Getting Ready for a Marathon - What's been on my mind lately...

I missed the Trail of Two Cities half marathon that I signed up for on Sunday due to a scheduling conflict and although I had the opportunity to run the distance later in the day, I decided not to. I hadn't put in the proper training and I frankly didn't feel like running 13.1 miles. Although I annoyed myself by saying I would do something and then not following through, I will make up for it by running the LA marathon in March.

For the past few weeks I have been mentally perparing myself to gear up for 4 months of training. I have picked a training schedule, typed it into an excel document, tabulated the amount of miles run per week, total mileage for the entire training period (567) and figured out the mile splits (9:09 minutes per mile). For the first time since I started running I have someone to train and run with me which I am quite excited about. It will be nice to have someone to moan and groan with, someone who understands what I am going through and the amount of work you put your body through and someone to help keep motivation high when I just want to sleep in on a Sunday morning instead of getting my butt out in the freezing cold to run a 15 miler.

I feel that I am the most healthy and knowledgable than during training periods in the past. I am consistently eating properly, consistently getting enough sleep, not drinking and basically engaging in a boring yet very satisfying lifestyle:)I am still doing pretty well with sticking with clean eating and we are cooking at home just about every night, which has been fantastic and has kept me healthy (last night we made portabello, eggplant and red pepper sandwiches with whole wheat couscous that was delicious!). I have also made just about every mistake a runner could possibly make in the past so I hopefully have learned my lessons and have that all out of my system. Going out too fast? Done it. Not getting enough sleep? Done it. Not getting enough iron? Done it. Not training long enough? Done it. Not eating the best foods for runners and paying for it with trips to the porta potty? Done that too. Frequently. Ugh.

I am excited about pounding the pavement again and being able to once again call myself a runner. Since I have done this before I do not have any hesitations or doubts or unknowns to contend with. I am just excited to get started again. I have taken enough time off to completley forget how painful the last one was so that means I am ready for the next race:) Kinda like how giving birth works, or so I hear. I will have to ask my sister about that later.

Official training starts November 17th!