Marathon training is starting to pick up… following our training program we ran 15 miles on Sunday - that is the longest run I’ve ever done.. I actually did not feel too bad afterward… I got a sub sandwich for lunch that I inhaled and felt a little sleepy in the afternoon but so far I don’t have any extreme muscle soreness which is encouraging considering I ran my best 5 mile race time ever at the Johnny CASA 5 miler and 5k walk at Lake Watch Plantation on Saturday morning… finished in 43:49 and got first place in my age group.

When the race started on Saturday I told myself I was only going to jog the 5 miles - our training schedule called for 5 miles EASY… the first mile or two I was pretty slow and steady and then my competitive gene just kicked into over time and I had to race it… I started picking off people ahead of me in the distance… at first there were two very tall men running together… I passed them and felt great… I kept glancing at my watch and was amazed at how fast I started to pick off the miles… my adrenaline was pumping and I was ready to conquer the final massive hill before the end… I could see a couple of runners in the distance and felt like I would just pass one or two more and then I would coast to the end… is it awful to let the spirit of competition overcome you in this way?? As I was stoking my inner engine I started to think about how the 15 mile run on Sunday was probably going to hurt and it would be my own fault… but it was so much fun!!! 

I have been training so hard for the marathon that it really was rewarding to see how that training paid off in a short race… On Sunday by mile 13 I was serioulsy regretting my hard 5 mile run a little bit… just a little… the fun and thrill of it really outweighed the pain… I am starting to realize that is what being a “runner” is all about…

Next week our long run goes back to 12 miles before we spike up to 18…

I did rest today… going for a walk tonight on dinner break… spent the whole morning cleaning my house instead of working out… the house looks great so I guess there are multiple perks to marathon training :)