Where's Imelda When You Need Her?

Yesterday, being the first of April, I was determined to get my derrierre out the door to run whether I felt like it or not. So I quit my bellyaching and headed out the front door. I got about 5 houses past my own and a big chunk fell off the bottom of my right shoe. I had to turn around and come home. I haven't purchased my running shoes yet and since I'm not Imelda Marcos, I didn't have anything else to run in. So much for momentum.

I will get my shoes this afternoon. My car is going in the shop for repairs so I can't drive it. I'm going to get a rental after I'm done teaching for the day and driving it straight to Running Fit and I'm not coming out of there without shoes.

Jim (dearest husband) registered for the marathon as did Jeff, my third eldest. I'm not counting on Jim having the time to be able to do this but I'm glad he signed up. Jeff's all in. He's got his shoes. He's also got the endurance of.....well.....a marathoner. Always has. He can just pop out the door and run for miles even if it's been months or years since he last ran. Maybe he was switched at birth at the hospital because that trait didn't come from me, that's for sure.

So, I'll check in after I get the shoes. Temps are supposed to be a little higher today so it should be a joy to be outside. We'll see!

Yeah, right! Flirting with Futility

This morning while I was teaching, my mother called me because one of the local radio stations was interviewing a mom in her 40's on running and marathoning in that decade of life. Mom said it was very interesting and I should tune in or find it online. What she failed to tell me is that this runner/mom just happened to be supermodel Kim Alexis. Sorry, Mom. I think taking running/fitness advice from Kim seems silly. I don't think I'd have any trouble pulling this lard butt out to run a marathon if I looked like Kim Alexis to start with. She's a mom, she's in her forties, she has five kids.......but believe me, the similarities end right there.



Something uninspiring about a skinny beautiful model being able to still look that way in her forties. Nothing against Kim. I actually think she's a decent person. It's just that as women, our whole lives we tend to struggle with not being able to look like that no matter what we do or eat. I guess I just don't need to have a sense of futility while preparing for a marathon. I'm more inspired by some obese lady who took up running in her 50's and turned her future around by getting and staying in shape.

So, if you're out there and you've been less than thin or healthy most of your life and turned things around.....do inspire me. What is your story? Are you just an average person who decided to do something you never thought you could do? Do tell!

It's Official!!

I now have a bib number! No turning back. I'm all in. Registration opened yesterday and I am now committed (or should be committed, depending on how you look at it).

I'll be posting now every day. Sorry for the break. Too much going on around here. I was spending too much time blogging. Now I've got it scheduled into a certain part of my day.

See ya'll tomorrow!

Karen, mom & marathoner

I'm Actually Getting Excited About This!

Yesterday my sister sent me a link to photos of people finishing the Detroit marathon. How cool! There was one particular one of a first-time marathoner stepping over the finish line with her arms in the air and the look on her face was priceless! She wasn't a 25-yr-old ultra-skinny career runner. She was an average 45-yr-old woman. There seemed to be a lot of us 'regular people' in the marathon. I can't wait!! I can DO this!

This is a unique marathon and has plenty along the way to keep the runners (and spectators) amused. There is some form of live music almost every mile along the way. It passes through Corktown - the oldest surviving neighborhood in downtown Detroit (believe me, that's saying something). One leg of the journey is the 'underwater mile' where we will run through the Detroit/Windsor Tunnel and into Canada. The return trip into the USA will be via the Ambassador Bridge. There is a quick spin through Belle Isle (a park on its own small island in the Detroit River) and a jog past the old Tiger Stadium.

I printed up my training calendar yesterday. I purposely started pre-training a couple months early because I've been such a couch potato this winter. The date I actually would have HAD to start pre-training is April 13th in order to start real training on June 29th and be fully prepared for the marathon in October. I will continue in pre-training since I have already started. Once I hit the last scheduled week of it, I will just increase my jogging time a tiny bit every week until marathon training begins. I feel good that I'm a little ahead of schedule because now I don't have to sweat it too much on these ridiculously cold and icy days.

Anybody else out there thinking about trying a marathon (or even a half marathon)? Come on! You can do it, too? It's only 26.2 miles and one way or another it'll all be over in 6.5 hours.

I Did It!

I was in Chicago from Wednesday through Saturday and I got all of my walking in....and then some. We didn't even get the car out of the lot the whole time. It was so cold that walking fast was a necessity! I never used the escalator or elevator when I had a choice (except in the hotel itself because the stairs were kind of creepy).

Now I am ready for next week's new walk/run schedule, while I'll post either tomorrow morning or this evening should I have a moment.

Scheduling - The Preemptive Strike

Having a budget keeps one from losing financial control. Having a daily training schedule will keep pathetic runners from having a disastrous training week like I did last week. So here's the deal:

Tuesday 7:30 am 1st run/walk of the week.
Wednesday 7:30 am 2nd training session
Thursday 8:30 treadmill and weight training
Friday 8:30 final weekly walk

I have to spell this out now or it won't happen. This week I am not walking on Monday (today) as it is currently two degrees BELOW zero with a wind chill of -17. I would like to keep all my fingers and toes intact so I'm not budging.

The fam and I will be in Chicago the latter half of the week so I have planned to use the exercise room in the hotel for those days.

Last week was disastrous because I didn't plan ahead. So.....every Monday I will post what the schedule is for that week and then please beat me over the head if I don't stick to it!!!!

Pardon me for taking so long to get my act together here. Then again, I suppose that is what this blog is for; helping me figure out how to do this right and then hopefully helping other people avoid any stupid mistakes I was not smart enough to get around.

I Am Responsible for my own Training

When it comes down to it, I am the only one responsible for my training. I didn't go out and walk/run Monday or Tuesday. I waited for Jim to get home so we could go together. Both nights he ended up getting here too late and too weary to do the training, which I completely understand. I, however, should have seen that as a real possibility and gone ahead and trained when it was light out without him. Then if he came home wanting to train....I could have gotten extra exercise.

So............from this day forward, I train like I am in this by myself. If I happen to have company later in the day, I'll go twice. I can't risk missing days and I don't want to run without him in the dark. If I'm going to do this thing (and I am) I have to be 100%, no-excuses, walk-through-the-pain committed to it.

I have scheduled a walk with a friend this afternoon. I'll let you know how it goes. When I went out to scrape everyone's cars off this morning (aren't I wonderful?), there were two inches of slush soup on part of our driveway. The roads didn't seem bad, though, and I have no excuses for remaining on my keister today.