My Running Story-Part II

Half Marathon

I had a lot of life changes the summer of 2009. I was newly married. I was going through the most stressful part of grad school (the comprehensive exam). AND I was training for my first half marathon. My husband and training definitely got me through the stress of grad school last summer.

Anyway, I used the runnersworld.com training tool to make my training plan. My furthest training run was 10 miles. I felt very prepared for the half. My goal was to complete 10 minute miles.

The race was on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend. The conditions were perfect. Not too hot or cold (which is an issue in Northern Michigan at the beginning of September). I finished in 2:05 and some change. I killed my goal. It was the best feeling crossing the finish line. I almost cried. Oh and because the entrant number was so low I came in 2nd in my age group! Woohoo!

After MathAfter the half marathon I took a little break from running to recover. Then my husband and I signed up for the half marathon relay in the Spirit of Pittsburgh. I was to run the first leg and he was going to run the second leg. But when I got to the exchange point I decided to keep running with him. I can't remember what our time was. I think 2.5 hours. We really took it slow! It was fun though (for me anyway) but I haven't been able to get my husband to run another race! I'm thinking he didn't think it was as fun.

I ran another half marathon (the Pittsburgh Marathon) this past spring. Training for a long distance event in the spring is difficult when you live in a cold and snowy climate. I'll probably talk about that more later so that I remember for next year. Basically the racing conditions sucked. It started drizzling/raining after I finished the first mile. I had a killer blister around mile 6. But I finished in 2:12. Only 5 minutes before the guy who won the MARATHON crossed the finish line. Hey, I kind of beat an elite runner...or not!

During my training this spring I had no aches and pains. That got me thinking about tackling a marathon. And that's when I signed up for the Santa Barbara Marathon on November 6, 2010. My best friend is going to grad school at UCSB. So I'm going to take a little vacation to see her...and run a marathon.

TrainingI'm two weeks into marathon training. I've noticed some tightness in my hip but I've been stretching it out regularly and the pain is about 98% gone.

GoalsFor this blog, I have a few goals. I want to document my training (including my cross training) as well as how I'm preparing for the marathon mentally and nutritionally. I'm also trying to shed a few pounds so hopefully this will keep me accountable.

I'll share the past two weeks of training a bit later! Happy Friday!!