Road to the Canton Marathon: I am in Grad School (Still) and Training (Again)

Last time I tried , I crashed and burned horribly.  I got very sick and just could not keep up with workouts and studying.  I ended up running a relay in the Stomps the Grapes Half Marathon and had a pretty horrible finish time.  I then spent the winter hibernating, nursing my shaken confidence, and recovering both physically and mentally. 

Maybe it was the early warm weather and mild winter.  Maybe it was my incessant need to be completely over scheduled, over booked, and over whelmed.  Maybe I feel like I have something to prove.  Maybe I just really like running this much.  Maybe I fell and hit my head and it caused some form of psychosis.  Whatever the reason, I decided to sign up for the Canton Marathon.  Yep, 26.2 miles. I just went and signed up out of the blue.  Logged on, filled out the form, paid my fee, and hit submit.  Just like that!!  Of course, I waited until the last possible minute before the price went up again and I had already been following a marathon training plan for about 6 weeks.  I had a 12 mile long run behind me and I was doing okay in grad school and with my workouts, so I guess it was not completely out of the blue but it did come as a little bit of a surprise to my husband (he didn't exactly know I had already been following the marathon training plan already!!).

Probably not the best approach to take but I still keep saying I am not sure I will make it to the race.  With only 6 weeks left until race day, I could probably be a little more confident at this point but you just never know.  You don't know what injuries might pop up (and there have been quite a few so far).  You don't know where life is going to take you.  You don't know what your body, mind, or spirit will ultimately be able to handle. 

At this point, I have completed a 21 mile training run and only have one 24 mile training run ahead of me.  In the weeks in between I have many, many mid-length runs to go but once you have done 21 miles, 14 miles just doesn't seem so bad.  I get downright giddy when I know I have a lower milage run in my future.  I have been losing some motivation lately because I am just do doggone tired all of the time and it is hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel with 6 more weeks to go!!  So, I invite you to join me for these last 6 weeks of marathon training and see how things go.  You just might find some inspiration from my triumphs or some wisdom from my mistakes, and I might find some motivation to keep lacing up and put one foot in front of the other.  Look out marathon, here I come (Maybe...I hope)!!