I think every runner toys with the idea of the Marathon at some point or another. When I first started running about 3 1/2 years ago I hadn't thought about much more than running 5k's let along the Half or Full Marathon. After running my first Half Marathon I started to think more seriously about one day tackling the Full. After my second Half Marathon and some nagging achilles issues I didn't know when I would be able to tackle that challenge. After moving to Texas in late October, I started to once again think about building my mileage again and on New Years Eve I registered for the Air Force Marathon in Ohio. I was so excited I think my husband thought I'd lost my mind. While excited I was also terrified and have gone back and forth over the following months. Even still, I'm terrified and excited all at once. My training is getting better every week. I got a huge confidence boost this week when I found out that my slow treadmill runs translated to much faster road runs. I was seriously worried that my Nike+ android app was being really generous during my Treadmill runs, when in fact it was pretty darn accurate when I did my next run at the track and again for my long run today on the road. I am still slow, but not as slow as I thought I was.
At this point I have 140 days until the Marathon, which seems like a long time, but will fly by. My official training will begin in June, but I'm trying to make sure that I have a good base going so when I jump into the Marathon Training Plan, my body will be ready for it. The plan right now is to run it in 5:00/1:00 intervals (which seems to be going well during my long runs thus far). From what I've read, this should save my legs and leave me feeling fresher at the end. We'll see how it goes since I do tend to go out too fast and will probably run the first half faster than the second half.
I will spend the next 140 days writing about the journey, the good and the bad. With a little luck and a lot of planning, I will be able to get through this stronger, faster, fitter and preferably healthy and injury free.
