5, 6, 7, EIGHT!!

Yup, I ran 8 today. The Level 1 schedule called for 6 but a bunch of us who had done the Level 2 run a few weeks ago decided to go for it again. Surprisingly, I feel great - I wasn't even exhausted or worn out by the end, but my body was definitely feeling it. As we keep upping our mileage though, 26.2 keeps looking more and more possible.

Full steam ahead...

Things are going great on all fronts of marathon training.

On the money front, I got a huge donation the other day, bringing my total so far to well over $1000!

On the running front, we had an intense workout today - 4+ miles including 5 loops up and around "Killer Hill". It was exhausting but I definitely feel myself getting stronger every day.

Plus, the Bulldogs are in the College World Series of Baseball and might actually win the whole thing tomorrow.... and this time I won't have to miss the game for training! : )

That's hot.

The car said it was 102 outside when I got to the meeting point. It had dropped to 99 an hour later when we got back. Yeah, not much of an improvement. 4 miles in 100+ heat is way worse than 7 miles on a cool Saturday morning. Hopefully that means 26.2 miles in the SF weather will be a breeze ... umm.... maybe not.

Anyways, I'm off to Vegas for the weekend!

SEVEN

I ran 7 miles today. Yes, SEVEN.

The training calendar said 4 (for Level 1's), but when we got there the coach said we'd actually be doing 5 because of the route he picked. Level 2's would do 7 and Level 3's would do 8. He explained that Level 1's would turn around at the base of the hill right at Cobb Ranch....

But when we got there, we just kept running ... all the way up that hill and back down it - the 7 miles assigned to the Level 2's. I felt like a superstar when we finished! That's the furthest I've ever run in my life! Total endorphin high. Plus, at the nutrition workshop after the run, the speaker said frosted flakes are a good food choice for marathoners. This gets better and better every day.

But where were they going...

... without ever knowing the way? Yes, that's a song by 90's one-hit wonder, Fastball. But it started playing in my head today when a co-worker asked me what the marathon route was through San Francisco and I had to admit that I had no freakin' clue. So I looked it up ...

http://insidenikerunning.nike.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/course-map.pdf

and now I'm even more excited!

We start in Union Square and run down the embarcardero, past Fisherman's Wharf and as we're climbing that first dreaded hill, it's with a view of the Golden Gate Bridge in the background. We continue along the bay and then shoot inwards to Golden Park and back out, down "Great Highway", pass the zoo, and then around Lake Merced on our way back to the finish line at Great Highway and Lincoln Blvd. I have a feeling that if nothing else, the amazing views and sites will keep me going through the 26.2....

So that's what 26.2 miles feels like...

We ran three miles in training today, bringing our grand total up to 27 thus far. That means that if you put together all of the miles we've run since May 17th and take away .8 of one of them, we've run a marathon. So I've proven my body is physically able to run 26.2 miles - now I just have to convince my body it can do them all at one time ...

In good news, the run actually felt really easy tonight. There was a nice breeze, so it wasn't too hot. The hills didn't feel as bad as they did last week and most importantly, my new shoes are awesome. They're bouncier and much more comfortable than my old shoes. They make me think I can run a marathon. They almost make me think I could fly. But I won't try that just yet...

New Shoes!

I ran 4 miles Saturday morning - ran the whole thing, and at a faster pace than I've been running. It felt great! So as a reward ... I went to Sierra Running Company today and bought new running shoes - real marathon worthy running shoes!

Out with the old:

And in with the new!

It's not a hill. It's a bump.

Or so the coach said...

We are in week 3 of marathon training now with Team in Training and tonight we ran up and down our first hill ... repeatedly. Allegedly we will be grateful for the training when we're in San Francisco this October.

All complaining aside, I feel pretty good about how my training is going. I have been running 2-3 miles 3 or 4 times a week on my own for the past year, and we haven't really gotten beyond that mileage yet. This Saturday will be 4 miles. By the end of June, we'll be running 6. And in October ... well, let's not talk about that yet.

I also got my first donation yesterday- Thanks Francine! It was so exciting. It really made my whole day and just encouraged me to send out more requests and think of more ways to reach my fundraising goal.

On my way to practice today, I was talking to my mom on the phone. She asked me why I was running a marathon. It's a good question really. I got the idea around New Year's and made it my resolution to run one this year. Last year, I passed the bar exam. I left the test knowing I'd passed and that I really could do anything I set my mind to. I guess running a marathon was just the next thing on the list. So I started doing my research and got a little overwhelmed with the idea of training on my own. I found the Team in Training website, went to the informational meeting, and was hooked. Now there's a bigger reason too - I'm running because I can. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who can't. Yes, I'm running for me - I want the satisfaction of being able to say I ran a marathon. But I'm doing it for them too. Because, let's face it - in comparison to what cancer patients go through, this marathon is just a bump.

Onward to 4 miles...