This morning I printed off my 16-week training log for the Newport Marathon. (That's Newport Oregon, down on the coast. I wanted to do 2 marathons again this year, but one needs to be close, because NYC is an expensive trip!)
I love the ritual of writing down my runs. I do almost everything online, or on my phone, or digital in some way, but there is comfort and reward in writing down my training runs. One is the visual - it's nice to see all the blank pages ahead and know that when they are filled, I will be stronger, faster, and leaner: ready to prove myself again. I also enjoy the process. As a personal trainer and fitness instructor (and mom), I pretty much spend all day, every day, telling other people what to do. It's nice to just shut up and follow directions sometimes. It's one of my favorite things about running, this quiet and compliance. I am rather high-strung by nature, and I know that running chills me out and makes me easier to deal with. All of this blank paper before me brings the promise of so much reward over the coming 16 weeks.
My first Sunday run is supposed to be 13 miles at an 8:30 pace. But I have my first race of the year on Sunday. My first as a Hammer Athlete Ambassador (yay!), too. It's a 25K (15.5 mile) mud run, so I'm pretty sure it's not going to be at 8:30, but hopefully fast enough, and certainly fun. After that, I'll hit the roads more often than not to check my times, but I do like a good run in the woods.
The last 2 Sundays I ran Fire Road 1 to Audubon and back on Wildwood. Last week my gps gave me 12.5 miles, and this week only 12. I also did it 4 minutes slower yesterday, so my pace was not great. I had neglected to de-mud my trail running shoes, so I was running in Nike Frees yesterday, which was a hilarious slip-and-slide experiment. I never went fully down on the ground, but I did a lot of sliding. I expect more of the same (in more appropriate shoes) this week at the Hagg Lake 25K.
