26.2 miles seemed like an impossibly long distance to run 6 months ago. Yesterday, I signed up for my first marathon. This blog shall follow my efforts to get to a point where I can actually run such a distance (and hopefully help to motivate me to finish the thing!)
First, I have to clarify a few things. I hesitate to call myself a "runner". On REALLY REALLY good days, I can run 3 miles with an 8:30 minute/mile. Typically though, I hover around 9:30-9:50, and I get slower the more miles I add on. I also think it's important to note that I am not going into this thing totally blind; I ran a half marathon September 16th, and impressed myself, to be honest. I ran the whole thing in 2 hours, 16 minutes and 4 seconds. That's a 10:23 minute mile, and much better than I thought I was capable of. You'd think after such an effort I would be exhausted and sore--which I was. But 2 days after my half, I was on the road again.
Almost immediately, I signed up for another half marathon, this one in Florida, where my parents live. A friend of mine from high school has agreed to run this one with me, even though he hasn't run much up to this point. I'm really excited about it! But I started to think...maybe I could do more? After some research, I discovered a marathon training plan that called for a half-marathon race halfway through the training, so I started looking for a full marathon that matched up with the timing of the full marathon plan, keeping in mind that I already had a date for the half marathon. Conveniently enough, there is a marathon right here in Birmingham right around that time. It's actually a week after what it should have been, but it was so darn convenient that I couldn't pass it up. So, here are the details of my upcoming marathon.
http://www.mercedesmarathon.com/marathon.php
Downtown Birmingham on February 17th. Over a month before Rob and I get married, so I'll have plenty of time to stress about the wedding after I run the marathon :)
Concerns:
- It's 26.2 miles!
- I'm going to have to train in cold weather for the most brutal of the runs (January).
- It's not a terribly flat course. Runners will gain and lose 977 feet twice throughout the course.
- Will I have enough time to put in the miles, between working full time, planning a wedding, and trying to get my own small business going?
The Plan
This week calls for a 3 mile run on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and then Saturday is supposed to be 5 and Sunday was to be a cross training day. I'm going to have to adjust a little bit though, because Rob and I are meeting his friend Stefani in Georgia Friday night to do a weekend backpacking trip through the first section of the AT. So, here is my adjusted plan:
Tuesday: Ran outside around the neighborhood. Mapmyrun told me that I ran with a 7:30 pace the first mile (HA!) Luckily, I have run that route enough times to know exactly where 3 miles was...I ended up running with roughly an 8:30 avg (still good!).
Today: I went to the gym during my lunch break and ran 3 miles on the treadmill. I really can't do more than 3-4 miles on a treadmill and keep my sanity, and I only do it on days that I must. Today, after work, I am going to try on my newly altered wedding dress, and it's been getting dark so early here lately that I was nervous I wouldn't be able to squeeze a run in after the dress fitting. I ran it in 28:28 (more normal for me).
Tomorrow: I'm skipping the 3 mile run, hoping that the hiking trip will make up for it
Friday: 5 miles before work--really early wake-up time.
Saturday and Sunday I will be hidden in the woods with boy, my dog, and a good friend :)
Here is the rest of my training program:
http://www.halhigdon.com/training/51137/Marathon-Novice-1-Training-Program
(Total miles on this pair of Brooks: 42)
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