I haven't given up yet....

I haven't given up on the fact that one day I will have the time and energy to get back into a regular blogging schedule. I also haven't given up on the marathon.

I've had some ups and downs with training, and have definitely missed a few of my runs during the week. I've even had serious thoughts of stopping training completely, but I haven't. Last week I made the decision to change training plans to one that was specifically made for runners that are doing planned run/walk intervals. The plan is by Coach Jenny Hadfield and strangely enough when I was training for the half with one of Hal Higdon's plans (as I am now) I ended up switching to one by Coach Jenny as well. For the rest of this training, I will be following a plan similar to this one. I will be using the intervals I use currently (which are longer), switching up some days, and probably cutting out one of the days of cross training. It is a lot lower in intensity and mileage during the week, which make me a little nervous about being fully prepared for the marathon, but at this point, I'm willing to take the risk for what seems like a training plan that fits me a lot better.

The first week of the new training plan has gone great! I had a disaster 15 mile run a week ago, so I spent a good part of the week psyching myself up for my 16 mile run on Saturday and trying to find a new route to run that would help me not be so bored. Because doing anything for 3+ hours can get pretty boring, and I really think that was most of the reason my 15 mile run was a diaster. Nathan suggested we travel across the river to Grafton, IL and utilize the bike trail that runs along the Great River Road. What started out as a casual idea turned into a small weekend getaway for us, which proved to be just what we both needed.

Even though I wasn't as fast as I would have liked, the 16 mile run went great. I had great weather and an awesome husband that met up with me on his bike and filled up my water bottle. A woman stopped me at mile 15.5 and told me she saw me 3 hours ago and wondered how long I had been running. When I told her I was marathon training she told me she thought it was just awesome. It was a quick moment, but made me feel great.

I spent the remainder of the weekend eating, drinking, and being marry with my fabulous husband. I got to eat at one of my favorite restaurants and soak in a jacuzzi tub while drinking wine. Not a bad way to top off a great run!

The next few weeks are going to be a challenge, but I keep telling myself that if I can do 16 miles then I can do 18. And if I can do 18 I can do 20, and according to all the experts, if you can run 20 miles at the end of training you can run 26.2.