Monday, February 2, 2009

I'm doing it again!


Some of you already know that I have decided to run the Country Music Marathon once again. For those of you who didn't know, now you do.
I am still in the begining of my long runs...so far I have gotten up to 10 miles. I forgot just how time consuming the training can be. Last week, I took the week off due to a slight foot injury. Actually, I am not sure what I did, but the bottom of my left foot felt like there was a huge bruise. It was really sore. I am hoping to get another 10 mile run in this week.
As far as I know, Carlos has once again agreed to meet me at mile 20 and run the last 6 with me. Last year, he was fantastic!! I remember doing so great and feeling pretty good by that point. I knew I was ahead of my 20 mile training run by 5 minutes and was thinking I was going to beat my predicted time. Little did I know that at about mile 22 my body felt as if it were falling apart. My knees and back were screaming at me!!! Carlos got me some tylenol and encouraged me on. I have heard that you can break the marathon up into 2 parts: 1) the first 20 miles and 2) the last 6 miles. I now know what they mean by that. I also remember how AMAZING it felt when I was running the last .2 miles into the stadium to the finish line. The picture above is me at that point. It's true, adrenaline just takes over. I felt like I was floating and all the pain I had been feeling for the previous hour was gone. I was so happy and almost in tears of amazement that I was doing it...I was going to FINISH my first marathon!!!!! Honestly, I think I am just waiting for that feeling again come April 25th =0)
My goals for this marathon inclue:
1. Make it to the START line without any further injury
2. Beat my time from last year.
3. Become a better runner/athlete
4. Have fun on the course!!!

3 comments:

Lauren said...

First of all, congratulations on running your 1st marathon!! I dont think I knew that! You are amazing Steph. I really hope someday in the near future when I am not pregnant or lactating that I can be more disciplined and do more running. Of course a 5K is good enough for me!! Good luck, especially with the training:)

Mary Beth said...

I had a feeling you were going to run the marathon again. Congratulations! I am so amazed by you and your discipline! I will be thinking of you and cheering you on!

Chris and Tiana said...

I KNEW you would get addicted!! Remember when you said you were perfectly happy running half marathons and didn't think you'd ever want to run a full marathon? Ha ha! I don't know why it's so addicting, but somehow it is, right? I'm very proud of you. You're a much better marathon runner than I ever was :)