So in less than 2 months I’ll be running a race that will give me guaranteed entry into the Marine Corps Marathon in October. Holy. Cow. When I ran my half last year, I never thought I’d ever want to run a marathon, let alone one in 2013! But for some reason, I decided a marathon would be my big goal for 2013. I WOULD run a marathon, and I WILL train correctly for it.
I’m already signed up to run 2 half-marathons this year: the Cleveland Marathon on May 19 and the Akron Marathon on September 28. I was thinking, I’ve already run a half! Those won’t be a big deal!
But then the big deal comes into play in October. When I try to take on the full. For some reason, the number 26.2 terrifies me. I used to be scared of the 13.1, until I ran it. But goodness, 26 miles is a long way! I ran 5 miles yesterday and I was just thinking “this isn’t even 25% of what I’ll be running in October!” My goodness. I’m currently following my training plan for the half, and I am going to do the same for the full, but I think I’m going to make my training cycle a bit longer. With traveling for work and other things, I don’t want to only have 3 months to train for the full and miss some long runs.
Scary!
I always tell myself that I don’t care about my time, but I do! Last night I was frustrated that I was in the 11 minute mile range. I’m better than that! I can run 10 minute miles! I even ran 10:30 miles up until mile 8 during the half! What the heck is going on?
I need to remember that it isn’t about the time (at least not for me). It’s the fact that I feel good about myself and I’m accomplishing my goals. I’m doing something I never thought I could do! I don’t run to win, I run to feel good about myself. I started running to lose weight, but I’m not as worried about that anymore. Sure, I want to be toned and skinny, but it’s not really about that anymore. It’s about doing something that I love. It’s about the stress relief I get when I go out for a run. It’s about feeling good that I worked out and didn’t spend the whole night on the couch.
What are you training for? Do you plan to ever run a full marathon?
