Saturday, April 30, 2005

Week One

First day of training. The tempurature was in the high 50's, the rain was falling at pace not quite a drizzle, not quite a pour. But at least I got there on time, which is more than I can say for myself last Saturday. Orientation was 11 am last week, I was up and ready to go at 9:30. And somehow I missed it. I can't explain how terrified I was all week that the same fate would befall me today. Luckily no.

3 miles today, which is shorter than the usual runs I take. Today we ran to see which pace group we will train with. To my surprise, I finished at 29 minutes - putting me in the 11 minute pace group. I can't lie, I was pretty pleased. Although I do have to give some credit to the stranger who started at me about 200 yards before I was finished. He caught me off guard. The only person on the street I'm used to lunging at me is the crazy Asian guy near my work. Apparently this kid had nothing better to do than walk around in the rain at 8:30 on a Saturday morning and scare the crap out of me. He apologized after startling me...but my pace picked up markedly for the last few steps.

Last night was, obviously, my first "night before training" night. I had been dreaded it. Friday nights, for the last 3 years, have ended up similarly - usually involving a cocktail, some friends celebrating the fact we don't have to work for two days, and staying out well past what Reader's Digest will suggest is a suitable bedtime. But I made it home at a decent hour last night. Let me tell you one thing for sure. It sucked. It was as terrible as I had imagined it. For the first time since I don't know when, we had seats at Dan's. And I had to go home early like I had a curfew. But what I need to remember, is that it was easy to get up and run this morning. Eventually, I know I'm going to be out...and I'm going to think to myself...just a little bit longer...just another MIller Lite...I'll be alright... and I'm going to be wrong.

Well those are my thoughts for today. I never promised they would be interesting.

Thursday, April 07, 2005

Here goes...

This seems a little odd seeing as how I have not even started officially training for the marathon yet. I guess I'm in the mental preparation phase. Phase one...create a web journal of my training. Phase two...? Phase three...win marathon. That's my plan of attack for now. No really, I'm freaked out. Until recently, my running history included the eight laps around the WHS gym we did before volleyball practice and the mile they made us run in freshman gym class. I ran track one year in high school. My event was the 50 yard dash, and I ran in that heat that didn't count towards anything. And I usually lost. So I think it will be amazing if I can pull off a marathon. Not to mention if I manage to keep up writing on this blog, or if it ever ends up to be interesting. Lofty goals.