It Begins....Again

25 weeks and 3 Days until 20 in 24….

Maggie shared this training schedule on our Facebook Lone ranger page…

At first glance I thought ‘YOU ARE CRAZY!’ taking note of the back to back long runs every weekend. Also 11 weeks that the long run is 25 miles or over… Thinking what kind of nut does this?!

Well, I decided let’s just take this as I do with mostly all things…One Day at a Time.

According to the schedule I think I have another couple days..I don’t know for sure though because it starts at Week 2 and ends on Week 26.. Anyway I ran this morning for the first time since Disney!

3 Miles, about 34 minutes, and I feel ready to start this training. I AM NOT ATTEMPTING TO RUN 100 MILES, let me repeat I AM NOT ATTEMPTING TO RUN 100 MILES!! However I am trying to run 75 and I think taking this schedule and dialing it down a smidge could very much help me do it!

Classes started last night and man is it going to be a tough one! Two sciences, so 4 lectures and 2 Labs every week til May. I was planning on following the schedule and it has Tuesday as 4 miles so during the day I kept saying ‘After class, I’ll hit the gym (since I am paying for it and have only been there 3 times the past 3 months).’ My teacher kept us until the very last minute (8:50p…3hrs 20mins of reviewing the syllabus) I was drained. My walk home (1.4 miles- thanks Mapmyrun) seemed like eternity. It’s very rare that I just want to stop walking, close my eyes, and be home but last night was one of those nights. It wasn’t even freezing cold or horrible out and I wasn’t in any physical pain but I was just exhausted!

On the walk I came to the realization that this was only Day 1 of the next 4 months and if there is any chance I am going to get through this…successfully…I am going to have to get back to a more productive Routine. Waking up early enough to run, that has to happen because there is no chance I will be going to the gym after nights like last night. I know I won’t have Lab every night but if I wait until the evening I have less chance of not running.

The next thing I have fallen out of doing is meditating in the morning. Just sitting silent for 8-10 minutes, breathing deep, and asking God to come in to my day and guide me. If you are not familiar with meditation or you think I’m a weirdo, I dare you to give it a test run. At least 3 days…it makes all the difference.

This morning I even got someone to send me a wake up text, because I know that later when he asks me if I actually got up or I rolled over and went back to sleep I’d want to tell him I got up..and I ran 3 miles! I was in the shower around 7:30 and dressed, ready to meditate at 7:52…Got 8 minutes in and hopped the bus for work shortly after. I feel a lot better, not just because of this morning but because I can say that I am training again!