Everything Done but the Hard Stuff

"Eighteen Days till the Invasion" proclaims the Running Fit store status update today- referring to the nearing date of the Martian Marathon and my upcoming Martian Half Marathon. Eighteen days to go! All I have left is an eleven mile run, a twelve mile run and all those other runs that I am supposed to be doing but sometimes skip.

Our March has lived up to its sports world nickname- it has been sheer madness. I will spare you any more details than what many of you have endured in my facebook update stream, but thank goodness the weather has been mostly delicious and kind to us. Somewhere between a stressful road trip (but quality time with family), a flooded basement, a first tooth, and toddler allergies I have still managed to keep up with my training. I've given up the hope of cross training (besides baby juggling, toddler dancing, dog walking and stroller pushing, that is) and have focused on getting in my bare minimum of three runs a week. Yes, the plan was for four. So far, I've only attained that once. But I've gotten three in every single week. And, I haven't missed a mile of a long run. I know I can do this race on this training, even though I'd like it to have been more solid. My knees are hanging in there. I know I will have to get more serious for the next round of training, but for now I am pretty satisfied with my training.

I'm cruising right along and not really thinking about my marathon training at all. I do need to start thinking about it soon, but now that I'm signed up I have relaxed a little and am just thinking about the first thirteen (point one!). I haven't even thought past April to think about what other events I'd like to train for and I still haven't put my bike together, so I have no idea whether I'll get to that century ride or not. I'm not stressing it right this second. I've got way too many other things to worry about.

Before I know it, I'll be on mile thirteen! "Yahoo!", as we say around here...

Embracing the Crazy (26.2!)

Miles Run Today: 7

Seven! Seven miles checked off my training plan on the way to my first half-marathon since having Mara (seven and a half months ago). Today's run was really fantastic. Nothing remarkable, just three and a half windy, hilly miles out from my house and three and a half less windy but just as hilly miles back (you know it is windy when you're thankful for the hills!). I've somewhat accepted the fact that I'm still skating by with the bare minimum of workouts- three runs a week and no cross training- but my legs feel strong. I feel strong. Each run reminds me what I often forget: the more I run, the better I feel. I spend most of the day distracted by needs and kids and tired and lists and the rest of the crazy but when I hit the last mile of my run (regardless of how long I've been out there), I'm calm, focused and feel like I can do anything.

Even a marathon!

It is my version of the "runner's high". This is one of the reasons I run. Running, for me, is definitely something I choose to do. It doesn't come naturally, nor is there an easy spot to fit it into my daily or weekly schedule. A marathon? A marathon will not fit into my schedule or our lives... at all. But I think I'm going to do it anyway. Simply, running one of the few things in my life that is both a challenge and enjoyable.

Here's what I mean. There are many things in my life that have come naturally to me and I've been relatively successful with without much work (or a lot less than others had to put in):

Piano (2nd grade)

Swimming (Elementary School)

French Horn (5th grade- high school)

Public Speaking (as far back as I can remember)

Foreign Languages (middle school)

There are other things that in order to succeed at, I would have had to put in a lot of work and I just didn't want them badly enough. There were others around me who were clearly both working harder and much more naturally gifted. Therefore I gave up the pursuit:

Math (3rd grade, middle school, high school, & as an adult)

French Horn (college)

Finding a teaching job (post-graduate)

Running, for me, is about the only hobby or skill that I have tried and kept doing that I'm not naturally good at, am clearly worse at than many, many other normal people (non-super athletes), must therefore work at regularly (practice) to see minor improvement and yet still pursue. A marathon? I cannot do a marathon without working on running A LOT. I will definitely fail if I don't "practice". And unlike many other things- that makes me want to do it. It's a little odd, I admit, but I'm really turned on by the challenge. Even though in all relative terms I am NOT great at running, and maybe because I am not great at running, I am totally addicted to seeing what my body can do (anyway) if I keep at it. Can this thirty four year old body that has carried and nursed two babies since my last marathon really train for and complete another? I don't know! But, I think so and how amazing if it could! I want to find out!

So, yes, I think I will. I know, it is crazy. But I embrace the craziness of it. The crazy makes it interesting. I'm going to do this thing.

I'm scheming. I'm sure you're interested in my plan. I'll leave that for another post. But I am excited and I'll leave you with that. I'm heading (right now!) to register for the Twin Cities Marathon. Wow. Ok, really. Right now (Roar!).

Shut Up And Run

Miles Run Today: 4

I'll be running this weekend for Sherry Arnold, you can join me if you'd like.

Hovering Over the "Submit" Key

I'm extremely tempted to register for the 2012 Twin Cities Marathon (October 7). Registration opened yesterday! If I'm going to do it I need to commit right now. Which is a problem since I'd really like to do the race but am not quite ready to commit to a marathon today.

I have talked myself in and out of this race about twenty times this month. I would definitely like to do the TC Marathon some day. For one, the race gets rave reviews from everyone who's run it on everything from the organization to the course. More significantly, since I went to college in Minnesota there is a large group of dear friends who live there (and who I don't see for very long stretches of time). It would be terrific to not only hang out with them during the weekend but also introduce my new little girl to them. And on top of that fun, I could look for some of my favorite people out on the course cheering for me (and probably at least one friend who will also be running the race!). It would be an extremely special weekend.

On the flip side- EEK - my longest run is at five miles this weekend! I have no idea if I can pull this off! And even in my moments of enthusiasm ("fire in the belly" as my husband puts it) when I decide I can commit to the training, I choke recalling the memory of 3+ hour training runs at the crack of dawn (to beat the summer heat) as I geared up for the Detroit Marathon in 2006. How am I going to pull this off?

