I'm hoping I've finally turned a corner. Ever since school let out I've had a lot more time on my hands and I decided that I would be a fool to not take this opportunity to start training again at a high level. I had targeted a fall marathon and, while I would have liked to have a bit more time to train, I decided that the earlier, the better. So after looking around extensively at the race calendar on Marathonguide.com I found a suitable marathon:On Labor Day, September 1, 2014, I will be running the Heart of America Marathon in Columbia, Missouri.
I can't even begin to tell how excited I am about this. I mentioned in my last post how my life had really been in a tumultuous state during February and March. Well, sometime in April things really began to calm down and I would definitely say I turned a corner. I entered one of those phases in my life where almost everything seemed to be working. While I don't consider myself an emotional person, or one subject to depression, I feel like by the time May 1 came around, I had really come out of a shadow and was starting to see the positive side of life.
In all of that, I began to train a bit. My training in May was nothing special, but I was able to string together some days and really start to feel like I could handle running regularly again. And for some reason, I was comfortable running relatively quick paces. This was a huge encouragement for me. By the time June hit, I was really getting excited about the prospect of marathon training. I wasn't in great shape, but I had made a 12 week plan that I felt would get me prepared for the marathon on Labor Day. It was, and still is, a pretty ambitious plan, but just knowing I had this great training plan in place got me excited to train. And, most conveniently, the 12 weeks began the Monday after my final day of teacher meetings for the school year. So literally as soon as my summer started, my training started.
Right now I'm a little over 2 weeks in, and while my legs have been very tired I have had some great runs and workouts. I've strung together consecutive 50+ mile weeks for the first time in I don't even know how long. I've run 14 miles at my goal marathon pace, I've had several great workouts, and I just feel better overall. I have a person in my life to whom I have to give a lot of credit. She's been supportive and excited for my training, and has really helped me to have a better diet, which I think has really contributed to my feeling much better on my runs. I try to return the favor by showing her the same support as she trains for her first marathon (Chicago in October).
On top of everything else, I have a few other things to look forward to in the near future. First off, in about 8 hours I'm hopping on a plane out to California to help pace one of my friends in the Western States Endurance Run (100 Miles, if you didn't know). A group of us is going out there to be his support crew, and I get to run the last 7 miles of the course with him. I can't wait to get out there, see the scenery and watch all of these great, brave athletes compete in what is supposed to be one of the toughest endurance challenges in the country.I've also got a couple of 5k's coming up, and I fully intend to give race reports on all of them (plus a full report of Western States). Also, I recently made the decision to train for and (hopefully) complete an IronMan Triathlon in August of 2015. So all in all, I am very excited about the future of my training. I can't remember the last time I felt this motivated. It's going to be a great year!!
