I’ve officially signed up for the Portland Marathon…but I’m only going to run the last half! It’s October 2 – just 6 weeks away. Although I’ve been running a marathon training program with PortlandFit for the last 5 months, i’ve decided not to run the entire marathon this year. Instead, I’ll run the last half with my running partner and friend Jessica who will be running the whole thing. This has sort of been my plan all along, but there was always that small possibility of going for the big, big distance. Then, I remind myself that my goal all along was to do a half marathon which i did in june and will do again on marathon day. Perhaps next year I’ll do the whole thing. I know my limitations and I’m just not ready for that kind of a distance yet. I’d rather not risk an injury.
Running the training program has been life changing and has very much defined this year for me. When we started in April I could barely get through 3 miles, and now i can confidently run 13 miles. Crazy. Going for a 6,7,8 mile run these days is considered an easy run for me now. We run our long runs (usually between 8-11 miles) on Saturday mornings (6am is my new wake up time on saturdays for these runs… if you told me a year ago i’d wake up at that ungodly hour on my day off to run long distances, i would’ve told you you were crazy). Then, we run 3 times during the week (usually 30-45 minutes per run). One of the best things that have come out of this is meeting my running partner Jessica. She is so motivating and had I not met her, I’m not sure I would have made it this far. Having somebody hold you accountable, i’ve learned, is key.
I cant wait to cross that finish line on marathon day. Lucky me, even though i’m only doing the last half, i get to cross the finish line with jessica, my other friends (david and roxanna), and all of those runners who will have just completed the whole thing! it’s going to be a big, huge celebration. I’m going to be beaming with pride that my friends did it. i can barely wait. i’m sure i’ll cry. i cried at the finish of the half marathon back in june – but that was for me. this will be for them.
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