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Fitness Fridays! (More here…)

I have three days until I run the 2009 Frederick Marathon.  Three days.

WOW.

Everyone keeps asking me if I am ready.  Um, honestly, I don’t know.  How do you ever really know? I can give you one promise, though- I will do my best.  I will enjoy the experience.  And most importantly… I will wear hot pink and try not to throw up on the side of the road.

One of the most amazing opportunities that has come out of training for this specific race is that I was asked to write an article for Frederick Magazine on my training journey. That was very cool.  I wanted it to be real, to be honest and most of all inspiring. (If you are interested, you can see the multimedia companion to the article online here.)

Of course, my first fitness goal for the year is to get through the race.  (I’ll post a race report here afterwards so be sure to check back.) After the marathon, I would like to focus on loosing some weight and getting back on the Body for Life plan.

No rest for the weary…. One fitness journey is about to end and another is about to begin.  Join me?

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.