I Decided to Run a Marathon

   That's right. I finally did it. After a few weeks of indecisiveness, I finally took the plunge and signed up for the St. Jude marathon! Yes, I have said in the past, "I don't think I will ever do a marathon." Every half marathon I've raced I always feel so impressed when I see runners at the half marathon/full marathon fork  turning off to do yet another 13 miles. Eek!
    Yet, here I am! In a lot of ways, this just seemed like the best time to go through with it. I've really enjoyed training with Star Runners. There is no way I would have to motivation to go on long double digit mile runs on my own every weekend. Nor would I ever consider doing speedwork or hills for fun. I've come to depend on the accountability of the group - and the great friends I have made over the course of miles of pavement pounding. Since we are in this thing together, I know I can do it with the support of friends. :-)
   The other wonderful thing about having a coach is that I don't have to try to come up with my own training plan - I like having someone telling me what I need to do to run better! Plus, since I still am not totally familiar with all the in's and out's of Memphis, it's so great to have someone else plan out the routes for runs! Also, I know that if I have any questions I can always go to our coach, Star for advice.

Source

Now that I have bought my marathon spot, here are some of the things that have been going through my head lately...
- Dear God!!! What am I thinking?!?!?!
- Cross-train. Cross-train. Cross-train. Last year, I didn't get to run the St. Jude Half due to injury and I DO NOT want that to happen again this year! So, I plan to be much more proactive about stretching, doing yoga/pilates, and biking.
- This is going to be quite time consuming! Plus, I'll have to give up staying out too late on Friday nights. But I'm ready to commit because I feel like when it is all said and done, I will have no regrets about having gone through with training for and running the marathon.
- I'm really excited to do more research on sports nutrition as well as do a little experimenting... on myself of course! I only wish I would have taken that sports nutrition class in grad school when I had the chance! Will did loan me his sports nutrition textbook from undergrad so I'm hoping to read up on a few things in there.
- Once I finish, I can be cool enough to get one of those 26.2 stickers for the back of my Jeep! LOL.
- My coffee budget will likely increase dramatically as long runs always make me so tired!
- I am going to love my foam roller. Plan to do a lot of these exercises!

Here's to 6 months of training!!!!