Today I signed up for the Lakefront Marathon. It is 20 weeks away and I am excited by the challenge of running a good time. Fresh off my 8:20 at Ice Age last Saturday, it is time to spend 8 weeks working off the rough edges, 9 weeks cracking it down, and a three week taper. Training ideas can be found everywhere, but rest be assured to run fast in the marathon you have to give up the ultra mind set...at least this is my experience.
Today was a 7 mile run on the flat paved Bugline trail by the residence. I averaged 9:36 and it felt so much faster. I saw the HS team go by and they looked so comfortable. Six to seven guys in the front pack and about 20 way back in the second pack. It made me think back to a different time when I ran in HS. There were few distance runners on the team and our workouts basically resembled the guys who ran the quarter/half except we ran an extra 2-3 miles. By my Junior year I discovered if I was to get any better one needed to train year around. That's when I became fond of the simple act of movement called running. I'm not a philosophical guy, but life seemed better served when I was doing it as opposed to not doing it.