And even if I could pull it off, the most critical questions remain: Do I want to pull this off? Should I want to pull this off? When weighing extreme commitment to a hobby (because when I step away from the "I have to ___" intense moments of training, that really is what this is) versus the rest of my life (mainly husband and kids), at what point am I being too selfish? I don't have to train for a marathon to be in shape. I could probably be quite satisfied with training for shorter races. Why is this particular distance so tantalizing, especially when it would require so much of my time and energy at a time in my life when I don't have much to spare?

I'm not quite sure. I think partly it is because it is something within the realm of the possibility for me yet also something that I may fail at if I don't really work. In all honesty, based on my experience training in 2006, I'd give myself a 60% shot of actually toeing the line if I signed up for a fall marathon right this second.

Back to the questions above, though. When I raced my half ironman in September 2010, Oren was fifteen months old. When I started my intense training period, I was out of work for summer vacation and (with Tom's support, both emotionally and financially) Oren went to day care for two full days each week even though I wasn't working so that I could get my longest bike ride and runs in. It was such a luxury, such a gift from my husband to be able to do that. And at the same time, it makes me cringe with guilt: what kind of mother am I that I will put my son in daycare so I can go run and bike? Was it amazing to have that time to go out and challenge myself? Yes. Was it embarrassing to answer a call from day care letting me know that my son had thrown up while I was on my bike? ("Sorry, its going to be at least an hour, I'm still twenty miles from my car...") Yes. My whole family would sacrifice to get me to the finish line of a marathon- this time with an additional little person.

I remember my longest run while training for Detroit- I was living in Indianapolis with my parents that summer. I was lucky enough to be using the Monon Trail there for training- miles and miles of former train track. I could just run and run and run. It was amazing. Ten miles straight out of Carmel, where my parents live, almost all the way to downtown Indianapolis I finally paused and turned around. That's when it occured to me I still had to run ten miles all the way back home. And I was out of things to think about. I doubted myself and my use of time then... there were plenty of other things I could have been doing (at the time, it was wedding planning) but instead I was still running. What is that going to be like when there are people I could be with instead of just things I could be doing? I really don't know.

Can I do it again?

I don't know.

But I kind of want to...

Martian Training: Week 1

Miles Run Today: 3

I've celebrated my first week back "in training" by registering for a 10k race that will fall in the middle of my training, as the mileage begins to creep closer to that magic 13.1. I think its nice to have shorter races on the schedule while working towards a much longer event. The longer event is great motivation for following the training plan, but it helps to have a couple of short races on the calendar to get you through as the weeks slog on and adding miles seems less exciting. Especially this time of year when just about everything seems tedious! So, March 18th will find me dressed in green (eek, I'll have to find some!) and lined up to run the ShamRock 'n' Roll 10k in Plymouth. These are the same folks who hosted the Wicked Halloween run that Oren and I completed. They did an impressive job for a new race company so I'm more than happy to do another one of their events. I'm extra happy to support them as Plymouth is much easier for me to get to than Ann Arbor or Detroit, two cities with other major St. Patrick's Day runs but much further away. In general SE Michigan is drenched in athletic events, but they always seem to require a drive. As not only a mom of young children but a nursing mom, I am On The Clock. As such, I'm always on the look out for events with the shortest possible drive.

I'm feeling good, midway through Week 1 of my half-marathon training plan. I've just completed two back to back three mile runs. That's six miles in just over 24 hours, a lot for this chicky! I'm patting myself on the back, especially since the treadmills had no working TV yesterday (NO!) and I still haven't recovered my tunes... it was some serious mental conditioning. My schedule calls for another three miler tomorrow, but as I never run even two days in a row, much less three, I am leaning towards doing only a couple of miles if any. I don't want to screw these legs up right off the bat! Maybe I'll go swim instead. Or walk with the dog. We shall see. I'm not stressing about it at all and will definitely tend towards not overdoing it this time around.

And perhaps as a show of support, I believe my littlest peanut has turned a corner on sleep! We've been doing some sleep training with her, albeit in a more gradual form then what we did with her older brother, but it is finally paying off (oh, thank you!). I just hope it sticks. Waking up after having spent the entire night in my bed makes me feel like I can climb mountains, swim upstream, tame wild children and (most importantly) run for miles and miles!

Officially: IN TRAINING

I start training for the April 14th Martian Half Marathon (Dearborn, MI) tomorrow! My two practice weeks went well. I didn't get all four runs in, but I am up to three weekly runs from zero in December so I'm focusing on the improvement. I've purchased swim goggles and have been swimming with my family, but have yet to jump into the lap pool. The bike, unfortunately, hasn't moved an inch. And I managed to leave my Shuffle at the YMCA, clipped to a treadmill (still hoping to recover it). In spite of those details, I am ready to start this training plan! My "long" run is back up to 3.5 miles (yesterday) so I'll be ready to run four miles in a week and then to bust on past that in the next few weeks. I'm ready for some really long runs!

The Right Goals

Miles Run Today: 3

This week I bought some new swim goggles and ran three separate times (twice outside). I can tell that I'm on the right track because I'm finally anticipating my runs instead of dragging them around on my millstone of a "To Do" list. Having a reasonable plan, even one I haven't started yet, makes me feel like there is specific progress to be made. More importantly, having a goal that feels more attainable than possibly fatal has definitely improved my spirits. I feel like I am back on track to rescuing the Athlete Me. One more week of "practice" before I start my half-marathon training plan next week. I'm really looking forward to it.