Sheesh.  I woke up this morning and realized that I have only 7 days until the Frederick Marathon.

Holy hell.

I’ve got so much left to do… get a new (!) hat, figure out the gear, arrange for transportation & pictures, packet pickup, read the runner booklet, coordinate with my family, and on and on.

But, man, am I motivated!  Just reading about the Boston Marathon gave me some serious inspiration.

ONE FINAL THING….if you don’t run marathons or don’t “get” the whole running thing, you might appreciate this post.

Even I had to laugh.

And just like that, when I needed a little running inspiration, I found it.  Shall I share?

Isaiah 40:31:

But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

Hebrews 12:1

Let us run with endurance, the race set out before us.

“Run the first 10 miles with your head, the second 10 miles with your legs, and the last six miles with your heart.” - Starshine Blackford, according to Runner’s World magazine.

I’m the subject of a little secret project.  Well, I guess it is not exactly SECRET.

I’m writing an article for Frederick Magazine.

Who cares, right?

Well the article is actually about … ME.

I’ve been asked to write an article about training for the Frederick Marathon.  I guess the interesting angle here is that I am not a youngster (ouch!).  I am a middle aged? married woman with two small children trying to train for a marathon while balancing a full time job, children and a husband.  (Not to mention a dog, 6 fish and a bearded dragon, but I digress.)

So, I’ve been keeping a journal of my experiences and have been working on the story for a couple of weeks now.

The interesting part of this whole experience is having a photographer assigned to you.  Oh yes, I have my own personal paparazzi. (Actually, my paparazzi’s name is Mike and he is a pretty great guy with a lot of patience who I am quite certain thinks I am a little loopy.)

Poor Mike has had to follow me around at all hours while I train for this sucker.  And by train, I mean run.  So how boring is THAT? You have got to feel for him.  It’s been cold, rainy and well, EARLY.  And he has been taking pictures of some silly woman doing the same things over and over again.  They can’t be paying him enough.

Although I must admit that it has been pretty amusing to see people’s expressions as we (meaning me and my running partners Katie, Rani & Rachel) run through downtown Frederick with this photographer jumping out at us taking pictures.

I feel like Britney Spears.  Only older.  And wider.  And…. okay, gonna stop now.  You get my point.

Tony Horton.  I hate you, but I love you.

You are killing me.

I can’t blame anyone but myself.  I am the one who had the brilliant idea to order the package.  I urged my husband to get on board the P90X train last year after we had been training using the Body for Life plan.

My husband loves it.  I hate it.  (In a manner of speaking.)

Tony is killin' me.

It is HARD friends.  I use the bands because I still can not do all of those pull ups.  I feel sorry for my husband, he is wiped after his workout.  Least favorite?  Ab Ripper X.   It is evil and yet, it is probably responsible for my core strength thus translating into better long runs.

Okay, fine.  It is a good program.  I admit it.  I just don’t have to like it…

My new ASICS! Awesome.

The Frederick Marathon is six weeks away.

SIX WEEKS, people.

I’m determined to be ready for the torture challenge.

This specific marathon has an interesting course. The first part is through downtown Frederick, MD.  Lovely. I’ve loved downtown Frederick ever since I was a kid.

The course takes a nasty turn from mile 15-25 traveling Interstate 144 up the the Spring Ridge development and back.  ALL HILLS.  ALL hills.

The second half of the marathon route is, quite frankly, the entire reason I didn’t do the full last year.  I was freaked out by the hills.  THEN I went and signed up for the 2008 Washington D.C. Ragnar Relay with some buddies.  That sucker had hills 3 miles directly UP.  Non-stop.  In the rain.  At 1:30am.  Complete darkness.  Worst possible case scenario EVER.

Spring Ridge hills don’t intimidate me anymore.  Oh, they will be difficult and it might even be raining.  (But at least it won’t be in the middle of the night on a Boonsboro hill.)  My big strategy for this race has been to alternate my long runs – one week Spring Ridge and 144 hills with the next being the flat part of the course.  I think it will help me cope mentally. Cause, as any runner knows, the struggle is mostly mental.

So we did 18 miles yesterday.  It was good but I’ll be honest – I was so DONE at the end.  I’ve been cross training pretty heavily (with weights) lately in the hopes of finishing strong.  We will see, huh?

BTW – When it comes to running in general, most of my family actually think I am insane.  I’m sure they are right.