I'm training for a marathon.

 

Remember the list I made on my birthday? One of the things I put on that list was "run a marathon." I've dreamed of running one for so long, but always felt like it was out of my reach, too hard for ME, more running than I could handle. In high school, when I ran cross-country, the longest distance we ever had to run was 4 or 5 miles.  Cross-country started in August and if you're at all familiar with the type of weather we experience here in Georgia you know that our 3:30 practice time nearly killed all of us.  90+ degrees with almost no shade...yeah.  So I think my high school running days really gave me a solid running foundation.

Throughout college I would go through phases where I would run as seldom as once every 3 or 4 weeks to as often as 2 or 3 times a week.  I never fell out of the habit.  And during both my pregnancies I continued to run until my 20's weeks.  Running has always been a pleasure for me.  I end my runs feeling invigorated and powerful and THOSE emotions remind me of giving birth {something else I love}.  Intense and painful and completely individual, I love that, the intense and individual part, not the painful part. Yes, there have been some horribly difficult runs throughout the years, but those are the runs that have made me stronger.  I'm a competitor at heart and love the thrill of running.

Kyle and I {and CammyB} running on the trail next to the river at our apartment.

My sister ran her half-marathon in March and after reading her post about her experience I became inspired and a bit jealous to be honest.  She ran 13.1 miles with hardly any training! I was so proud of her!  And all I could think about was how I wanted to start running again {remember I had a baby in February :P} So we all signed up for the Peachtree 10k and after running and competing with all those people I got some serious runner's itch.  With the Rock n' Roll Marathon series coming to Savannah on November 5th I knew I had to do it.  So I signed up for the half-marathon, just in case my training didn't go as planned.  After a few weeks of training I started to feel like I wanted to make the commitment and about that time I also found TEAM FREEMAN, a cause I am so excited about running for! More on the details about all that later.. 

After doing a little bit of research on the internet I found Hal Higdon's 16-week Novice 1 training program I wanted to follow.  And so far everything is going awesome!  I'm running longer distances than I've ever run and I'm starting to eat more than I've eaten in a long time,  It's been tricky trying to find time for all my runs, but Kyle and my mom have been a great help.  If I didn't have the support from Kyle I would never be able to commit to something like this, I'm so very thankful for him!  Here's a copy of my training plan.  I'm hoping for continued motivation and no injuries in the weeks to come.  I will update again soon with more details!

**I'm currently on week 6**

Marathon Training Schedule: Novice 1

Week	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat	Sun
1	Rest	3 m run	3 m run	3 m run	Rest	6	cross
2	Rest	3 m run	3 m run	3 m run	Rest	7	cross
3	Rest	3 m run	4 m run	3 m run	Rest	5	cross
4	Rest	3 m run	4 m run	3 m run	Rest	9	cross
5	Rest	3 m run	5 m run	3 m run	Rest	10	cross
6	Rest	3 m run	5 m run	3 m run	Rest	7	cross
7	Rest	3 m run	6 m run	3 m run	Rest	12	cross
8	Rest	3 m run	6 m run	3 m run	Rest	Rest	Half Marathon
9	Rest	3 m run	7 m run	4 m run	Rest	10	cross
10	Rest	3 m run	7 m run	4 m run	Rest	15	cross
11	Rest	4 m run	8 m run	4 m run	Rest	16	cross
12	Rest	4 m run	8 m run	5 m run	Rest	12	cross
13	Rest	4 m run	9 m run	5 m run	Rest	18	cross
14	Rest	5 m run	9 m run	5 m run	Rest	14	cross
15	Rest	5 m run	10 m run	5 m run	Rest	20	cross
16	Rest	5 m run	8 m run	4 m run	Rest	12	cross
17	Rest	4 m run	6 m run	3 m run	Rest	8	cross
18	Rest	3 m run	4 m run	2 m run	Rest	Rest	Marathon