Setting the date... and making it happen.

Call me a crazy person, but I've decided to compete in a marathon this spring.
Four months and twenty-one days. That is the official countdown, and all the time I have left to get ready to face 26.2 miles on April 7th.

I like to run. I've just never been very good at it, nor do I expect I ever will be. I'm not going to be that girl in spandex and a sports bra, elbowing her way to the front of the start line. I'm not heading into this journey with dreams of winning my age division (or anything, for that matter). No way, no how. But, I do plan on crossing the finish line with my dignity intact. And yes, in this case "dignity" is an umbrella term, that does include the possibility of me losing my breakfast at the finish line.

I ran a half marathon this past April. Actually I ran/walked a half marathon. I had a goal of finishing in 2:45, and beat that by quite a bit, crossing the line in 2:27. Not spectacular, but I was proud. Now it's time to take it up a notch.

Right now, I have a few extra pounds to lose, and my fitness level is limited. I can run about 3 miles at a time, at about a 10 minute pace. Like I said, it's not earth shattering, but it's what I have to work with at this point.

So the gist of it all: I have a lot of work to do. Basically this blog is set up to document that work, and share what it's like for a normal person to go through the training process for a marathon. I will also be airing weekly segments on NBC29 that we're calling Marathon Monday. We will go over my training schedule for the week, as dictated by my trainer Dan Bayliss. You can read more about him in my post "Meet the Trainer", which will be up soon.

I am going to follow a 16 week training regimen, that will involve specific run days, weight training and recovery days. That schedule will start "officially" on December 19th. Until then, I'm going to train for my training.

The first Marathon Monday should air on January 2nd, covering the getting started moments... from my first fitness assessment, to getting my stride checked out by a professional!
So... ready, set, go!