Marathon Training

Next week marks the start to my first ever....MARATHON TRAINING!  Is this happening? Am I really doing this? CAN I do this? Sure I can, but definitely not alone. I am going to follow Jeff Galloway's program here. It's a 28 week program that is catered to your level of fitness.

In February I ran my first long race, a HALF marathon and I thought I might die.  Ok, not really but it was no joke! My friend, Rachel and I ran it together with my mom cheering us on at the start and finish.  What race was it? Well I'm glad you asked! We ran the Disney Princess Half Marathon in Disney World! Yes, you will soon learn that most everything in my life will center around Disney if possible.  I did an internship in college there, got engaged there, and we got married there! (It's perfectly normal, I promise) Christopher and I try to go back as often as possible so if I can cross something off my bucket list at the same time then it's a win win!

So back to this whole running thing.  I have a love/hate relationship with running so this journey will not only be rewarding, but also very challenging.  So you ask, if you're not completely in love with running, then why are you subjecting your body to such torture? Well, it's kind of hard to explain.  I started running to get in shape and lose some weight before our wedding in 2010. 

Not only did it help with weight loss, but I loved the sense of accomplishment I got when I shaved off a few seconds or even minutes from every run! I made it a point to be just a little faster than the run before. From there, I started running a variety of races to help stay motivated and give me distance goals to reach for. The rest is history.

I'm not fast by any means, and I'm not as routine as I would like, but setting goals is key. We bought a treadmill at the Salvation Army last month so I'm trying to get back into it by running 3 to 4 times a week. While on the treadmill I got to thinking, I should train for something new.  I can run 5 miles without stopping so I needed a chellenging goal, something I would be proud of for the rest of my life....thus came the brilliant idea to run a FULL marathon! As soon as I finished running I went straight to the runDisney website to check out the upcoming races. I thought about running the Princess Half again to beat my first time, but the following week I am going on cruise (Yes, it is a Disney cruise...surprised?!) so I couldn't take 2 consecutive weeks off work. The Disney World Marathon Weekend caught my eye becuase it's in January. What perfect timing! Enough time to train, but it takes place before the cruise so I can celebrate! Next step is to just sign up!