WEEK ONE

It has been a long journey just to get to week one of our 16 week training program. It was a few years ago that the seed was planted. I would like to say that I have been consistent with running but I haven't. I can say that I have consistently had the desire to improve and keep running. So over the last few years we have fallen off the running waggon but we have continually picked ourselves up and EVENTUALLY started running again.





There was another year that I was determined that we were going to run. Unfortunately, for many years I have fought infections in my lungs. I would have coughing fits that would last for months at times and many years I have ended up in the hospital due to my breathing problems. We had begun our training at one point but only a few weeks into it I was very ill and required hospitalization again. It was frustrating and I admit that I questioned if I would really ever be well enough to run a marathon.





It is a couple of years later and we now live a lot further north without the humidity, pollen and pollution that we had become accustomed to in Houston. Last year was the first year in 13 years that I did not battle my sickness. It was encouraging and has filled me with hope all over again that I can train for a marathon. So far, so good. We have made it through moving, winter with no sickness, summer and our oldest child getting married, starting a new homeschooling program that has been very time consuming and we are still right on track for our training schedule. It has been a lot of pre training to get us back to the point that we were at before but we are here and we are committed. Amanda is a senior, I am going to turn 40 and this IS our year.

This blog is to keep me accountable and to let everyone know that I am committed! Keep me on my toes... don't hesitate to give me that "not-so-gentle push" when I need it. Thanks for the support, it has been a long journey just to get this far. I can't wait to see that finish line!






WEEK ONE:

We are doing a 4 day a week training plan. The first week is 3, 4, 3, 5 miles. It is a total of 15 miles this week. We are happy to report that we have succeeded. This morning we ran a 5K that a member of our ward put together. We knew going in that we were going to have to do the 5K and then keep going 2 plus miles as we had scheduled our long run for today. It was a little harder than expected largely due to the fact that the 5K had some hill running that we don't usually do. Fortunately for us, the marathon that we are training for is in Houston around a lake and is nice and FLAT! So, we did finish our long run and logged all our 15 miles for the week but it was certainly more difficult than we had thought. Each day we are feeling a little stronger and look forward to our runs.