A MARATHON in 12 days...

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When I say what I'm about to say, you are going to think I'm crazy. And well, maybe I am...

On the weekend I signed up for the LA marathon which is happening in 12 days. Yes the FULL marathon. Why would I do that?

It all first started when I wrote this post with my marathon bucket list. And then months later after I finished my 1st full marathon this past September, I began considering my options for what's next and I wrote this post.

I really wanted to do the LA marathon in 2014, but it landed on the same weekend as an event my husband normally attends. I found out about a month ago that he wouldn't be able to attend for other reasons, but I dismissed the opportunity because it was far too late to up my distance to a full marathon... right? Never mind the cost of traveling to an international marathon and babysitting etc...

But as it turns out with the help of my ever-understanding family, I am headed to the LA Marathon!

I had only one choice this past Sunday to get myself prepared for this. The longest run I've done in the last few months has been 23km which is far from a marathon distance. So, this past Sunday, another friend, Jacki, who will also be traveling to the LA Marathon took me out for 32km.

The weather was also not unfortunately in our favor this weekend with a ton of snow which is fairly rare this late in the season on the west coast.

Nonetheless, off we went on our extremely long journey. And you know what? It wasn't easy, but it wasn't so bad. I know that I can make it to the finish line of the LA Marathon. I am not sure that I can PR, nor is that really a priority, but I know that I will get there.

Quite possibly the most exciting part of all of this is that my sister will be joining me for another racecation! Even though we live pretty close to each other now (since we moved in August), we don't see each other nearly enough. You might remember that we went to NYC together last March, almost exactly a year ago to the date of this trip.

Sisters' trip to NYC last March!

I'm so stoked to spend a weekend with her and to have her waiting for me at that finish line. Nikki & Jacki will also be racing LA and I look forward to spending time with them as well.

This is going to involve a "slightly" modified training schedule over the next couple of weeks to make up for all of the time lost but I am going to make it work. I've run over 50km in the last 3 days and even made some time to walk in the snow with my boys yesterday!

I am so thankful for my husband and his visa points which are flying us there, my wonderful Dad who is helping us get a hotel so late, and to my in-laws and favorite babysitters, you all rock!

So to those of you that know me, please leave your encouragement, your comments, and your love. I'm going to need it all to get to that finish line in 2 weeks.

Square One

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My 1st week of training for my second marathon is in the books and I feel like I have started back at square one. Taking a month off took more of a toll than I anticipated.

Last Sunday in particular was really tough. I admittedly started off a lot faster than intended as I really wanted to run with a certain group of people but about 5 km in, I realized that there was no way I could continue at that pace nor was it very smart to have done so up until that point. They were doing 16km and I only had 10 on the schedule so I wasn't sure how long I'd stick it out. Thankfully I ran into a couple of other friends who had already been running for 20km so they were happy to only do another 5 or so kilometers and dragged me along beside them. In the end I clocked that run in at just over 14km and I felt wrecked. It was discouraging and humbling. During marathon training I had felt so strong, I took that for granted. In a way, I think it is a good thing, it has given me a different kind of motivation and my body felt really rested and ready to get going again.

This Sunday, I once again had 10km on the schedule. Seemingly overnight, I woke up Saturday morning sick. I had had a bit of sore throat on/off throughout the week, but I felt like it was going away. Then when Saturday hit, everything fell apart. My sinuses felt so full and my throat was extremely sore. I decided that I would run on Sunday morning anyway. It wasn't a race, I was just going to teeter along at my own pace. I've heard that if your sickness is from the neck up, then it is okay to run, but usually I just go by how I feel and I didn't feel like sitting at home. So this morning, off I went. I dressed, what I thought, was warmly, and then I went outside...

Oh my, did I ever wish I had washed my long pants after Friday night's run, it was freezing! My weather app lied, it was WAY colder than -2 at our house. I didn't feel great, but once we got running, my spirits started to lift. One of the great things about moving to a new area is that I am not yet familiar with all the running routes yet, so it is always interesting, especially on a beautiful day like today! I met some new people along my run too which was also nice, as I'm still pretty new to the local running scene here.

Starting over is tough especially because of the year I had last year, but today I felt some of that strength in my legs coming back, there is some memory there and it will all come back with some hard work! Now to get rid of this head cold... Off to bed!

Farewell to the Half Marathon Distance

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There's been only one other time where I've gone out and completed a run over 20k by myself. As this past Sunday approached, I knew that I would be doing it again and to be perfectly honest, I was nervous.

At this point I know 21.1km like the back of my hand. After 19 half marathons and countless training runs I know what every second of a run of that length feels like and I still mostly prefer to do it with a group. On the schedule for Sunday was 23km. I've only run more than a half marathon one time and that was with Nikki during her ultra training. Obviously I knew training for a full marathon we were headed in that direction, but it still feels like an unknown for me. It's exciting and terrifying all at the same time. 

I had to be home around 8:00AM to take my Great Grandma to the airport who had been visiting this past week. So, at about 5:15AM I walked out my back door somewhat half asleep and began my run.

I always complain about getting up at the crack of dawn but once I'm actually awake I hardly ever regret it. There's something amazing and so serene about waking up before the rest of the world. The silence, the empty streets, the sound of my shoes hitting the pavement...

I took this picture at only about 2km in, this portion of the run is also the first half of my usual 8km route. I thought because I run this section so often it would drag along especially since I had so much further to go but I actually felt awesome. 

The first 10km flew by and then I got a text from a fellow runner, Nikki. We had planned to start running at the same time and text each other along the way to stay motivated since we were both running alone. But since I had to get up earlier we were at different parts of our run, I'm glad we still managed to connect though.

It was great to know that someone else was out there doing the exact same thing, and those little texts helped the kilometers slip away.

Before I knew it, I only had about 7km to go and I was on my favorite stretch of the whole run. 

It was turning into a beautiful day but it was getting warm, another reason I was happy to have started so early. Special thanks to all the people that had their sprinklers on, very refreshing!

After all that it surprisingly didn't seem like long before I was back at home amazed that 23km went by so easily. 

I had some chocolate milk and then jumped in the shower so I could take my Great Grandma to the airport.

I needed a run like that. I've been struggling lately but I know from past experience that sometimes all it takes is one awesome run to turn your training around. I've regained some of my confidence and I'm even considering a few more solo long runs in the next few weeks.