2 Weeks Down, Only 14 to go....

Well, coming off a less than impressive week one long run, I assumed the only place to go was up. Turns out I was wrong. While pleasantly cloudy, the weather at 6:30 could only be described as soup like.

Once again, I'm disappointed in my myself. I know that my mind is SO much stronger than it's been leading me to believe in these last two weeks. I'm not sure if it was the humidity, that I'm still getting used to running without music, holding conversations while running, or if the pace is just too fast, but this long run was, again, a serious struggle. To my credit, I ran the whole time, 9 miles, 9:00 pace, but the last mile was brutal. I'd like to chalk it up to the extreme humidity that my body just isn't used to yet, but  like I said, I just can't help but be disappointed and slightly embarrassed. My fellow runners were BEYOND amazing, cheering me on, telling me to just take it one step at a time. But ultimately, my hips and IT band felt like they were surely going to explode and they won, keeping me from running up the hill yet again. Though, I suppose I can be proud of the fact that I did not stop until the hill even though my mind was trying so hard to convince me to stop. Also, real talk: attack of the chafing has already begun. It's gonna be a long summer...

This isn't the first awful run I've had, and it surely won't be the last, but dammit if won't
it use it as fuel to work that much harder this week. Most importantly,
I know I'll have another truly great, life-changingly awesome run again soon, and all this will be a distant memory.

2 weeks down, only 14 to go...

2013 Marathon Training: Week 1 Recap

Week 1 Recap

Okay, so I’m nearly a week behind here, but I still want capture my feelings/thoughts on the first OFFICIAL week of 2013 marathon training. Maybe next week I’ll be able to keep the rambling to a minimum.

1st CARA run thoughts:

Saturday morning, 5:15 am: Alarm goes off. Immediately regret every decision I’ve ever made to commit to this training program, yet get out of bed anyway. On my walk to the bus, I shockingly see two other women walking in running gear and shoe tags, apparently I wasnt the only human being awake prior to 6 am on a Saturday. ANYWAY, after throughly studying the Montrose Harbor map on my phone, I finally find the CARA meeting spot. Approximately 100 other runners were  kinda lining up near pace signs. I align myself to the 9:00/mile sign, fully feeling the ‘new kid at school’ nerves, and introduce myself to the others. Everyone was just beyond nice and friendly, swapping marathon stories, recounting the previous year of running. Actually, that was probably the best thing about the CARA training, an overwhelming feeling of community.

After some announcements, my group heads out. I spend the majority of the run chatting with a really nice dude who’s training with CARA for the fourth time. Everything was good and I was enjoying the change from my usual solo long runs. Then at mile 7, my chatting buddy started chatting with another dude. In order to not be the jackass running 3 wide on the path, I dropped back. The wheels started to fall off the wagon. With all of the excitement/stress of just trying to get to the meeting spot by 6:30 am, I neglected to actually mentally prepare myself to run 8 miles. Normally, I run by myself, I’m in ‘the mental zone’ the entire time. When you run without headphones with a group of people, you actually have to, ya know, pay attention to the world. I’ll be sure to be ready for this in the coming weeks. As we approach the finish/starting spot, I see that some of the other groups are starting to run up the large hill (Cricket Hill), and I think ‘wow, those people are hard core.’ Then, my group started to head toward the hill. My mind refused to accept it. I refused to run up the hill. Yep, completely wimped out. This moment of mental weakness has been haunting me ever since. SO, Cricket Hill, I hope you’re ready for me this week, because I refuse to let my mental weakness overcome my strength again.

Welcome/LET'S DO THIS

Hi there. I’m Erin, which you probably already figured out from the title. Welcome to this blog/journal/diary of pain that is training for a marathon. This will be my second time running the Chicago Marathon, but this year I have a goal besides just finishing and not dieing. It’s my goal to run all 26.2 miles in under 4 hours.

A bit of background: I guess you could say I became a runner at the end of my freshman year of college. Despite having only run about 2 miles previously, I boldly (stupidly) signed up for a half marathon. I found a training plan and hit the trail (college town sidewalks). Along the way, I got shin splints, hundreds of blisters, and multiple sunburns, but I also gained a new-found sense of self confidence and accomplishment. A way to exercise any and all demons, stress, and negative vibes. I was hooked.

While I certainly ‘heart running,’ I also ‘heart’ a lot of other things; yoga, (mostly) healthful eating, this beautiful city of Chicago, oh and french fries. I really heart french fries. Annnnyyyway, I want this blog to be a record of my struggles and accomplishments in my goal to live a healthy, happy life through running (cheesy, I know, just get over it).

So, I hope you’ll stick around as I document/whine/annoyingly gush about running and a few of my favorite things.

Let’s do this!!

Erin