Here I am last year in Dallas clearly enjoying crossing the finish line. And it is also clear that I picked out my clothes in the dark while blindfolded.
Last year I just ran this race to see Dallas from a runner's-eye view and check out the course. I also ran it 15 pounds heavier, and struggled from mile 19 onward on what is a relatively flat course. This year, however, I'm racing it. The goal? To run a 4:05 marathon. My current PR is a 4:09:50, so I think shaving off 5 minutes is a decent goal. So, how am I going to get there? By:
- following the Run Less, Run Faster Marathon Training Plan. Running 3 days a week is my jam, ya'll.
- biking on the cross-training days. Since winter will be coming, I see a lot of indoor rides at the Y in my future.
- continue my weight lifting 3 days a week-upper body one day and total body on two days.
- try and lose about 5 more pounds by eating a ton of real food to get to my racing weight.
I am also determined to be consistent in my training. Sometimes I have a nasty habit of skipping those tedious tempo runs, only to start sobbing in the back 10K of a marathon wishing I had just sucked it up and done those damn runs. (It is a sad thing, methinks, that I am more motivated to run a 15+ mile run than I am a 6-mile tempo run. Very, very sad.) To help me be accountable to myself, I'm going to log my workouts every day. This might mean a full-on post about a workout, or it could mean a lazy "here's a quick pic from the workout and that's all you get folks" post.
Either way, it's a post a day until December 10th, people, so sit back and enjoy the ride and all of the ugly running pictures I'm going to post along the way.
