Merry Christmas every body! It was tough getting here to this moment but Christmas was excellent this year. I got a gift certificate to Dick's Sporting Goods so I can go get my official running shoes and gear for the marathon. This lofty goal of mine is becoming more concrete every week (haha, concrete... running on pavement, yeah I know I have a bad sense of humor).
In my last blog I was describing running my first 10 miler and getting dehydrated. Since then my run buddy and I have been scheduling water stops on our runs (don't worry). Finals soon came after that post and it was hard tearing me away from my work to run. I also got sick and my run buddy ran a long run off campus, which all boiled down to missing two long runs. Very bad, yes very bad on my part. I ended up going from the 10 miler that I described straight to running a 15 miler... in the freezing cold rain without my running buddy!
So this 15 miler was composed of running a 5 mile Findley Golf loop (with the mile long hill) and an extended loop that included parts of the tough 10 mile loop. When they explained the 10 mile route they said that running up Estes drive in the middle would be easier than finishing running up hill on Franklin Street. That was a complete lie because it was uphill both ways. Seriously! This route started with a road that dropped faster than the Tower of Terror and the rest was uphill. Myrtle Beach will be such a change in compaison to Chapel Hill. Also it's not until you run that you realize that there are no even roads, everything has an inclination. Roman road building means so much more to me now. It's amazing how they were able to construct arrow straight roads for miles at such an early time.
Despite everything I trotted along and didn't have much trouble at all! I was anxious about running up Estes Drive since I had trouble the last time. So I stretched my IT bands and mentally focused. I fell behind a bit, which was disheartening. The girls told me to lead which empowered me to plow up the next street. Once I realized that Weaver Street Organic Market was just around the bend I started bolting to the organic double chocolate chip mocha truffles. Oh yes, Weaver Street is something to run to! With that I ran my first half marathon.
Now during break I'm maintaining my endurance, rather than increasing mileage and training. I'm canvassing the southeast side of Wake County, NC and running my dream routes (such as running to my friend's house in another city). Another cool thing is that I'm learning to run by myself. A huge part of the marathon is learning to focus, entertain myself and motivate myself without the motivation of the pack and that is what I'm focusing on right now. I was worried about not having that mental drive but on Saturday I ran 12 miles by myself (again in the rain, what is that?) and proved my worries wrong.
The best thing about training for the marathon is that, no matter where I end up on the race day, I will have accomplished something that I never tried before every day. I can run a 10k and now I can run a half marathon. Now let's see about the marathon!
In my last blog I was describing running my first 10 miler and getting dehydrated. Since then my run buddy and I have been scheduling water stops on our runs (don't worry). Finals soon came after that post and it was hard tearing me away from my work to run. I also got sick and my run buddy ran a long run off campus, which all boiled down to missing two long runs. Very bad, yes very bad on my part. I ended up going from the 10 miler that I described straight to running a 15 miler... in the freezing cold rain without my running buddy!
So this 15 miler was composed of running a 5 mile Findley Golf loop (with the mile long hill) and an extended loop that included parts of the tough 10 mile loop. When they explained the 10 mile route they said that running up Estes drive in the middle would be easier than finishing running up hill on Franklin Street. That was a complete lie because it was uphill both ways. Seriously! This route started with a road that dropped faster than the Tower of Terror and the rest was uphill. Myrtle Beach will be such a change in compaison to Chapel Hill. Also it's not until you run that you realize that there are no even roads, everything has an inclination. Roman road building means so much more to me now. It's amazing how they were able to construct arrow straight roads for miles at such an early time.
Despite everything I trotted along and didn't have much trouble at all! I was anxious about running up Estes Drive since I had trouble the last time. So I stretched my IT bands and mentally focused. I fell behind a bit, which was disheartening. The girls told me to lead which empowered me to plow up the next street. Once I realized that Weaver Street Organic Market was just around the bend I started bolting to the organic double chocolate chip mocha truffles. Oh yes, Weaver Street is something to run to! With that I ran my first half marathon.
Now during break I'm maintaining my endurance, rather than increasing mileage and training. I'm canvassing the southeast side of Wake County, NC and running my dream routes (such as running to my friend's house in another city). Another cool thing is that I'm learning to run by myself. A huge part of the marathon is learning to focus, entertain myself and motivate myself without the motivation of the pack and that is what I'm focusing on right now. I was worried about not having that mental drive but on Saturday I ran 12 miles by myself (again in the rain, what is that?) and proved my worries wrong.
The best thing about training for the marathon is that, no matter where I end up on the race day, I will have accomplished something that I never tried before every day. I can run a 10k and now I can run a half marathon. Now let's see about the marathon!
posted by Liz at
8:22 AM
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