What a beautiful morning for a ridiculously early run! And by ridiculously early I mean waking at 4:00 a.m.

Truly, I’m all kinds of certifiable.

So the gals met at my house this morning to tackle our first HILL RUN and our last SINGLE DIGIT long run. Let me say that again…. LAST. SINGLE. DIGIT. LONG. RUN.

This is where the marathon training gets oh-so-fun.

Sorry, a little off track there…. back to the hill run. We’re working in hill workouts every other week because if you check the race  elevation chart (badly in need of an update IMHO) you see we will clearly need the training.  Surprisingly, our first one went pretty smoothly. We were incredibly strong, actually. My muscles might disagree with me tomorrow but as of now, all is good. Eight miles of hills now complete.

Because the New York Marathon last year kicked my ever-lovin’ butt, for this one I’ve decided to add a little drama into the mix. And by drama I mean ridiculously hard cross training action.

I really want to finish strong on this one.

So, the husband and have started the INSANITY WORKOUT.

I quickly discovered that there was a reason they named it “Insanity.”

OOPH!

And that is all that I have to say about that.

Yes, it really is that brutal. (Great review here if you are interested.)

So…. anyone else out there running? Are you training for a race or embarking on your own fitness journey? Love to hear about it!

Training for the Baltimore Marathon Officially Begins!

Okay, friends, there is no turning back. This weekend marks the formal and official no-turning-back-now start of  training for the Baltimore Marathon. I’m really excited about this race because it is my pal Lori’s first marathon (whee!) and the first time I’ve ever run the full course in Baltimore. I’ve run the 1/2 four separate times so this is an exciting step for me. (Of course, Katie will also be joining us as well. She is a warrior, that one.)

Below is the plan that will be guiding our training team for the next four months. You can keep track of the actual mileage via my Daily Mile account. (Also located on the right sidebar of this blog)

Date / Mileage

July 2 / 9
July 9 / 10
July 16 / 7
July 23 / 12
July 30 / 13
August 6 / 10
August 13 / 15
August 20 / 16
August 27 / 12
September 3 / 18
September 10 / 14
September 17 / 20
September 24 / 12
October 1 / 20
October 8 / 4
October 15 / Race

(BTW – This training schedule is courtesy of Hal Higdon. And ever-so-slightly modified by me. Natch.)

Interested in running but don’t know where to start? CHECK OUT MY VIDEO on the subject.

On another note…

DC METRO FOLKS, DO NOT MISS THIS. Gotta give props to my friend Sunday of Extreme Parenthood who found this fabulous gem of a race -the Run For Your Lives Zombie Obstacle Course 5K.

Brilliant.

Will I be there? Are you kidding? I MUST be there. Running with zombies? Hellz yeah! (Even though technically is is the weekend AFTER Baltimore. So, the zombies might have the advantage on me that day.)

If you are in the area, you should really hope over to the website and check it out.

Yay Dodge for combining two of my most favorite things: marathoning and flash mob dancing.

Coolest flash mob I’ve seen in ages. (Who dances like that anyway?)

Here’s hoping they all show up at the Baltimore Marathon in October. I could use the inspiration. By the way, still working my way through the #marathonweek mileage. I’ve got about 13 miles left to go…

I don’t know about you but I have the most ridiculous conversation with myself in the early morning.

I need to get up and workout.

But I am so TIRED.

Maybe I can sleep just a little longer? Or workout when I get home? Or maybe I will walk with a friend. Or maybe I don’t NEED to work out today. I’ll just workout tomorrow. After all, I am really, really TIRED. No. No. I’ll get up and workout… in five minutes.

And on and on and on…. by the time I go through my litany of excuses I have wasted a good 20 minutes and not done a damn thing.

I’m sure you have no idea what I am talking about. Right?

THIS morning I only haggled with myself for five minutes because I remembered this Nike ad that I found on Kelly Olexa’s site the other day.

Can’t argue with THAT, can you?

So I got up and hit the treadmill and, of course, I’m glad that I did. Suddenly the warm bed seems less inviting than the smaller pant size. Heh.

My running partners (Lori & Katie) and I are getting ready to embark on our Fall marathon training program. In case I haven’t mentioned it yet, we’ll be running the Baltimore Marathon on October 15th. It will be Lori’s first (holla!) marathon, my fourth and Katie’s fifth (over achiever!). I’m resolved to be a heck of a lot stronger this year. My goal? To finish with a humongous smile on my face.

And because I love a challenge I am going to attempt to do something ridiculous in the next week: to complete 26.2 miles over the course of 7 days. I blame Running On Awesome for the idea. (I don’t even know him and I am blaming him. Ha!) Quite frankly, it is a crazy idea that IN NO WAY FITS INTO MY SCHEDULE but we will see how it goes. It just seems fitting to kick off marathon training with marathon week.

Yes, I am a little loopy… but I have some spanking new Saucony’s that need to be broken in.

(BTW – If you want to track my progress, it can be found here.)

PROJECT: The Frederick 1/2 Marathon

STATUS: Conquered

ANALYSIS: Stunningly beautiful day. It was everything a race day should be – exciting, uplifting, challenging and inspiring all at once. Plus, it was Lori’s first race and well, that made all of the difference!

As with any race, it started to wear on me about two miles prior to the finish line. But since my official job for this race was cheerleader, coach and chatterbox, I pretended I was unaffected. Shhh… that is our little secret.

At this point I can officially calm down about training and focus on maintaining the mileage. Our next race is on October 15th – the Baltimore Marathon. A mere 159 days away. Makes me tired just thinking about it.

I think I need to nap first.