A good day to start

I thought today would be a good day to start my running journal. I finished my first marathon a little over two weeks ago and have already started training for my next marathon on October 13th. I suppose I should first introduce myself. I 29 and live just outside of St. Paul, MN. I have been married for 3 1/2 years to my wife Lisa and we have a 1 year old boy, Carter. I have been a self proclaimed runner for the past 5 years averaging 20-25 miles a week and have finished 1 half marathon (Grandma's) and 3, 10 mile races (TC 10mile, which is the Twin Cities Marathon equivalent to the 1/2 marathon). It has been a natural increase to running my first marathon this spring and I have averaged 35-45 miles a week and topped out with a 54 mile week while training.

I really enjoyed working toward Grandma's Marathon, even though the race didn't go as planned. I originally was aiming for a 3:30 finish, however I did my long run three weeks prior to the race in Duluth. I finished the run and hit my goal split times perfectly but I was dead tired and would not have made it much further. So I adjusted my goal and was just looking to have a good race. Anyway race morning came and after the first mile I looked at my watch hitting 8 minutes right on the dot and every mile after was the same. As a marathon nubbie I just couldn't pull back, I figured I would give it my best and see what would happen. I ended up in the medical tent at mile 22 after struggling for a few miles. My blood pressure was 95/70 and the outdoor temp was 88 degrees, I was plain dehydrated. After a litter of fluid I got back in the race (walking) and finished 5:29. My first 20 miles were in 3:00 hrs and my last six were 2:30.

Today is the start of my second week of my new training schedule. I did a track workout out by my parents home. I jogged two miles to the high school to workout on the track. Less than halfway through the workout a sever thunder storm came blowing in. The wind picked up fast and I took cover over under the stadium concession stand. The rain came down fast and hard, I had nowhere to go except wait it out. Thirty minutes came and went, luckily I was able to stay dry, however by then my legs were tight and cold so I just made it the effort to get home. If you don't watch once in awhile, you can't believe how hard it can actually ran.