Day One

My marathon training schedule officially starts today: 18 weeks from now, I will be running the Marine Corps Marathon.  In the weeks and days leading up to the official beginning of my training, I have had moments of excitement mixed with trepidation, because even though I have been working out and maintaining fitness, it's now officially "game time." I have started mapping out my runs on my calendar, and it's sometimes intimidating to think about the sheer magnitude of miles I will be running.  In other words, even though I know I am starting out quite prepared, I began to worry about whether I would like training for the marathon, or whether it would ruin my love of running through over-stimulation.

I had an amazing and relaxing weekend, cooking, Eastern Market-ing, and hanging out with friends.  I had gone to yoga on Friday and did some boxing and some hill sprints on Saturday, so I felt like going on one last "fun" run yesterday (as in, a last unscheduled run).  The sky had been threatening rain, and there was a cool breeze for once, so I decided to go for a 4-5 mile run at about 6:30 pm.  At first I felt somewhat sluggish, and thought that it was going to be one of those runs where I was pretty happy when it was over.  But as I reached the Jefferson Memorial about a half hour in, I started feeling like there was a big bounce in my stride (remember the three-mile hump I was telling you about?) and I didn't feel like turning around yet. So instead of going back I decided to run up along the Potomac for a bit, and before I knew it I had gone five miles.  I didn't really feel like turning around even then, but it was starting to get dark, so I made myself start heading back.  I really started feeling like the energizer bunny around mile 6 or 7, even though I hadn't brought my camelback with water and/or running chews for energy (as I usually do on longer runs). I wasn't worried about how fast I was running, what my pace was (it was faster than when I started) or how far I had to go- I just felt such a rush of joy about that feeling, the feeling of fitness. It's astonishing how wonderful it is to feel in shape, and all of the training and other pain is completely worth it.  I can't imagine how great it will feel to be in marathon shape! I ended up doing about ten miles- just because I could, and, well, why not?

Basically, my point is that sometimes I forget why I am running... and I'm sure sometimes you may wonder why anyone does.  The real reason is to feel good about myself and to be fit and healthy.  Training for the marathon is going to be a huge challenge and a big time commitment, but it's also just another way to bring my fitness to an even higher level, and I can't wait to feel even more fit. More than that, I truly do love running- even though sometimes it's painful, or I'm too hot, or I just didn't get enough sleep, and I don't have a good run. There are those days. But there are also days when I start out running and I have no idea where my feet are going to take me, and I end up feeling like I'm flying over the road an hour later. I can't wait for this challenge, and I'm thankful every day that I have my health and the ability to even try.

And so it begins...