More decisions, decisions

I'm having trouble deciding which marathon to run this fall. You'd think 26.2 miles is 26.2 miles right? But apparently all marathons are not created equal. There are locations, dates on which the race falls, hilly or flat or trails, number of participants and number of spectators. So many things to consider.

The Indianapolis Marathon in Nov seemed like a good idea. It's flat, the date worked, Indy is relatively close to Etown. However, it is also a new race - this is the second running - and I'm concerned about the number of participants and how big the crowds will be.

For those of you who have never raced before, these last two elements are vital to a good race (for me). The bigger the number of runners, the more energy to feed off of - the same goes for the crowds that cheer the runners on.

The Columbus Marathon has everything I would look for in a race. The marathon is in October, Columbus is also relatively close to Etown, the course is flat (so I've read and been told), 5000 people running the 26.2 together and the crowds are plentiful (again, so I've heard). Plus, Columbus is an established race - it has been around for a while and people who have run it say good things about it.

Seems like it would be an easy choice, right? Well, if I choose to run this race, I'll be asking for another "sacrifice" from Sarah. October 18, the day of the race, is Sarah's birthday. Birthdays are very special to Sarah and I want to make sure that day will be. I know we'll have a great time - we'll probably end up making a weekend out of it! I just want to thank her (again) for her support and let her know how much it means to me! And of course, Emma too!

I love you both!

It has begun...

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
-Lao-tzu

Or in my case, 26.2 miles.

This morning I ran a little over 5 miles. During this run, a feeling came over me that I was doing the right thing by training for the marathon. Of course, this is easy to think on the first day in the first week of 24 weeks of training. Everything felt right. I'm looking forward to this journey more and more every day. Now the only thing left to make it official is to sign up to run the race.

Until next time...

A Saturday long run

Today was the last "recreational" long run before training begins. Ten miles, nice and slow. It's actually pretty easy to get through these runs with a group. We're all suffering together and we'll all finish together.

I have sent out a few invitations to family an friends to follow me. (Hello to all of you and thanks for showing some interest.) I may very well have decided as of last night that I am going to go through with this thing. I guess when I clicked on that "Send" button I committed myself to this adventure. Let me tell you that I sat here and looked at that button for about 5 minutes before I clicked it.

Honestly, for the next 3 or 4 weeks it won't be much different than what I run normally. After that is when the work begins. My main focus for the next few weeks is to slowly start adding miles without hurting myself. (For those of you who don't know, I injured my knee in January from adding too much mileage too quickly training for a half marathon. Three weeks of no running and 10 visits to physical therapy make me a little more cautious these days.) BTW - I did get to run that half marathon at the end of April.

Until next time...

Will I or Won't I?

Welcome to my first blog entry - ever.

I started this blog to document my journey through my first marathon. I am still unsure whether I'll be running one or not. I know what you're thinking, why am I blogging about training for and running a marathon if I haven't even committed? Well, I need to start somewhere and I need to get how I'm feeling off my chest. Most likely I'm extremely nervous about this adventure. There is a lot of work ahead of me, but I really want to complete a marathon and I feel that I am as ready as I'll ever be. I was encouraged a little this morning when the group I run with told me they would help me out.

Training technically starts next Monday for the November 7th marathon. Decisions, decisions...

Until next time.