Impulse Running Decisions

Race Recovery
I remember thinking during the marathon that I did not see myself doing any more of them.  Truly I had some very negative thoughts floating around in there during pretty much ALL of the second half.  That's two hours worth of negativity!  I couldn't seem to conjure up any of the mental magic my friends had suggested.

Interestingly, though, as with childbirth, the pain is forgotten very quickly.  Within four days, like a fool, I had signed up for my next marathon!  One of my friends in the Running Divas group on Facebook had posted that sign-ups for the 37th Annual Marine Corps Marathon, held on October 28 in Washington, D.C., were opening the next day.  Like a moth to a flame, I was drawn to the idea of an out-of-town marathon in a cooler place and season.  I clicked my way onto the web site and checked out the reviews and the all-important elevation map. Surprisingly, it didn't look too bad.  The reviews were also incredibly positive!  My mind began scheming as to how I might make this work.  "The kids are old enough to enjoy doing a D.C. tour," I reasoned, "and they would definitely benefit academically too."  Right, as if I'm going to feel like walking even one extra step after I finish the race - NOT!  Guess we'd better front-load the sight-seeing.

My next obstacles to overcome were checking with the hubby on the potential for time off work, and trying to see if I could quickly talk anyone else into this insanity.  No one took the bait, but one of the Running Divas was signed up, so I decided I would get to know her some time before the race, and thought maybe we could do a long training run or two together.  Hubby's work thing was iffy, but I still got the green light.

It's a very good thing I made it a point to sign up as soon as registration opened because the race sold out in 2 hours and 41 minutes!  Once I got past all the logistics, I let the reality (of what I had just committed to) sink in: many long, hot Summer training runs, more pressure on myself, more worry about injuries.  Yowsa!  So how many weeks exactly is it until the end of October??

Post-marathon Recovery
I knew that I needed to take it easy so that I could make a full recovery from the marathon.  It was really hard to pass up the chance to run one of the flattest 10Ks around, in which the course is almost exactly where I run every day, and which could have given me that final chance to earn a spot in Corral A for the Peachtree this year.  I knew it would not be wise to run it because my knees were still feeling pretty sore.  Thankfully, reason won out this time, and I passed on it.  I did at least live vicariously through my good friend, Elise, who PR'd on it with a time of 46:48 and got 1st in her AG!  To give you an idea of how fast the runners were, the 3rd place winner in my AG (40-44) came in at 41:49!!!!  Unbelievable!

Today, 2 1/2 weeks after the marathon, I seem to be almost fully recovered.  My war wounds included two massive toe blisters, three purple and black toenails, a pop in my left knee, and some kind of weird knot/bump on the bottom of my left foot at my mid-foot strike.  Luckily, most of these have not slowed me up much.

Upcoming Race
Again, sort of on impulse, I decided to register for the NC Half Marathon coming up this Sunday, March 25, in Charlotte, NC.  I am thrilled with several aspects of this race.  First, I will finally get to meet my super-cool running/blogging/fellow Gator alum/Daily Mile friend, Danielle!  She graciously offered to put me up for the night and to sign up for the race too.  I just can't wait for Saturday to get here!  The other cool aspects of this race are that the course is fairly flat, and that they have the most fabulous moving, blinking finisher medals out there.  Check out the video half way down this page: http://www.nchalfmarathon.com/.

Training Plans
My mileage has been so much lower than my pre-marathon weeks.  Even with the marathon and the upcoming half, my March miles will be less than my January or February ones.  That's okay, though.  I should have time to build them back up slowly and to do some speed work.  How do those really fast runners do it??  Will I ever get there?  I'm not sure it's that important to me, but I know I'll still try!