Now, the Hard Part

Haven't posted a boring blog entry about running lately, so here goes.

Turns out my theory concerning the difficulty of increasing mileage needs some modification. (See "A Theory")  Once I pushed into the 10 mile range, the difficulty has leveled off some.
 
So here's what I have to do between now and December 8th.  The blue numbers are completed runs (updated periodically.)

                                Training Schedule

Week of:	Mon.	Tue.	Wed.	Thur.	Fri.	Sat.	Sun.
9/3		4		3	2	0	13.1	(1/2 Marathon)
9/10		3		4		10
9/17	3	4		4		12
9/24	4	4		4		10	3
10/1		4		4		14	3
10/8		5		5		10	3
10/15		4		5		16	3
10/22		4		5		12	3
10/29		4		5		18
11/5	3	5		6		12	3
11/12		4		6		20	3
11/19		4		4		12	3
11/26		3	2	3		8	3
12/3		2	2		2	26.2

If I can just make it through the 16, 18, and 20 mile runs, I will be golden.  It's weird... at the beginning of this whole thing, I knew in my head that a 26 mile run was a monumental task.  But I am reminded of just how monumental it is every time I do one of the long training runs.  Saturday, I ran 14 miles.  At the end of mile 13, I thought "I have to be able to run another 13 miles."  It's one of those thoughts you quickly put out of your head.  The trick is to take one day at a time.

Another monumental thing about training is the time you sacrifice, mostly for the long run. On Saturday I got up early, skipped breakfast with my family, ran for 2 hours and 24 minutes, and then it took the next couple of hours to ease back into our Saturday routine.  It's during those times when I often say to myself "Now why exactly am I doing this?"

I took my pulse one day sitting in church.  It was 44 bpm.  I suppose this could be due to one of several things:

• The training is working,
• The church service was boring, or
• Church has a calming effect.

Speaking of collections, I have considered using the marathon to raise money for some cause, partly to assuage my guilt for spending so much time in training, and partly to give some redeeming value to the whole thing.  But the fact is, I despise asking for money, period.  And most of the people I know, including myself, will give if asked, but are already tapped out in the giving department already.

So instead, it will remain a purely selfish endeavor, aimed at raising the level of my health and state of mind.  Plus, I get to write these boring blog entries.