Marathon training; update

In my second post ever on this blog I stated my intention to run in the first marathon of my life this year, the Twin Cities Marathon in October. At the time I wrote that post in November 2004, I was up to an 8 mile run on the weekends. Then, because of two trials, the holidays, a mild foot injury, and general laziness, I hardly ran at all in December, January or February.

Starting March 1, I began my training again in earnest and I currently have renewed motivation. I have run 36 miles since March 1, and I am going to extend my weekend run by one mile every week for the next 6 weeks as I prepare to run in a half-marathon on May 1. If I am able to complete a half-marathon by then (even if not in a time that I will brag about), the last 22 weeks of full-marathon training should be more bearable for me than many other novices. Also, since I have never run in any organized race, the experience can only be helpful.

Anyway, the reason for this post is mostly to put myself on the record again -- this time to a larger audience -- regarding my intention. I'm sure I will feel the urge many times in the next several months to throw in the towel (my training schedule calls for approximately 750 more miles between now and October 1), and I figure that I may benefit from the added motivation of not wanting to embarrass myself by reneging on my announced goal.