is just keep on running.

Still trying to get there

I knew the road to hitting 700 miles wouldn't be easy. Throw a new puppy in there and some leg issues and it gets even harder. I know, no excuses, right?

I think I still may be able to get close to 700 though. My running volume isn't near where it should be. I'm beating myself up for that. I'm going to break things down though, other than my body. I'm going to try doing more frequent shorter runs to get my volume up quicker. I'm going to be running 2 a days for awhile. With having 3 dogs, and 2 kids, and school starting soon, as well as soccer practice, I think it will be easier. Not that running a lot of miles is easy, but if I can run 3-4 miles in the morning, it will be easier to get another 3-5ish miles in in the evening when life gets in the way. I can run a couple of miles while the kids are at soccer practice or after homework is done. I have to give it a try.

I'm actually looking forward to it. I know I can knock out shorter runs no problem. Hopefully it won't take too long of doing shorter runs that the longer runs on the weekends become easier.

I know running a marathon is going to hurt. I just want to do what I can to be prepared to make it to the finish line.

I'll update my mileage later.

Get it in gear!

The first three weeks of marathon training have not gone as planned. Next week is an easy week before I start building again. From here on out I WILL DO BETTER

June's total 45.77 miles
July so far 11.2

Total - 56.97
643.93 to go

Marathon Training - Week 1

Marathon training 1, Me 0

I knew this first week was going to be hard, but the heat made it harder than I expected.

I wanted to ease back into running so I took Friday as a rest day, since I had run the 3 days prior. I had intended to run Saturday. I thought I would go to the park, they have a track around the park that is 2 miles. The surface is much more forgiving than the roads I normally run on, and I thought a change of scenery wouldn't be bad. I asked the kids if they wanted to go along. There are several different playgrounds at the park, and they could play while I ran.

We got to the park around 8:45, a little later than I wanted, but it wasn't super hot out, and I only needed to run 3 miles. As we're pulling in I read the sign at the entrance. I had forgotten today was Community Day at the park. No problem, they were down at one corner, we would play at the other. I see some runners walking around and it hit me again that there was a memorial 5k today, too. I was hoping it started at 8:00. I talked to a couple of runners and they tell me the race isn't until 9:00. One asked me if I was just there to run. I told him, yeah, I just wanted to get a workout in. He told me to run anyway, they were all runners they'd understand. I thanked him and walked the kids to the playground in the woods where it was shaded. The track around the park isn't that wide, and I didn't want to be in anyone's way. I hadn't seen the kids that much this week either. I decided I'd run later. I played with my kids at the park.

We were near the track and I told them that when the runners came by we'd have to cheer. We heard the race start and after a little while I told them to start watching. We saw he first runner, we cheered, he waved, and my son started counting until the next runner. It was about 20 seconds. The next runner went past, we cheered again, then there was a little break. After those 2 they started coming in more clumps. There was maybe only 40 runners, if that. They ran 2 laps, we cheered for all of them twice.

I never did get my run in yesterday. It was too hot during the day. Once evening hit I thought do I really want to run now, then 12 hours from now go on another run?

I made the decision to start running in the mornings. It won't be as hot and humid, and I'll get to see the kids more in the evenings. I'm not wild about getting up at 4:00, but I used to do it for work and after a week or 2 it won't bother me.

If it wasn't Father's Day today I'd have run early. I stayed home to make a big breakfast and all that good stuff. I didn't get out of the house until almost 9:00. I looked at the thermometer before I left and in the sun it was 105. I got 2 miles into my run, I had a pounding headache. I'm running and thinking if I keep going I won't have any shade for the next 6 miles. I knew it was only going to get hotter, and my headache was only going to get worse. I turned around and came back. My 10 mile run today was only 4 miles.

This week was a learning experience. I WILL DO BETTER FROM NOW ON!

Onward and Upward

28.55 miles down
671.45 to go

Today is the day

For those of you who don't know, it was 3 years ago today that I got thrown from a horse and broke both arms, among other things. So I believe it is quite fitting that today was the first day of marathon training.

From here until Nov 1 there are no more excuses. It doesn't matter how hot or cold it is. It doesn't matter how windy, rainy, early, or late it is. If it's lighting I better run fast and hope I don't get hit. If there is a tornado coming down my normal route I'll have to pick a different path. If the roads are flooded I'll have to run in place. The only thing that can stop me now is a leg falling off or a death certificate with my name.

I got my 4 miles in today. It wasn't pretty, but I did it. It was 80 degrees, but cloudy, which helped. It had rained some on my way home from work, I was hoping to get some of that during my run but no such luck. I have a long ways to go, but I'll get there.

I think I missed adding 4.2 miles last week so I'm up to 12.4 miles complete 687.6 to go.

A journey of 700 miles...

Yeah, I know, my marathon training plan is 794 miles, and I'm doing the pre-training now so I should hit more than 794. Thing is I'm old. My body reminds me of this regularly. I just spent the last 6 or so weeks not running because of it. So my goal is to hit 700 miles during my marathon training.

I want to get to the marathon starting line prepared and uninjured. I anticipate substituting some long bike rides for some of the runs, and that's ok.

I did a 4.2 mile hilly loop here near home tonight. I chose the hilly route because I knew it would force me to walk. Since I haven't run in weeks going out and running 4 miles tonight would be inviting injury. I walked up and down the hills, I ran the flats. In a few weeks I'll be running the entire thing, but you have to start somewhere, right?

4.2 miles down, 695.8 to go.

This is getting very frustrating

I haven't run in weeks. I think I'm a few weeks away from running, too. This is starting to get irritating. I have been doing lots of Yoga. I have also been doing some spinning on my bike. My fear is I'll have to start from scratch when I hit the roads again. :-(

MCM training starts June 13, and there is a small buildup to that. I'm hoping to start running the week of May 31st.

I have started using a heat pack and muscle stim regularly. After I do Yoga or bike, I've been using an ice pack. I'm hoping, I'm really hoping that this heals soon and doesn't nag me or the next 6 months.

I need to start getting back in the pool regularly, too. My swim has really dropped off, but that could be because of losing running fitness, too.

Must work harder!