Hiatus

Nothing like a quick 3 month hiatus. My blogging motivation has been quiet...is it necessary that I provide myself a Monday Motivation for this? Hum. I have been motivated in my running though. I was given the Garmin Forerunner watch for Christmas and have loved it every day since. It is really great. For instance, I wanted to go out on a long run and had a park in mind, but had no idea how far it was. Without a care, I took off for said park and checked my mileage as I ran...sweet! Not only that, but I can see how my pace is without doing a dozen mathmatical equations in my head, however entertaining that has been in the past, it now frees up my mind for deeper thoughts. Maybe I've just been hanging out with my watch instead of my blog!

I am in the midst of training for a marathon! What? Really, I won't have a marathon on my mind and then all of a sudden I'm signed up. After I commited, I went out for a 12 miler on Monday, felt great...a few short runs inbetween...and then a 15 miler on Saturday, felt awesome! The following long week run was 18 miles...I surprised myself with how good and easy it felt...yes! and then Last weekend I tried to out of for a 20 miler, felt aweful, and ended up with 17 instead. Oh well, hopefully this weekend is better.

I have a few thoughts stuck in my head as I train for this. One is I'd like to get really nice and comfy with 20+ mile runs. In past marathon training I'd do an 18 miler or 20 miler one time before the race. I'd rather get several long runs in, but we'll see what life/time allows.

As I run I chant a little mantra: Train how you want to race. When I was in high school I thought I was training, but I was pretty much going out and jogging around everyday. Then when race day came, I really wanted to do well, but it was pretty much a 50/50 chance of success. Some races I just had it and others I didn't. Now I train how I want to race. I push myself hard, more like I'm racing as I train, and then when the race comes there is nothing left to chance. The race is much more fun this way because I'm not trying to do better then I've trained for. I've trained for the race I want. So, for this marathon I can't just go out and log 18/20 milers. I have to push myself through them and run them as if I'm racing them....fun!

This race is a qualifier for Boston and I'd like to use it to actually go and run the big race in the next few years.

Okay, now back to my Forerunner!