Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Marathon Training Begins

So...this will be my second marathon. I trained for and ran Chicago last year alone. It was a trip. I knew others that were training and running and sought support from all kinds of sources but the bottom line was....I was on my own. I trained and finished and thought I did well...for my first attempt at a marathon.

My goal this year is not only to finish again but to do better than last time. This time I have enlisted the help of CARA (the Chicago Area Runners Association) Training team. We meet once during the week for midweek short runs and once on the weekend for the weekly long runs. We are following the same program I followed last year...the Hal Higdon plan.

Training began last week and last Saturday I had my first group run. What a riot! I have never run with others before....always just me, the dog and the iPod or me and the music. I headed straight towards the turtles in the back and what a time we had! I am not used to that much adult interaction and discussion. It was wonderful! At times I longed for the peace and quiet that comes with running alone but there is time for that during my weekly runs. I need to learn to run at a consistent pace.

Today was a 3 miler and had to be done on the DREADMILL! It was raining and stormy and while I do not mind the water...I do mind the lightening! I have made the treadmill my friend as we get together occasionally for runs. I have made peace with the machine as I need it as much as my running shoes! I would rather take to the DM than miss a run.

For crosstraining today I cleaned the 'junk room' and I think I must have gone up and down the stairs 50 times if I did it once! Time to relax and watch Jillian Michaels for some inspiration....

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