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Running Through Life

A friend asked me to run a marathon with her. In December. 11 months away. Uff-da. That’s a commitment. I’m not sure my body can handle running that many miles and 26.2 miles isn’t something that you can mentally push through to make it to the finish line. Training would be required. Lots of training. Weekly long runs. Daily short runs of 4-10 miles.

I’ve run 2 half marathons but I never ran more than 6 miles while training and only did that once each time. Ideally, I’d like to run it under 4 hours, so I would need to maintain a pace of 9 mins and 16 seconds for 26.2 miles. For that, I would need to train and run at least 4 times per week (if not 5). Add in two days of weight lifting, some yoga, a few soccer games, and perhaps this marathon business is possible.

There’s also a half marathon on September 10 at Smoky Mountain National Park. That would be a fun way to explore the park. The course is on a slight uphill elevation (200 ft) so that works out in our favor. Beautiful trees, scenery, and a wonderful group of people (if I can convince my bro and SIL to commit)!

I’m feeling slightly more positive towards the half marathon than the full marathon. Why would anyone want to run for 4 hours straight (if not longer)? It doesn’t sound appealing. So begins talking myself out of saying yes to my friend...But on the other hand, running a marathon is one of those things that everyone should do once in his/her life, right? Cross it off the bucket list and move on to the next goal. I’m just imagining all the pain I’ll be in when I introduce chronic-cardio back into my life. Ahh…decisions. Maybe I’ll just take it easy, see how the body feels, and focus on the 13 miles. If by July, I feel like upping my weekly mile count, okay, great, all gravy.

I do miss running various 5k runs every month. Color Runs, Mud Runs, Night Runs, Prom Runs. Always something new and different and interesting and it forces me to run on a regular basis. And hey, part of it goes to charity (right?) so there’s that added bonus. Yay charity.

A positive for introducing running back into my life is how much the body tones and the weight flies off. Yay skinny. The worst part of running on a regular basis is the hunger. I. Am. Always. Hungry. I can’t eat enough food to fuel my body. Constantly eating to the point where people (yes, PEOPLE, plural) will ask me on a daily basis, “didn’t you just eat?”

Yes, and don’t worry about it. My body is on a mission. Leave it be.

Okay. So, I guess I’m doing this. Training for a half marathon (possibly a full marathon).

Yay me.

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