Sunday, June 1st, 2008

Whoa! I am reaching out into the world of cyber-space today. I love the blogs my kids are doing so I have decided to join them and start my own blog! Here I go!

I have a big goal. I turn 50 this September and decided I want to try and run a marathon in honor of the event. It is a little scary, a lot of hard work and exciting. It is scary because I am wonder if I really will be able to do it physically. It is hard work because, I am sure you can imagine why, I have to run a whole lot! I ran 11 miles yesterday. It took me 2 and a half hours. Whew! And I don't even have an IPod to help me pass the time. Actually, I worked on memorizing "The Proclamation on the Living Christ" while I ran. That helped pass the first hour. After that, as I started to tire I decided to just run and enjoy the scenery. My goal is exciting because I love each mile stone as I pass it. I love feeling strong while I run and recognizing my progress. I love the support I get from my family, especially from Rod. He is my cheerleader. I told him I was going to quit yesterday. He told me "No Way!" So OK, it is NO WAY, I am going for it!

I am following the Jeff Gallaway training method. I follow what he says exactly. I figure he knows what he is talking about and I want to succeed so I am sticking to his plan. Which means I get to take next Saturday off and only run 6 miles before I push for a 12-13 miler the next week. Yea! I am looking forward to this Saturday. Actually, I am looking forward to the next one also just to prove I can do it!

I have discovered I need to drink a lot more water and a lot less chocolate chip cookies. The runs do not go so well when I don't follow that advice. I have also learned I need to fuel my body for the long runs. So far, I tried eating almonds - bad idea. The almonds were way to dry. Next I tried vanilla flavored goo from a little packet. That was all right and helped me get through the long run. On Saturday, I tried lemon flavored gummy squares. They were good! I need to stock up on a few packages of those. I also have a package of chocolate flavored goo in my stash for another day. I am not so sure about that. The goo stuff is just barely tolerable.