Mud. Lots of Mud.

Today I ran four miles (I think it's four) after work and it was beautiful out. I went to the nature center and finished in 35 minutes. Since high school I always thought the upper trail at the nature center was four miles, but I am surprised I would finish four miles in 35 minutes. I'm not that fast and for part of the trail I was slopping around in mud. My new shoes are not so new looking anymore.

My legs felt a little tight and I need to stretch more. I don't really have much to say tonight about running, but I did want to update my blog since I ran today. Tomorrow I'm planning to go to a cycling class at the gym and Friday my plan is to do Body Pump in the am. On Saturday Sarah and I are meeting at the Nature Center at 7:15 a.m. for 8 miles. That's all.

Peace. Love. Run.

Thank God for Girl Scouts

I'm not sure why this post is entitled Thank God for Girl Scouts, but as I'm typing this I'm having three Girl Scout cookies. I think eating is the reason I run. I love to eat. If I didn't run/workout, I would definitely be pushing 350 pounds. I'll get back to eating later, BUT...

Since my last post I ran two times. Julie and I ran two miles at the Glasgow Park on Saturday. It was one of her shorter days and I was just looking to have someone to run with. It felt like I sprinted two miles - two miles seems like such a short run. And for some reason I thought 40 degrees meant it was okay to wear shorts, so it was a pretty COLD two miles.

On Sunday Julie and I headed up to the Delaware Running Company to look at sneakers. Thanks to Tim for outfitting us with our new kicks! This store is a really great place to go if you're in need of new shoes and want some good advice. Tim had us take our shoes off and he watched us walk. From walking he could tell what shoes would be best for us. I wasn't planning to buy new sneakers, but I definitely needed a new pair before the race. These are my new ones. Tim said you should get new running sneakers every 250 miles.

After our visit to the store, it was time for me to test out my new kicks. (I love how they feel!) Julie is resting for a few days so we weren't able to run together. I headed to Delcastle with the intention of running six miles as my schedule calls for. Four times around the park is seven miles so I ended up just doing that. I felt good. It's amazing how much of a better runner I've become over the years. When I first started distance running when I was 16 I beat myself up mentally every time I had to run. I always thought I was going to die. Now I don't know what I would do if I couldn't run. Running makes me feel strong not only physically, but mentally.

I finished my seven mile run in 67 minutes. I'm pretty happy with that time especially since I haven't done any significant distance in a few weeks. Incubus and Coheed and Cambria kept me moving on Sunday.

Today my leg muscles are sore - in the "I just had an awesome workout" kind of sore.

So looking ahead to this week's training schedule:

Today I was supposed to stretch and strengthen, but that didn't happen.

Tomorrow I'm supposed to run four miles, but I doubt that will happen. I have class on Tuesday nights and tomorrow morning I get the stitches out of my leg.

Back to my earlier ramblings about eating. In the coming weeks I am going to focus more on my eating habits. I need to cut out some of the coffee I drink and pay more attention to incorporating foods from all of the food groups. And, unfortunately, Girl Scout cookies and coffee don't count. I've noticed that coffee suppresses my appetite big time so I need to be aware of that and make sure I'm drinking less coffee and eating more healthy foods. I also need to drink more water.

Peace. Love. Run.

Back at it...

I couldn't wait until Tuesday to run again. Today I met my friend Julie (who is also doing the Broad Street Run) for a quick three miles. I wrapped my leg up just in case. You can see my battle scar in the picture. We ran along a trail in Newark and came across Cheech and Chong who thought it was a good idea to play puff, puff, pass in the broad daylight - stupid kids! So after a slight encounter with Lady Ganja we continued on the trail. I felt good. I felt like I was running a bit fast, but that was probably because I was so excited to actually be doing physical activity again. The three miles flew by. I'm planning to run again with Julie this weekend and her schedule calls for two and five miles.

According to my training schedule next week looks like:

Monday: Stretch and Strengthen - I'll probably do an early morning Body Pump class that day
Tuesday: Four miles
Wednesday: Two miles or cross training - I'll either run or do an RPM class
Thursday: Rest or easy run
Friday: Four miles + strength
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: 5k - Sunday is Easter so I won't be signing up for a 5k, but I will definitely run that day. I'll have to burn off all those chocolate bunnies I plan to eat.

If anyone has any good recommendations for my iPod, let me know! I'm always looking for new music! And please comment - even if I haven't talked to you in years. I won't think it's weird, well maybe just a little.

Peace. Love. Run.

Hello. Welcome to my new blog

So I'm training to run a marathon. Responses from those I have told range from - why, would you want to do that? That's cool, I've done a marathon, good luck. Most, however, have been why would you want to do that?

I'm going to use this blog to share the torture/excitement of training to run 26.2 miles for fun. Fun??

My GYRO (Get Your Run On) running partner, Sarah, and I always talked about running a marathon. She ran the Baltimore Marathon back in October and watching her cross that finish line really inspired me to train. Whenever I thought of marathons these words came to mind - torture, pain, sick... you get the point. But being at an actual race completely changed my mind. There were people of all shapes and sizes. There were crazy men from Africa who finished in two hours, heavy ladies who took half the day to finish and may have only been there for the free gummy bears along the route and the potato chips at the water stops (yeah they have chips at the water stop... I'm kind of excited about that) and people who had trained for months and sometimes years for this moment. There were tons of people participating and even more standing on the streets cheering. I knew I wanted to be a part of something like this.

So here I am today. I am training for a marathon. And I'm sharing all of my training experiences with you (whoever is reading this). This blog will make me accountable for training. I'm telling the world I'm training for a marathon so I have to do it now. There is no backing out.

I am going to be brutally honest in this blog. I will try to entertain you. And I will do my best to make you laugh.

Here is my upcoming race schedule:

April - I plan to sign up for a 10k
May 2 - Broad Street Run (10 miles)
May 16 - Christiana Care Marathon (I'm doing the half - 13.1 miles)
October 16 - Baltimore Marathon

Right now I am following Hal Higdon's Novice Half Marathon Training Schedule

I should be at week 5, but I have not been able to run since March 18 because I have six stitches in my leg. I am tempted to not listen to the doctor and just run, but I don't want to open the incision. Before I had to stop running I was up to 5.25 miles and felt good. I could have gone further, but I decided to stick with the schedule. In addition to running outside, I've also been running an hour on the treadmill at the gym a few days a week and doing cycling and Body Pump classes.

So here it is - my first entry.

Peace. Love. Run.