Officially signed up for the Erie PA Marathon...send positive thoughts my way :)

    So after last week of zero running, I came back strong. I walked 7 1/2 miles and ran a total of 21 miles. I ran 2 1/2 in Florida on Monday which was hard in the heat, then I ran 3 miles Friday. I set my alarm on Saturday for 6 am and got up to run 15 1/2 miles. It took me 3 hours and 4 minutes. It was a good run with only the last mile being pure torture. My toes were hurting, and it was getting hot out, but I felt good. Now that I signed up for the September 18th Marathon in Erie, PA, I am ready to start my 12 week countdown. I still don't understand how the longest training run is only 20 miles, but I will try to follow the training schedule. I need to run 3 evenings a week too, so it will be an tough 12 weeks. Send positive  thoughts my way :)

Running in Florida

   So the week of June 6-12 was a very bad week of running. I was in Florida and did walk 4 miles most days. I ran 0 and walked 12 miles:(

Hard to run in the heat

    So today I started out for a run at 920am. Since it was such a hot weekend, that was too late in the day for me. I ran 8 miles then walked the last mile. My intention was to run 12 miles, but I started to feel weird. I think that I was a little dehydrated even though I drank 3 1/2 water bottles while running. I wanted to push myself and go further, yet after hearing that a 22 year old man died while running the half marathon yesterday, I decided to listen to my body. Although I do not know the circumstance or cause of his death, I can imagine that after months of training, it would be hard to stop because of the heat on race day. His death makes me think about what I would do if I needed to stop during the marathon. I hope that I could be wise and listen to myself. I really want to train for and run a marathon, but not at the expense of my life. I need to remember that on runs like today. This is suppose to be fun!

Wow...the last 2 weeks have gotten away from me

   This will be short since I have been too busy to blog. During the week of May 23-29, I walked 15 miles total with only 1 run on Saturday of 9 miles. Falling back to my weekend running only. I need to make myself a priority on my long to do list:(

Beautiful Weather

    I will say that the weather has a tremendous influence on me when I am out running. Although the warmer weather made my run more enjoyable and inspired me to get outside, I need to bring more water on my runs. I ran 6 1/2 miles on Saturday, plus 4 miles today. I did set out to run 7 miles, but since it was so hot, and I only had 2 water bottles, I ended up walking the 3 miles home. I hate when that happens. I ran on the dirt path by my house since that is easier on the joints. I felt so strong and was enjoying the run, but I just could not keep running :(  I ran a total of 10 1/2 miles and walked 14 1/2 for a grand total of 25 miles!!

Lost 9 pounds :)

   So after starting my training in January, I have lost 9 pounds and took 2 inches off of my waist. I am so happy with this loss. I have been struggling these last couple of years as I get older with the weight gain, and I was afraid that it was impossible to lose. I would like to lose more before the Marathon, but this seems like a nice, slow steady pace to lose. I did run 7 1/2 miles and walked 9 for a total of 16 1/2. I would like to find time to run a little more this week too.

Running towards a marathon: Ran 14 1/2 miles...took almost 3 hours :)

Running towards a marathon: Ran 14 1/2 miles...took almost 3 hours :): " Well I ran 14 1/2 miles on Saturday. I was trying for 15 but I had to walk the last 1/2 mile. That is still the farthest I have ever ru..."