First Road Run

Ugh.  I decided to move off the trail and go for a real road run.  About 4 miles.  It SUCKED.  No ifs, ands, or buts about it.  I hated every step and I never want to do it again.  <sigh>.  I have to do it again, I signed up for a freaking MARATHON!  Really, what was I thinking?  No seriously, what the F-#-*-K was I thinking?

I actually think I'm even more freaked out about the half marathon because a) it's a lot sooner (and now I legitimately don't think I'll be fully ready for it come May 6th), and b) I'm pretty sure I'll be running by myself.  I do have a good friend running it too, but her pace is probably close to twice as fast as mine, so I don't think I'll even be running in her dust because her dust will have already settled!  Also, at least at the marathon, my peeps will be there, and it will be a truly emotional experience.  I'm pretty sure we'll all stay together (or at least I hope we will!) no matter how long it takes us and cross the finish line together.

I haven't yet actually addressed the reason for running the marathon in this blog, so I guess I probably should.    It's actually been something that's always been on my "bucket list" (man I hate that phrase!), but the catalyst for doing it now was the death of one of my best friends, Jill, one of my peeps, from breast cancer this past November.  The Susan G. Komen Foundation (an organization that had a huge impact on Jill's life, the lives of members of her family, and one that we'd participated in fundraising events in the past) had chosen the 2012 Chicago Marathon to be one of its Marathons for the Cure this year.  Jill ran the Chicago Marathon with our friend, Becky, in 2003, and before she got really sick again, we had actually discussed running it together (possibly this year).  So, essentially, it was a no brainer.  A really great way to honor the memory of an amazing friend, a fundraising event for a great charity, and hopefully a way to grieve productively by giving us something to focus on...or at least give us a reason to pound out anger and frustration over miles of pavement!

Anyway, it was suggested to me today that I had perhaps pushed myself too far, too fast in my training because I essentially went from no running to 4 miles in a very short amount of time.  I had over-credited myself as being ready for that from having done bootcamp 2x/week for the last 9 months, but I think that was definitely wrong.  Running shouldn't suck this much.  I just have a hard time feeling like I'm going "backward" and once I make a certain distance (like the 4 miles I achieved last week), I feel like I'm not working hard enough if I don't run AT LEAST that far from now on.  I know, I know, I need to seriously change that attitude or I risk failure.  I think that tomorrow, provided I can find a way to buffer the awful blister I got today, I will try some interval training.  I'm afraid if I take tomorrow off from running, I may never go back!!