Christmas Week

Hi everybody,

Well it is the week after Christmas and the beginning of week 5 of my Marathon training.

It was a little tough to get motivated but I think I did ok. I was suppose to go out and do a 3 mile run on Christmas day, but that did not end up happening. Running around visiting family just got in the way. I thought about going out at night when the day was over, thinking that I had read somewhere about teaching your body to keep running even if you are tired. Well I decided that it was not worth going out as tired as I was in the off chance that I would injure myself. That is not what I am doing here. I am here to train and complete a full marathon and not injure myself in the process.

I know that time on my feet on long runs on the weekend will help me to train my body to keep on keepin on. In fact, I did a long run this weekend, my longest run yet. The group I run with on the weekend had our largest turn out yet. 10 people. It was great to run the back roads in such a large group. Of course they are all faster then I am. Not all of us are training for a marathon so it was determinded that those running the marathon set the pace. Well I was not really up for that. I sometimes feel bad holding people back. I started out in the front, but at about mile 3 some people started to pull away. It did not bother me at all. We all met up at mile 6 for a fueling break and then went on our way.

The only problem that I have is that I don't do well on hills and we have a lot out here in Western Loudoun County. I have only been running for a year so I don't feel my body is as acoustomed as the other runners in the group who have been running for a lot longer then me. Don't get me wrong, I respect the hills. I try to pay very close attention to my posture while going up and down, I am just not used to them yet.

I will say that I am really enjoying the running in the winter so far. Sure it has it tough moments when you are outside at 5:00 am and the wind is blowing right at your face and the temperature is 15 with the windchill. The way I look at it, its better then running in 90 degrees with 90 % humidity.
I try not to look too far ahead, but tomorrow looks like it is going to be cold and windy. Temperature looks to going to be about 22 degrees with wind gusts around 20 MPH. I think I will be running with a fleece jacket and one of those fleece face guards. The ones that cover your whole head and face except for your eyes. So we shall see what things are like tomorrow.

Well see you on the next post.