Marathon Training is underway...

My 18 week marathon training started this week. I've been looking forward to this for 5 years, ever since Mike ran the Chicago Marathon in 2005. Being a spectator there inspired me, but the timing just wasn't right for me. Fertility treatments were my focus, not running. So here I am, a mother to two darling girls, and training for my first full marathon.

I've had about 4 weeks *off* since the Mini Marathon in May, but have kept up running and cross training to keep my endurance up. This weekend is my first long run consisting of 8 miles. Funny, 8 miles was near the end of my 1/2 marathon training and now it's my first long run. I've been seeking out running partners everywhere I turn as I know a partner will be my greatest asset in making it through my long Saturday morning runs. Some of these runs will be out of town and therefore I will have to run alone. Like the 19 miles I'm going to have to run on the country roads of Southern Michigan during family camp in September. Now that should be interesting.

The planning that goes into the training on a daily basis is consuming my every thought: What pace will I aim for today? What route will I run today? Have I taken in enough fluids/calories to get me through today's run? Is it going to rain? Do I need a hat/sunscreen? I mean, the list goes on and on. And the planner in me LOVES every minute of it.

Since training for a marathon is nearly another full time job, other areas of my life will be receiving less of my time (read: Mike, Izzy & Delaney). Mike has already been 100% on board with me being gone for 2+ hours every Saturday morning and one evening a week. He has trained for this before and knows what goes into it. He's making sacrifices of his own time so I can do this for me. There's no way we could both be training for the same marathon at the same time. Anyway, I just wanted to acknowledge the amazing husband I have that recognizes this has been a personal goal ever since I started training with him in 2005 for Chicago, only to be told by my doctor that I had to stop running if I wanted to get pregnant.

We accomplished our goal of having a family...and now it's time to reach my next goal: crossing the finish line in Chicago on 10.10.10.

I'm running 19 miles this week. At my peak training I'll be running 36 miles a week.

One mile at a time...