Nov 29 update:

New week, new goals.

11/28 I ran 7 last night on the trail as a recovery run. Legs were tight. L knee and R foot especially.
Loosened up after a while. Last mile was sub 7.
Miles for week: 7 - miles left to run 48-50

11/29 - Did 8 this afternoon, part of marathon course and then a loop to LAB and home. Easy pace (>8's). Legs felt good after a mile or two.
Miles for week: 15 Miles left - 40 - 42

Tomorrow evening may be mile repeats...5-7 total miles

Wed - 10 or so easy
Thurs - 7
Fri - off
Sat - 18 with 8-10 at MGP

11/27 update

19 this morning in 2:31- just sub - 8 pace. Last 16 of the marathon course and then 3 back to the truck. Temps were in the mid-30s, and it was great to get out at dawn and run the streets alone. The marathon course seems to be quite honest this year. Rollers up to mopac, then a long grind up to the high point of the course at Woodrow. For some reason, the last 6 miles don't really feel downhill (arroyo seco - northloop - guadalupe - duval)...

I started at the rock, which may have had something to do with the immediate strain i felt as I ran north, mostly uphill. Knowing that this was an 'endurance' week helped me keep the pace reasonable and I didn't feel the inevitable drain in the legs until foster/northcross mall. It was a beautiful morning. The last 6 were tough, but that's normal and I've felt it before and I wanted to feel that dead man walking feeling so I could be used to it for the race. I sneaked water at a daycare place on the corner of bull creek and Allandale, and again at the crestview baptist church. Highlight of the run was the finish, when I ran through the staging of the Chuy's Christmas parade and then down the middle of Congress with all the families gathered waiting for the parade. A red faced, snot nosed, tight wearing runner gasping for air is probably not what they expected.

total miles for this week - 51.5 - I didn't run yesterday but am still within my weekly goal.

Next week will see a few more miles, an 18 mile long run with 10 at mgp, and some hilly mile repeats. Bring it!

11/25 update

Thankful that I am still healthy, can run, and have a good life.
Wishing you the same.
I ran 10 yesterday plus weights.
Off to Kerrville for thanksgiving. Day off today.
Weekly miles 32.5

11/23

Ran secret hill instead of wilkes today because of ankle. The initial 350 meters is more steady incline than wilke so a little less stress on ankle. I ran them in around 2:20-2:30 range. This was a painful stress test. I have to remember what it means to hurt, and running hills is a good way to do that.
miles today 2 mi wu, hills X 5 (3 miles), 2 mi cd = 7 miles.
for week: 22.5.

11/22 update

OK, I've been mulling over different plans for training and am using my own adapted plan from McMillan/Daniels. However, I may add some Pfitzinger once I get his Advanced Marathoning book later this week. I am attaching my schedule for your review and comments.
This week has two key workouts, with my first Wilke workout in a while (tomorrow), and a long run that follows the last 16 of the marathon course more or less.

My legs feel sore but OK, given the recent stress from mileage. I will try to hit the gym 3X a week for core/weights (anyone have a good excel or word doc core/abs/weights routine they can share?)
and get a massage once every 2 weeks.

The main goal is not to panic. I am running a little on the panic side here.

Started the week yesterday with an easy 7 miler on the trail (8's).
Today, I ran 8.5 easy, trail to mopac, up winsted, over on enfield to LAB, and back home.
Body sore from core/weights this morning, but loosened up by mile 2.
total for week 15.5

11/20 update

11/20 Sat 15 miles. 49.5 miles for the week.

Well, had a barnstormer of a run today, left a lot out on the roads. Felt good to hurt a little more than usual, and it's time to start getting used to that feeling. We went for part of the marathon course and took a detour. here is the map
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=4166258
did a little tempo work in the middle (only about 10 minutes)...but it felt good.

I cracked at about 12 miles in. And I mean cracked. stumbled back.

11/19 Fri - took it easy and ran 7.5 today. Beautiful out. Body felt ok, left calf a little sore as well as left hamstring.

11/18 Thur only managed 4 today. couldn't get into a rhythm and so cut the run short. tired after heavy miles early in the week. need to be careful about ramping up to quickly.

Nov 17

from an email received yesterday evening...

Hey Guys,

Ok... after too much stressing about this, here's your assignments.

Women's Olympic Qualifying 2:46 - Paul Terranova and 1 or 2 Rogue Elite Team athletes (to be determined).

