I decided that today is the day that it all starts, well at least from this point forward I am going to document the next 33 days of my training, my life (which is heavily entrenched in training) and all other things that come up. My intention is to share my experience during this last part of my training. It may be interesting; it may be boring - but right now this is what I have and what I am trying to do. Most of the time I find myself wondering "does anyone else think about hydration, diet, running schedules, benefits of compression garments, etc.?" - along with the day-to-day issues of just living life - being creative and staying positive about this one huge goal that I have decided I am checking off my list this year.
I see the best starting point is explaining a little about myself and how this all came about so here goes (and I will keep it short and sweet)...I am a 33 year old daydreamer who has struggled to stay in the present and achieve goals for what feels like a large part of my life (at least that is how I see it, which may or may not be true). I consciously decided to embrace that side of myself that is part overachiever and since then my life in many ways races with itself as a proving ground to becoming who I want to be. It also has become the motivating factor to achieving the ever-growing list goals that I set for myself. If this is sounding complicated, well welcome to my world.
My first road race was a little over 5 years ago and was the glorious Delaware River Run (5K) in the ohh so beautiful Port Ewen, NY. At this run, I was so ill-prepared that I had actually never even run outside, but had decided this was the day and needless to say that while I finished in a fairly respectable 31 minutes and some change (and felt so awesome at the end I had to vomit) this is what started it all. I wanted to be stronger and I wanted the act of running itself to be fun, which on a good day it is. On a hard day it is work, but there is never a day that I regret putting my sneakers on and either getting out of my head or working something seemingly impossible out to merely just a passing thought.
Five plus years later with 6 half marathons (and a fridge full of race bids) under my belt I decided it was time to do what I have been dreaming about (both in daydreams and in a few nightmares). Why a marathon you may wonder (and yes I know that many of you do wonder)? Because why not? Maybe that's not really an answer, but every run that I go out on gets myself a little closer to my answer or maybe to the core question that keeps me running. It is this part of myself against my old self that is a chain-smoking slacker who wanted to get outside and see what it is like to just experience each moment for what it is (painful, beautiful, hard, joyous, proud, never-ending) and all the emotions that you go through and process in your time outside (or the time inside when the weather is bad).
I had this moment when I ran the Philadelphia half marathon this past November when I hit mile 13 and thought "I think I can go further and actually feel good" and that is part of of what has kept me going. Skip forward to my present and I am 15 weeks into training with two 18+ mile runs under my belt, weeks upon weeks of double-digit runs spanning 2+ hours of running and some minor knee pain along with numerous other stories that somehow all tie into running (at least in my mind they do). I could talk about the specifics of my training but instead think that I am going to focus on how each day looks to me.
Welcome to my day 33, which includes an 8 hour work day to be followed by an hour of weight training (focusing on core strength) and a 3 miler to set the pace for this week. Ready?
No comments:
Post a Comment