Marathon Training Week 2

This is officially week 2 of my marathon training and it feels very odd to even write that. I am training with our local AWESOME running club and I feel very lucky to have such great resources available right here. This training is really set up for the Quad Cities Marathon which is September 23 and my marathon is September 15 (Air Force Marathon). The two coaches are working with me to set up the longer long runs to coincide with Air Force. They seriously rock.

My partner in crime, Emily, will be joining me (Thank God) mid-July when we start to reach our new distances and I canNOT wait until she joins me. Seriously!!!

Yesterday morning was going to be a new thing for me and being a Virgo that is a challenge because we don't do well with change. At all. However, I have wonderful friends in the Cornbelt Running Club and they are super duper supportive and so sweet. Emily and I were very lucky to join this group on a bus trip to Madison, WI last fall and we had a blast!!!! OMG! I don't think we have laughed that hard in a long long time. That was just the first 5 minutes on the bus.

I digress. The first challenge was to find the park where we meet up and start our run. Done! Then the next difficult part for me...getting out of the car and...gulp...mingling. Remember everyone when I said I am shy? Well, it is times like this that it comes out with a vengeance. I scan the group for peeps I know and head over to chitchat with them. I love you guys!!!

I then chat with the coaches and they indeed remember me from email chats. They are wonderful and very accommodating with my particular needs in my Air Force training. After announcements, we are ready to roll. It's now 7am on Sunday.

It does not take me long to see who the fast runners are with their long "slow" runs. Seriously people? Are you sure you are running at a training pace? Anywho, I find myself in the very back of the pack. Freaking out here! I don't have Emily to calm me down. My old insecurities are coming back. Then i start to calm down and just enjoy MY pace. Piss on everyone else, they are doing their thing and I am doing mine. I start to toodle along nicely and enjoying my happy place.

This is a new bike path to me and I have no clue what lies ahead. I assume I know the route and happily run at my 13-ish m/m pace. All of a sudden I see no fellow CBRC peeps with me. Dang! I took a wrong turn and I don't know where I am! Crap! Breathe. Repeat. I go forward until I reach my 4 mile turn around. I finally see where I turned wrong and made mental notes on that.

I am now rejoining my peeps...the fast peeps! Again, my insecurities are surfacing and I am dealing with that in my mind. Meh. It's all good. It is what it is and I must not forget MY training pace. I have worked hard for that and I shall be proud of what I have accomplished.

I finish up and head for the grub. Cornbelt Running Club knows how to eat and drink! There were the staple nanners, cookies out the whazoo, things I didn't see, Popsicles, water, Gatorade, pop and BEER! Oh yea, this IS Cornbelt! I want you to know that at 9am on Sunday I did NOT reach for the Busch Light.

So, all in all I survived my first 8 mile long run in my marathon training. Next Sunday, 12 miles with my peeps! This time I WILL know the route!

Stats: 8 miles, 1:43:30; 13:00 av pace; 716 cals torched; splits: 13:30, 12:44, 12:35, 12:51, 12:34, 12:56, 13:18, 13:49

One last thing I forgot to mention. CBRC has water and Gatorade on the course at certain points and that is awesome!

Last but not least the important part...the training shirt!

 Front

Back

Until next time...

Toodles!