My first 50.....Itinerary

This is so exciting.....I cannot wait ...3 more weeks....

20 miles today.....8 the next day
two 3 milers during the week
Then a 30 miler, then taper for 2 weeks....
Last longish run will be maybe an 8 the weekend before. 

Time	What	Where
Friday	Take plane to Knoxville	Airport in Tennessee
Friday	Car rental
Friday 2:30-4pm	Try to catch Catra Corbett's keynote speaker	Alcoa High School
Friday 2-6pm	Packet pick up	Alcoa High School,
Friday 5-6pm	Mandatory pre-race meeting with Catra Corbett	Alcoa High School,
Friday  6-7pm	Pre-race Pasta Dinner	Alcoa High School,
Friday 3pm check-in	Hotel	Alcoa, TN,
Saturday 8pm	Race Start
Sunday 10am	Estimated finishing time
Sunday 2pm	Race closes for all
Monday, 12pm	Hotel check-out
Monday 3pm or before	Car drop-off
Monday 2pm	Plane back home United	DC airport

It's not failure...It's wise

                       I don't see this as failure.....starting this week, I switched to the most basic marathon training plans I could get my hands on....Not only that, I am also loosely going to follow it only for the long runs and just make sure I get in 4 miles three times a week plus weight-training once or twice a week. 
                During the summer I was able to complete up to 8 miles on a weekday and not have it dent me. But now that school starts back up and I have to teach I would need to get up at minimum 4:20am, and that is just when I run 4 miles. Partly it's the fact that I am a slow runner but I cannot change that much at the moment. If I were to complete an 8-miler during a workweek I'd have to get up at 3:20am!! That would not be easy to maintain and keep my sanity and health. Last week, I did an 8-miler and was trying to do a 17-miler the next day and felt a painful pull in the back of my thigh. The LAST thing I want is to get injured. Then, I remembered that my 50-miler is 6 months away and that technically I am still just training for just marathon for the moment, and to top it off, I am just training for a marathon I want to finish and not win or even PR, at this moment. 

* 4:20am: Wake up to get ready for the day
* 5:20am: If I were to run 4 miles I would need to leave the house 
* 6:20am: Get home to shower and change 
* 6:50am: Leave home  
* 7:25am: Get to work  

               So, it's with great assuredness that I made this decision to lighten my load and I already feel a ton better. 

Started on my 50K training schedule!

                         Started my 50K training schedule. It will be 17 weeks long. It's modeled after this one I found online at http://running.competitor.com/files/2012/11/46_nat_r1.pdf . It's amazing how much easier it is to convince myself to get up in the morning to run when I am following a program. Inside, I am still very undecided about whether or not this race will take place, yet, I am at the moment determined to give it my best shake and not get scared off my resolve. Trying hard not to stress over the logistics of getting to a race at 7am-ish that is 3 hours away, etc.....will need to work out the details as I get closer to the date and if I am able to stay on course. I am depending on being able to have more time this summer to keep up the miles.
                           Last week I was about to call and cancel my registration. I got scared all of the sudden. The enormity of the miles got to me and I needed to allow myself to be unsure for a couple of days in order to work it all out in my head. But this week, I am less fearful of the milage and more determined to get it done, even if I have to walk the whole way! Besides, unlike some 50Ks I researched this one does not have a cut-off. In the meantime, all I have to worry about is covering my miles, doing the training schedule as listed to the best of my ability and not getting injured as I up the miles in the coming weeks and months.

Manifesting that first marathon into reality

                  I am debating whether or not I will run a marathon this year. Funny how in running, just as in regular life, only what you imagine to be possible ever really manifests. Part of me wants to just register for a marathon for the fall of 2013 and feel confident I'll be ready, but another part of me still can't imagine getting there, at least not that soon. I have full confidence that I can do a half-marathon, but a full marathon? I not yet sure, not in the fall for sure. Perhaps I am thinking too far in advance and I should just take it one day at a time. Perhaps, I should just look at all I have already done and be happy with how far I have come, but a huge part of me wants to experience finishing a marathon so bad I can taste it. I know it will be a life-changing experience for me and the sooner it happens the better. 

                   I know myself and I know that very soon, in the next year or two I will run and complete a marathon, no doubt about that. The question on my mind is how soon? I am sort of impatient and want that experience under my belt yesterday. But, to avoid injuring myself I will absolutely take it slow and maybe do a couple of 1/2 marathons before I ever think of running a full one. I could do the run-walk-run method and do it sooner but the perfectionist, purist part of me wants to actually run the whole marathon, not walk a chunk of it. I very much respect people's decision to do that if they so choose to, but I know for me, I need to be running it. 

                    In the meantime, I am happy with my weekly running schedule of 20-23 miles a week and hoping to complete 1000 miles by November of 2013. I am also slowly learning more and more about how to increase my 'wind' and might be trying out some of what I learn on the weekends. I am not going to let the competitive, perfectionist part of me ruin the overall positive experience I have so far been having with this new found passion. 

                       
**How about you out there? 
**How did you know when you were ready to run a marathon?  
**From when you started running, how long did it take you to run a marathon?