5 weeks until the marathon

You know things have gone crazy when running 12 miles is considered a break.

Long post (apologies, running has become a big part of my life over the last several months so I have a lot to catch you up on). Three sections for this post:

1. How far?
2. Where?
3. Why? (and con)

1. How far?
I'm in the throes on preparing for a full marathon - St George Marathon on October 4th - and actually on the downhill point of training (which means I only have to run 12 miles this weekend). [Actually, I'm supposed to run 20 miles two weeks from yesterday but that won't happen because I'm camping that weekend and there's no way I'm running for that long on a work day... So ready or not here I come!]

My training schedule has been roughly the following, working up to the higher numbers as the training has progressed. {Schedule adapted from here}

Sunday - rest
Mondays - 3-5 miles
Tuesdays - 4-6 miles
Wednesdays - 3-5 miles
Thursdays - rest
Friday - Supposed to "cross train" but I've treated this as a break day almost every time
Saturday - My long run. Started at 8 miles in early June and have built this run up to the 18 miler I did two weeks ago. That long run follows a two steps forward, one step backward kind of schedule - meaning I add one mile each week for two weeks, then the third week is something of a break. My long run schedule is the following: 8 / 9 / 6 / 11 / 12 / 9 / 14 / 15 / HALF MARATHON / 17 / 18 / 13 / 19 / 12 / 20 / 12 / 8 / MARATHON

I ran that half marathon race (notice how that half was a "break" in my schedule??) on July 30th - got my Personal Best (PR) with a total time of 1:45:41 and a pace of 8:04 minutes/mile. Much better than my last Half Marathon race, which I ran on February 15th with a total time of 1:57:04 and a pace of 8:53 minutes per mile. I'm quite pleased with that improvement!

Me after my most recent half marathon

I was supposed to have run 19 miles yesterday, but knowing that I wouldn't be able to run the 20 miler in two weeks, I opted to do the 20 instead. Unfortunately, I got on the road a little late and it was super hot. I was running a 10 mile loop twice and at the half way mark I refilled my water but ran out again just a couple miles later... So I ran back and called it a day at 14 miles - I was nervous I was going to get heat stroke if I followed through till 20 miles. I'm disappointed that I didn't run the full 20 but glad I didn't kill myself.

5 weeks left until the full marathon!

2. Where?
Short runs are in my neighborhood - pretty, quiet roads, lots of trees for shade.

My favorite place for long runs has proven to be the Sawyer Camp Trail. The core trail is an even 6 miles long (one-way) and there's another trail it connects to that brings the full length to 8.5 mile. It's relatively flat except from mile 5.5 to mile 6. The trail head is about 8 minutes from our apartment. But really, it wins for its beauty:

 Me before a run

 My mom and Evette on the Sawyer camp trail

 Evette on the Sawyer camp trail

My mom took this picture of me on the Sawyer Camp trail as I was just finishing a 14 or 15 mile run

3. Why? (and con)

Why?

• I signed up partially for the marathon as an excuse to see a friend from Dallas; I've also always been curious to see if I could even do a full marathon after Heidi convinced me to run my first half a couple of years ago
• Now that I'm signed up, I feel obligated to run. I have to show up for the race and I'd rather not die on the trail, so I have to run a lot to get ready
• Turns out I actually love running. Honestly wasn't convinced of that fact, even after my third half marathon in February of this year
• But, let's be honest, the most important reason for my running: so I can eat whatever I want to. After my long runs my running app (Strava) will tell me that I've burned 2k - 3k calories, which I interpret not only as an invitation, but a command, to eat an extra full day's worth of food that day

Con: Yes, just one. I really like running, so I'm not going to dwell on the blisters and soreness. That's fine. What I still struggle with is how much time it takes. Running 18 miles takes me about 3 hours - so if you consider prep time, cool down time, and the fact that my internal energy levels are all way out of whack for several hours, running long distances takes a LOT of time. And this huge time commitment comes out of my Saturday mornings, which is prime time for family activities. So... I don't think I'll be doing another full marathon for a long time. I'd rather go exploring with the kiddos and my hot wife.