Here I Come, St. George

So this week kicks off the official start of my 18-week training program leading up to St. George. You know what? I was feeling nervous about all of it until last week. I had been kind of battling a cold for the previous week or so, and I hadn't run much at all. I finally started to get over it last weekend, so I decided that last week I would get a full week in of good running. I ran 5, 5, 6, and then 8 miles Saturday which I hoped would clue me in as to whether I'd be ready for the 10-miler I have this upcoming Saturday. I wasn't sure that my previous base fitness level would carry me through all of that running, but it totally did. The 8-mile run I did went from my place up and around the temple. It was pretty killer, but I had no problems during the entire run and I managed to run it in decent time to boot.

That's the thing about anything. The mountain is always its tallest when you're standing at the foot of it and you haven't started climbing it yet, but once you start making your way up there, it turns out that the apprehension you used to have about scaling it starts to vanish. Running is that way too. You can get so caught up in the miles, and the time and all the preparation for it that it seems almost impossible to ever do, but if you can just convince yourself to get out the door and put one foot in front of the other enough times, pretty soon you'll realize that you'll be ready for, and able to finish the full 26.2.

The program I'll be using can be found by clicking here. It's just straight running, no interval training or anything crazy like that. But it does bump up the runs from the 4-day weeks that I had used previously, to 5-days a week, and it covers 625 miles of running before the marathon, which is about 200 more than I have done previously. Those things give me pause, just a little bit, but you know what? I realized also while running on Saturday that it's good to push myself, and not cut corners, it is also okay to take days off and maybe run a little bit less depending on how my body is feeling. Sometimes I forget that these training regimens are not set in stone. I can adjust them according to what fits my needs. I'm also hoping to start swimming. It won't be more than once a week, but I need to get some use out of my 24 Hour gym pass (which only costs me $49 a year, woo!), and swimming is the best cross training that you can do.

I kind of forgot until last Saturday how much I love running. I love how all the aches and pains go away after the first 20-30 minutes and then I finally settle into my groove. I love all the self-talk that I have to go through while I'm working up the stones to finish the full run, take on every hill, and make sure that I'm giving myself every opportunity to maximize on my fitness. I love the weight loss and transformation that my body goes through as I get into marathon shape. In the last couple of weeks I have dropped several pounds, and I am already getting leaner after my 25 miles from last week. I love the post-run high.

You know what's crazy about St. George? You get in based on a lottery system, but I know four separate people who registered independently and they are all running it too. The lottery is supposed to make it limiting, but everyone I know that tried registering have all gotten in. I'm really excited for this one. It'll be nice to do a well-run (pun intended) marathon that's dedicated only to the marathon, with a good amount of participation from other runners, as well as the community at large.

Anyway, so like last year, but not the year before, I'll probably have some running posts now and then, but not on a weekly basis. It's funny how much that time to myself spurs my thinking. I'm excited for round of marathon training. Up until last week happened, I wasn't really looking forward to it, but now I am. So here I come, St. George.

This song has no relevance to the post. I heard it yesterday for the first time in awhile and remembered that my old roommate used to listen to this song every night when he came home from work. I miss that guy.