Freeday Friday: Marathon Fever

 

Last week I received an unexpected and tremendous compliment.  After I was finished with my morning  run, one of the regular bikers pulled his bike up next to me as I was loading the kids into the van.  He then proceeded to say, "Young lady, what you do is incredible!"  Being used to this kind of reaction about taking care of one year old triplets, I shrugged it off and muttered, "Thanks."  And then he went on, "Do you know how much that stroller weighs?  Its got to be at least 100 pounds and you just pushed it up a huge hill all while jogging.  I don't think you realize that that is a 7% incline!  I have never seen anything like that!  I had to stop and watch you."  I then got to know a little bit more about my new friend. Apparently, he knows his stuff when it comes to running.  Back in his day, he ran the Boston in 2:50; quite an amazing task.  That inspired me. Right before I got pregnant with the triplets, I was training for a marathon and I want to continue that dream.  So here is my plan; I'm going to run three 5K's, two 10K's, one half marathon, and then finish it up with a marathon.  Below is a list of the races I decided to compete in:
Vern's No Thrills 5K here in Georgetown, TX- June 16th, 2012
The Hardcore Mud Series 5K in Flower Mound, Tx- July 14th, 2012
Sand Crab 5K Nighttime Beach Run in Galveston, TX - August 11th, 2012
IBM Uptown Classic 10K in Austin, TX-October 7, 2012
Turkey Trot 10K in Fort Worth, TX- November 22, 2012
Dare to Ascend Trail Half Marathon in Georgetown, TX (actually at the same lake that I currently run at)
  September 28, 2013
The Disney World Marathon in Orlando, FL-January 13th, 2014

I'm sure you noticed that there is quite a bit of time between the half marathon and the 10K's, but its actually difficult to find really good half marathons.  Ideally I would want to run in the summer (not such a far stretch between the 10Ks and plenty of time for recovery before the marathon), but it is actually not a really good idea to run a half marathon in Texas in the summer....13.1 miles in 115 degree weather; no thank you!
  I picked the Disney World Marathon in the hopes that all of my family will come out to watch me.  I will admit, watching someone run for 26.2 miles is not very entertaining, but watching someone run for five minutes and then go ride rides for an hour and then watch someone run for five more minutes and then go ride more ride and so on sounds a lot more fun.  Anyway, I'll keep you posted on my progress.  Needless to say, I'm super excited.