Marathon Training: Week 17. New shoes!

After some hickups I am offiically training for my first marathon. Yeah, I registered for the Twin Cities Marathon and waisted $100. (woops). I won't be running that marathon because I will be in the Bahamas with my family. What a bummer! HA! So instead of TCM I am going to make the Des Moines Marathon my very first full on October 16th. Last week was my first week of marathon training. I am currently in the middle of a summer session (aka summer school). It's pretty busy and brutal but I did find time to get out and run three times last week. I am thankful that I have had time to squeeze running in. I even took Thursday off, I planned to do my scheduled 8 mile long run that morning. I was going to take Penny & Grant to daycare (dressed & ready to run), drive over to my favorite running trail and log in the Long Run (LR). However, as I sat watching the weather before waking up my kiddies (already dressed in my Under Armour pants & wicking shirt) I quickly found out Mother Nature had other plans. What a stupid whore! I hate Mother Nature!!!! So the sky was all gross and cloudy and grey. And it started to pour down rain. The wind was blowing like a freaking hurricain and the weather man said that a thunderstorm w/ hail & strong winds was headed our direction. Effing great. So I went back up stairs (stomping, of course, because I'm incredibly mature when I don't get my way) and changed into regular clothes. Instead of running I got all my grocery shopping done for Grant & Penny's party (which was saturday).

I did manage to run that day but I think it sucked. I cant remember specifics but all my running has sucked lately. This week I have gotten in only one run (its only wednesday). I managed to make it three miles monday afternoon is 90+* heat. But the verdict at the end of that messy run was that my shoes are officially done. There was no way I could put it off a day longer. Not one more step could be taken in those Brooks shoes! I estimate that I ran about 600 miles on them. They are toast. I went yesterday to the Lincoln Running Co. and bought a new pair of Brooks. This time I got Ravenna's. I tried on two other shoes that guy thought I might like. Asics and Saucony's. Neither had the kind of support that the Brooks have. I was willing to try something else but in the end I appear to be brand loyal! Brooks have never done me wrong (until around mile 601). I had a great time at the shoe store talking to the shoe guy who helped me. He had run the Paris marathon! Yeah, in actual Paris France! Not Paris Tennesee. Anyway, he watched me walk, measured my feet, we talked about how I've had two kids and my feet have changed (thanks a lot pregnancy!). So with my trusty new kicks and some other goodies - I got two new pairs of running shorts I can't wait to wear. They are soooooooo comfortable! And I also got some little electrolite things called NUUNs. (they are electrolites w/o the sugar like you get in gatoraid and you just put them in your water). Since I am running a lot in the heat of the day I need that help. I think that's part of my problem with having bad runs lately... I am so freakin' hot because it's like in the 90s! Baah.
 

We shall have to wait and see if I am able to squeeze in my long run this week. That is pretty damn important! I am going for a quick, short run today to test out the new shoes. But I am hoping Thursday or Friday to make it 8 or 9 miles. The calendar has this ominous looking number 9 on it. But I am not sure if I should make the jump up to 9 already. Having not done any LR's since the Lincoln Half over a month ago... is it wise? Or should I start with 8? Next week it says 10LR so I could make a two mile jump. What I plan to do is just go for 8 and if I feel great I will go another mile. The good news is ina  few weeks the LR is only 6. So I am thinking if I get a little off track I can swap out that little 6 for one of my missed LRs. I'm flying by the seat of my pants.

Marathon Training: Week 18 (or is it 20?)

As you (should) know by now I registered for my very first full marathon last week. I'm registered to run the Twin Cities Marathon on October 2nd. My training for that race began on Monday. I was home w/ sick ones so I skipped that day. Off to a bad start!!! Right?! Then Tuesday I ran 2 miles, which weren't very pretty. Yesterday I was set to run 3, which I did (on national running day!) but again I struggled. I haven't had a good run since the Lincoln Half for some reason. And yesterday just before I left work to do my run before getting my kids my mother in law and boss informed me that there is a company trip to the BAHAMA'S the last week of September into the first weekend of October. Which you may realize is WHEN I'M REGISTERED TO RUN A MARATHON! Crap. Crap. Crap!

I was pretty bummed I hadn't talked to my MIL before registering. I didn't think about that - but next time I do anything that takes a large committment you can bet I will be checking with my mother in law first to make sure there are no Carribean Vacations in our future!!! After I left work to go run I felt pretty let down. I had it all built up in my head that this was the race! I had tried and tried to actually talk myself OUT of running a full marathon this year. I kept saying I don't have time, I'm insane, I can't do this, this is a bad time, don't register. Yet I googled and googled and googled races and reviews and did research and asked other runners and I found the Twin Cities Marathon and it felt perfect. So after I got the OK from the hubbs I registered. I almost feel like there's a higher power at work telling me I should listen to that little voice saying I shouldn't run a full this year, I don't have time, I'm insane, I can't do this, this is a bad time! So I reflected on this conundrum during my run. Another bad run on a string of bad runs. It was hot. It was windy. (the weather channel said sustained winds of 30mph, w/ gusts of 55). But I did it ANYWAY! After googling some more... I found the Des Moines marathon.

The Des Moines Marathon is October 16th. It has some hills early in the race but many runners have commented they got a PR. (personal record). I'm not afraid of hills. I just don't want to run a "hilly" marathon. (which excludes Omaha all together). I'm not registering right away for the DM marathon but I have a feeling I will. Joe agreed it would be a lot more fun to go to the Bahamas then watch two kids alone while I went off to run a marathon alone. Two weeks later we could all make the short 2hr45min trip to Des Moines and this way I could have some fans cheering me on! After a while I started seeing this as possibly a good sign. Maybe God wasn't saying I should run a marathon... I just shouldn't run TCM. For whatever reason. But I can say I will enjoy being on the beach with my little ones and Joe and being able to play in the sand with them! My family makes me whole and I love building memories with them. I just can't pass up this chance. So my marathon training will actually start in two weeks! Which gives me a little more time to get my runs back to a good place.

I have a 10k race on Saturday morning. I am not looking forward to it actually. Mostly because I've had such a hard time with running lately. I know this race is HILLY. I ran it 2 years ago on a team and did pathetic. I think my time was 1:06:?? Which is bad. My last 10k finish time was 59:24. I will NOT be beating that time for a new PR. But I sure as hell better beat 1:06:??

But with all this complaining I keep on going. I don't know why. I think I just refuse to give up.