Saturday, November 18, 2006

 

So I'm Running A Marathon

Well I wanted to start this blog so I could share with everyone my experiences while training for my first marathon.

The way the training works is that every sunday morning I'll be meeting my group to do our long runs here in Santa Monica. Outside of that we are supposed to do two shorter runs midweek. We are given a run schedule and have the option to do the runs on our own or to meet with members of our group that meet at various times and places throughout the week.

Now I've only been training for two weeks so it's still early and our runs are averaging about 4-5 miles. My first sunday was a little rough as I was pretty out of shape and hadn't run for a few months and we went out for about a 4-5 mile run. I was so happy to be running with the group though as I met some great people who really helped encourage me to keep running and really helped me get through it.

We also had a shoe clinic on my first sunday where they had someone come in and discuss what kind of shoes we should be wearing as well as clothing, etc. The man who spoke to us was from a run store in Venice and he encouraged us to come to his store for shoe fittings and would then give us a discount on everything in the store. So I went to his store the following Tuesday as I was pretty sure that my shoes were horrible as my feet were covered in blisters and my knee was killing me after Sunday's run. The guy at the store was very helpful and really took a lot of time to analyze my feet and walking style to ensure I had the proper shoes. He had me try on a few different shoes and try each one out on the tread mill and after three shoes I finally settled on a pair. The surprising thing was that I actually wound up with a size 8 1/2 which is surprising considering I'm usually a size 6 or 6 1/2 and have never gone over a size 7. But the 8 1/2 actually felt good and so far I can notice a world of difference with these shoes. My knee has stopped hurting since wearing the shoes, and no more blisters! I also had to get a special sock that fits like a glove since I have trouble with my pinky toe slipping over and cutting the neighbor toe. They're kind of weird but it's helped so much. In addition to all of this I also purchased some better running gear and since using all this the runs feel so much better. It's really amazing how much shoes and clothing can really make a difference.

After all of that I did my mid week runs on my own on tuesday and thursday. Then on Sunday I had my second Sunday training and this time I was decked out in proper gear. We went on a long run which was so much better than the week prior. However, this time we ran to the Santa Monica Steps which are two sets of stairs running down a huge slop. Lots of people use them to train on and this week we were to walk down one set and "run" up the second. Well I got maybe half way up with running before I thought I was going to die. I walked up the remaining half with my mentor and by the time I got to the top my legs felt like rubber and I could barely breathe. But thanks to my mentor's support I managed to continue running as we head back down San Vicente to Ocean and back to where we started. It was a tough workout that kept my calves hurting for a few days after.

This last week we finally had the organized runs mid week with mentors so believe it or not I actually got up and met one group at 6 a.m. on Tuesday and did a great morning run with them. I did my second midweek run on Thursday evening and again had a great run.

So now we're up to date on my training so far. This Sunday will be my third Sunday run with the group and I hear we're going to bump up the distance this time so we'll see how I handle it.

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