Tuesday: 4 miles
Thursday: 5 miles
Saturday: 3 miles
Sunday: 6 miles
The Class
The Marathon 101 class that I've been imagining as the vehicle to success in running this race finally started this week and will meet every Wednesday until race day - 18 weeks from now. I had hoped to be running 5 miles comfortably before the first class, but I was closer to 3.5-4. I was exceedingly pleased with myself for running 4 miles in 44 minutes the day before the first class - even more so to realize that the schedule that would become my bible called on me to run only 3 miles that day.
My fellow classmates are full of nervous, hopeful energy for what we're attempting. Many of them have incredibly somber, heavy reasons for wanting to take this on and I'm left feeling a bit... silly? Lacking purpose? Up until the first class I felt optimistic, excited and aware that this would be incredibly hard - particularly for someone like me with little experience as a runner. That night I went to bed feeling much more hesitant. My classmates' seriousness and experience, coupled with a close examination of the training schedule (12 miles runs, 16 mile runs, 20 miles? seriously?!), edged my anticipation with doubt.
The First Training Runs
The next morning, per the schedule, I ran 5 miles -- in just under an hour! At some point my gym will call me out for flagrantly violating the time limits on the treadmill. I went to work feeling tired and headachy, and questioning the wisdom of wearing really cute high-heeled shoes.
I expected Saturday's 3-mile run to go pretty easily. I managed it in 31 minutes but I didn't feel as solid as I had earlier in the week. Sunday is the day of long runs in this training schedule and I embarked this morning in the bright sunny cold to run 6 miles. I went 6 miles, but it didn't feel like much of a run. I stopped often to clear the fog out of my sunglasses, readjust my hat, resuscitate my iPod that was failing in the cold, blow my nose, wipe the wind-induced tears from my eyes, etc etc. I felt like a mess and running was
No comments:
Post a Comment