The Plan

My training plan is complete. It’s a thing of beauty. Color coordinated, stamped, sealed and delivered to my fridge. It hangs up there as a reminder of my goals and need to focus on fitness, nutrition and whole body health. It’s also a daunting and overwhelming peek into the next 5 months of my life - seeing it out there, recognizing that I am consciously deciding to push myself into a fitness realm I’ve yet to find - well it makes me dizzy with anticipation and fear of failure. I LOVE checking the boxes after a workout complete, putting little smiley faces next to my mileage chart. At the same time, every workout missed gets a slash. Some training plans those slashes start to add up and weigh heavy on the mind. It messes with your psychological fitness level more than your physical one. Self doubt becomes the hungry bear in the arena. I am crossing my fingers for mostly checks, but that’s the beast of distance running. You just never know what the next day holds. There’s also a down-stretch that happens to me after getting my training plan. I’m not necessarily a “task oriented” person, and being told - even if it’s essentially by myself - that I am to do something sometimes sends me kicking and screaming in the opposite direction. So this week has been about trying to center myself, realize that even though the plan is long and entirely of my own design, there will still be time for fun, free, peaceful running. I will hopefully be setting up my physical self for feeling really, really great going into my late fall surgery. Part of me just wanted to sit on the couch all week and be lazy, knowing the build I’m about to enter, but the fit, the focused part of me grabbed my shoes and pounded the pavement anyhow. I ran on Tuesday with Conrad 8 miles. It was lovely. We chatted the whole run and I felt great at the end. I only got one other run in this week, but I feel confident about my rest and ready for this leap. Follow me as I jump off a new ledge~

Miles This Week: 12

Quiet Time

Post marathon week is typically fraught with dichotomous feelings of elation and exhaustion - happiness at completing a task and depression over the task being finished after months of preparation. This marathon didn’t hold the same post-marathon blues for me. Partially because my training was incomplete, cut short and there were no plans to actually run the marathon - I was freed from the constrictions of time goals and nervous energy. I woke up Monday morning literally ready to run, but took the day off anyway. This week has been abnormally warm, sunny, and humid. We’ve been on average 25 degrees above normal - straight to July. So running in Forest Park took on a whole new color of intensity. I stepped out the door on Tuesday morning after 48 hours off my feet and had a very nice, easy 4 mile run with my partner a German Shorthair, Mady. Wednesday I could hardly wait to get out the door - another 4 miles, which was surprisingly intense as the temperatures tipped the scales @ 86 with 70% humidity. Even Mady wore out. Thursday I had the chance to run with Conrad - lovely chat, and it was good to see him feeling healthy and fit again. By weeks end I had 25 miles on my shiny new Brooks Green Silence and no idea how fast or slow my park running was. No music, no watches, mostly running partners and peace. On Saturday I got to watch my son break through an important milestone in his running career. It was really cool to greet him at the finish line and see the determination, the focus, and the realization that if he works for it - the sub 5 is within his sightline.

This week was not about times, splits, intervals. Time in the fresh air - thinking and breathing time. Technically my training for the Chicago marathon will begin on Monday the 26th. This is a long and slow and progressive training plan focused on whole body strength. I’ve always had 13 week plans - so I’m nervous to see if I can maintain the focus for such a long stretch. I’m doubling my Chicago marathon training as my JFK 50 mile training as the 50 miler is 6 weeks after Chicago. One more week of carefree running here I come.

Miles this week = 25

The beginning

The sacred experience of the marathon gives me goose bumps every time I conjure it in the memory. This past Sunday, April 11, 2010 - I had the joyous opportunity to run another one. This time in my hometown! For the first time in my marathon running life, my parents got to see me out there on the course. I didn’t know it would feel so damn good to see my Dad in his bright yellow shirt smiling as he saw me coming up the mile 16 hill. I certainly didn’t comprehend the impact of seeing my mom- 5 days out of another chemo treatment - standing there, ready to give me a hug. My mom is the reason I started this distance running tour in the first place. That little moment beat any other moment in running. It kicked crossing the finish line in Central Park with a torn ligament in my knee, the amazement of realizing I would be running Boston, the intensity of heartbreak hill, even crossing the line in my first experience @ White Rock - something I never, ever thought could be touched. My mom’s arms around me right there @ the corner of Hanley & Forsyth in the bright sunshine and too warm temperatures changed my focus. I finished the marathon helping out my Conrad, who gutted it out despite tunnel vision, heart palpitations, seeing stars.... And in those last 10 miles I came to understand just how much I love this sport. The struggles, well they’re what make us better, stronger, more fulfilled human beings. Consistently throwing yourself out there - knowing that failure is a very real option - confronting it all, your past success, your current level of fitness, the reality of getting older. It’d be so much easier to sit on the couch and remember those times you ran a 35 min 10K, but yet you choose the experience. You struggle; you cross the finish line holding your best friend in the wide world’s hand - and this incredible peace washes over you. It was hard to watch my sweet one struggle so much, but I was thankful my body held up and allowed me to be his support crew. Conrad and I finished the race in very different places mentally, physically and spiritually. We traveled it together, and in the end we reached the same conclusion - YES it’s all worth it. My long and winding explanation here: at mile 22 when I was running backwards, sideways, and all around, patting people on the back, trying to say words of encouragement when it looked needed, striking up conversations with random strangers and making sure Conrad was ok - I realized - YEP, I’m ready for the next leap in endurance running. 50 miles here I come!