Marathon Training

As I was thinking about what to write and I had a number of ideas, a recap of the first week of classes, my experience eating pizza after 20 days gluten and mostly dairy free, but then I thought what I really need to write about is my marathon training. Or, my lack of training if you want to get all technical.

I took a hiatus with the crazy short course and then the first week craziness. Yesterday was my first run in more than 2 weeks. I went to the gym and ran into a fellow runner and we went up to the track and pounded out 2 1/2 miles and it felt like the time flew by. Seriously, having a running buddy is the best thing on earth. We just chitchatted the entire time and the next thing I knew I had to stop and get back to my office for a meeting. It was also the first time I have ever run where I didn't keep track of time or distance. Our time was around 30 minutes based on when we started and stopped (although, I wasn't keeping track) and I didn't count laps but I felt like I was keeping a good 12 minute/mile pace.

It felt rather freeing to just go for a run, to not think about how far or how long I wanted to run but to actually enjoy it again. This is what gets me excited for the Catalina marathon, I get to run it with my California running buddy. I'm hopeful that we'll fall into our old pace and be able to talk and enjoy the race together but that's only going to happen if I put in the time and work into my training. If I don't train then I won't be able to keep up and once again I'll be running on my own and that is not the experience I want to have with this race.

Thankfully I now have a running buddy for my shorter runs. I still don't have one for the long runs but I'll manage. This afternoon I'll head back to the gym for another easy two miles or so and some weight training and then tomorrow morning I have a date for a 4 mile run outside around the campus. I am thankful to have a running buddy and to be running the race with a friend.