A number of months ago, I did what I said I wasn't going to do again for a while, and registered for another marathon. I think my hope was that it would prevent the wintertime hibernation that I have a tendency to go into. Well, unfortunately it didn't work too well, and now I'm trying to play catch-up and get my body somewhat prepared to run 26.2 miles.
This morning I experienced quite possibly the most boring 2 hours of my life. Since it had stormed last night, and the trails I normally ran on in the park would have been swamp-like, I had to use my backup training plan and head to the fitness center and run on the track. A 200 meter track. For 14 miles. So around and around the track, well over 100 times, in just under 2 hours. I'm surprised I didn't manage to fall asleep during it. But I managed to get it done, which is the important part. So now the plan is to get in 16, 18 & 20 mile runs over the next 3 weekends, and hopefully make it to the finish line on May 18th at the Cleveland Marathon.
Yes, it is a little strange that I ran 5 other marathons before actually attempting Cleveland, the one in my own backyard. I think a big part of it was it's springtime date. Up until the past few weeks, it's been really cold outside on the weekends, and my body is not happy running in the cold, so training has been really difficult. I only managed to do what I did today indoors because I knew it was pretty much essential for me to get this run in, or I'd probably be wise to give up on trying to run the race in 5 weeks. So while I might say again after this one that I'm not going to run another, I'm most definitely going to think twice before doing another one in the spring. The big reason for me attempting it this year is because I'm getting married in August, so after spending 10 days in Jamaica for my honeymoon, I don't think I'll be able to pick right up where my training left off.

Labels: marathon training

This entry was posted by Brad, on Saturday, April 12, 2008. You can leave your response.