While I'm getting excited about Marine Corps on Sunday (Please God, let my legs hold out!) I'm also getting really excited about my Spring marathon. I ran the National (Half) Marathon and swore I wouldn't do the full because of the nasty hills in the second half. Of course they went and changed the course this year and now the entire thing is in DC...and through awesome parts of town...and much, much, much flatter. Mmmm, tempting...So, earlier this summer, I caved in and decided that I was going to do the full and already recruited a gang of girls to train with through the cold winter months. Accountability is one of my biggest motivators. Most of us have done a fall marathon so we're going to take November off and start back up the beginning of December. No better way to burn off those Holiday pounds!
For the National though, I have a personal goal to knock at least 20 minutes off my PR. I want 
to be a sub 4:00 marathoner!!! I know that means changing a few things with my running habits like adding strength training and getting in speed workouts. But I relate it to how I first learned to sing. I always had a good ear and could pick things up quickly , but I couldn't read music. I knew that if I wanted to get into a select choir and have solos I needed to learn to read music. So I took voice lessons and learned to read music and poof... I was in the select choir the next year. Kept taking voice lessons and poof...got that solo. I kept improving just by sticking to it.
to be a sub 4:00 marathoner!!! I know that means changing a few things with my running habits like adding strength training and getting in speed workouts. But I relate it to how I first learned to sing. I always had a good ear and could pick things up quickly , but I couldn't read music. I knew that if I wanted to get into a select choir and have solos I needed to learn to read music. So I took voice lessons and learned to read music and poof... I was in the select choir the next year. Kept taking voice lessons and poof...got that solo. I kept improving just by sticking to it. I think I'll be the same way with running. I've done 5 marathons my way (well, 5 after Sunday) so why not find a coach to break me of some bad habits (I know I have them...why else would I keep getting injured) and show me the right way to train. Who knows...maybe I could even qualify for Boston before I'm 80!
As a side note: I work on the same floor as the guys who organize the National Marathon so I always try to get the inside scoop. (I was one of the first to find out that they added the half marathon last year!) Today I was one of the first people to get their new brochure with race map. You can see the PDF here. I totally dig the g-map mapping capabilities from google, I use it when I'm trying to find new courses somewhere new. You can also save all of the courses you like best as bookmarks. But the map for their course is especially eye-catching since it uses the "hybrid" view and you can see all of the monuments, parks and buildings in the city. I'm taking a stack to my Pacer's fun run tonight.
(the picture on the right is of me cruisin' to the finish line at last year's National Half Marathon)
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