I would love to say that the marathon training has been going splendidly and I haven't missed a single run, but that is so far from the truth. To be honest, the marathon training has been pretty rough - even though the plan I'm following only has three runs per week, I have been missing training runs left and right. I would love to blame it on my work schedule (and I do, regularly), but there has also been a serious lack of motivation. I have gotten progressively slower in my running, probably as a result of lack of sleep, being on my feet all day at work, not eating particularly well, and putting back on about ten pounds. I sound impressive, don't I?
Action shot of me "running."
I've done two half marathons this fall (seriously, I can't believe I didn't blog about those) and each was slower than the last. Now, to be fair, there are valid reasons for that - my last half marathon, for example, was the Wine & Dine Half Marathon two weeks ago. It started at 10 pm, and I am not a night runner, so I had that strike against me. I had also spent the entire week before the race eating absurd amounts of food with my parents, not sleeping enough, and walking around the parks for hours on end. Despite all that, I probably could have finished in a decent time except that the first two miles of the race sucked because I had shin splints like you would not believe, so I threw my time out the window and stopped to take pictures with all the characters along the route. So my finish time was embarrassing and my legs hurt like hell, but at least I got an adorable picture with Pluto!
Cute pictures aside, my increasingly slow pace has been frustrating me, and when you combine that with the fact that my exercise routine has completely fallen apart since I moved to Florida... well, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that I'm a little unhappy with my training progress.
BUT I have decided to stop feeling sorry for myself and take charge. I still have eight weeks until the marathon, and I know that a lot can change in eight weeks, so I am recommitting to my training plan and recommitting to my weight loss. I am back to tracking this week because it's the only thing that has ever truly worked for me, and I know that if I suck it up and just do it, I will see the results. Plus, I seem to have developed a terrible case of lunch lady arms and I can't have them flapping around when I cross the finish line at that marathon.
I will also be back to blogging, which I know I've said a million times, but I mean it this time. This blog helped me stay on track with my running before and I know it can help me again.
Anybody still reading this thing?
