When I finished my third half marathon I was really proud of the time I had put into the training and the appreciation I had developed for running in general… having a partner to train with on those long runs makes all of the difference in the world… this past weekend Alison and I ran 10 miles and I actually looked forward to it… we don’t have lot of down time to catch up at work so it was nice to just chat about what had been going on in our worlds.. never-mind the fact that it rained the whole ten miles.. not just a sprinkle… hard… heavy rain…

Neither of us even thought of cancelling the run or cutting it short… the wet weather was much better than 90 degree heat…  so the way many runners do… we just kept running - we had trained in 11 degree temperatures for the Shamrock Half Marathon this past March in Virginia Beach… so rain on an August day was not going to detour our plans…

As I look at my training schedule this week isn’t too bad… neither is next week… but the next week is going to be the real test - a 16 mile run - which I am guessing will take about 3 hours… and I am honestly a little scared… not quite sure of what… I have up until this point been able to run continuously for any mileage goal I have set… but for a half marathon it only goes up to 13.1 miles - and the 16 mile run is just the beginning of several multi-mile journeys…that will hopefully prepare us to meet our 26.2 mile goal at the SunTrust Marathon in Richmond in November.

We just want to run the whole thing except for walking during the water stops… a time of 4:30 would thrill me at this point… at this point it seems we are going to have quite the cheering section… our husbands.. Matt and Pete… probably Alison’s parents… then about a half dozen or more of our friends have decided it will be a fun road trip to Richmond… but before the celebration dinner that night I think we will both probably need a nap…

Any and all marathon training tips are welcome here…