26.2: Number 6

Marathon training starts tomorrow!

Woohoo!

I am actually that excited. I love training. I love having a schedule and counting down the weeks to race day.

This will be my 6th marathon but it will be chock full of firsts.

It will be my first marathon training and racing with a partner. I somehow managed to convince my running buddy, Austina, to join me in Huntsville this December. It will be her marathon debut and I can't wait to cross that finish line with her.

It will be my first time training and racing a long distance as a Mom of 3! I foresee many stroller runs in my future. It will also be my first time training and racing within a year of having a baby. G will be 9 months old on race day. Craziness.

Oh, and did I mention my husband is also training for a marathon? There's a whole lot of running going on in this house these days.

This marathon marks the start of my big push to get into the 50 States Marathon club. I need 10 states to join and I'm putting my head down to power through these last 5. I'm hoping to get Georgia, South Carolina, Louisiana, and Kentucky marked off within the next 2 years (and maybe a 50k somewhere in there but I'm not saying that out loud yet).

For this race, I'm using Hal Higdon's Novice II training schedule. I'm a big fan of Hal and have used his training plans for all my long distance races. I'm sticking with running 4 days a week and cross training/strength training twice a week. I'm also hoping to make yoga a more regular thing which if you know me at all is something I say all the time but never actually do. However, as I get older (and more creaky), I appreciate the benefits that yoga provides. I need to make it more of priority. I also plan to drink my weight in chocolate milk and eat Fruit Smoothie Honey Stingers like they're going out of style. Yay for marathon training!

I'll be posting weekly updates on my training (if I don't fall sleep while typing) and the day to day goings on of a Mom training for a marathon.

I have big plans and I'm glad you'll be along for the ride!

Week 1:
Tuesday: 3mi
Wednesday: 5mi
Thursday: 3mi
Saturday: 8mi