3:00 - Scott McIntyre and Roger Isern

3:10 - Greg thomas and Steve Fletcher

Any problems along the way to the marathon, please let me know. I do have a few more ideas for pacers if for some reason you can't do it.

Yikes.

So, today I mulled over options about the preparation for the marathon. Should I pay an online coach? Greg McMillan, Derek Williamson? Should I train with Carmen with the rogue competitive team since she is a master's runner, and has a small stable of runners? Should I talk to Mac and work with him, since his group seems competitive and he is a masters marathoner who does well? Gilbert? In the end, I realized that a. I am a cheapskate and don't want to shell out 75-150 bucks a month for a coach, and b. I can probably get along self training and using Daniels or another source to help with workouts. Plus I have you-know-it-all's to provide plenty of advice as I stumble along.

In order to run a 3:10 on Feb 16th, I will try to follow the following rough guidelines for the next 12 weeks as I get ready for it.
a. Peak Mileage will be between 60-70 miles. I will hit this 2 weeks out, 5 weeks out, and 8 weeks out. In general, I will run 80%, 90%, 100% then 70% weekly mileage as a build up to longest runs.
b. long runs will be ramped up from current 12 miles by 2 miles per week peaking at 22.
c. I will hit 3X20 milers
d. I will do 2 quality workouts a week, and will focus on tempo and strength.
e. I will taper for 2 weeks, reducing mileage but not intensity.
f. I will run 3M sub 1:30 as an indicator.
g. Every other long run will include tempo, marathon pace, or other up tempo speed for part of the run.
h. I will try to post my weekly plan on Sunday for following week.

Anyway,
I ran 7 miles tonight, and focused on keeping my feet light ( I pictured running on raw eggs without breaking them), my power coming from the glutes not hamstrings, and my turnover quick. I felt good when all of this came together, but it did require a lot of concentration. Trying not to alter the form too much, but also want to run on forefoot more.

Total for week is 23 I think. Will try to run 7 tomorrow, 6 on Friday, then 14 Sat. for a weekly total of 50.

Nov 16

Oh shit. I appear to be in line to pace the marathon in February. Not sure yet what pace group, if any.
I have been running off and on since the 30days thing. But if I am going to get ready for this then
I best keep track of what I am doing.
So, Sunday I ran 7.
Mon 0ff
Tonight I ran 9 -
total for week 16

i'm imagining that I'll need to build up to 55-65 miles for marathon. 12 weeks.

Nov 8th - Day 30

Day 30!

I laughed while running this final day, because it epitomized the struggles I've had getting motivated to run again.
I spent the latter part of this afternoon at Doc's with a colleague, drinking too much and complaining about work, then at home I cooked rare steak, ate waay to much and realized I still had to run. Crap.

1 mile to finish up my 30 days. Still buzzed, figuratively and literally. It's done. I have pushed through some tough moments, enjoyed fleeting spots of tranquility, and watched my fitness come back slowly. Along the way, I've endured friendly jibes, enjoyed friends cheering me on and come to realize that I am much happier when I can own BOTH positive and negative parts of my psyche.

Not sure where the future is pointing in terms of my running, but I want to thank all who have followed and sent encouraging notes, thoughts, and/or called me out for the self absorbed noob I am. I appreciate you. Who knows, I may continue to update this once a week... check back.

These pictures represent all the different parts of who I am, the 8 year old who wants to be a good kid, the possessed runner, and the worn out princess with an attitude.

Nov 7= Day 29

Ran one mile tonight. Tomorrow marks the 30th run, in 30 days. Woohoo!

NOV 5-6 - DAY 27/28

Friday the 27th -
Ran 7 miles on the trail, 7:50 pace or so.

Sat 28th
Ran 12 miles (bonnell to 35th, shoal creek trail) with Jorge, averaged around 745's.
Getting close to my 30 days, now I need to decide if I should keep this going or not.

Total for week: 39

recap of Nov 1- Nov 4 - Days 23-26

Since inconsistency has been my biggest issue, it seems fitting that the blog entries have died off. I think they say that it takes three weeks for a habit to form...well, I am obviously a slow learner. I have been running this week, albeit reluctantly. The fires have been burning low, in part due to some lingering work / professional stresses that seem to plague me daily. So when I struggle with one part of life, it seems that the other parts suffer as well...I'm also acutely conscious of how self-absorbing writing a blog is and am feeling a bit self-conscious about attracting attention to myself and my pathetic little stories about the glory days etc. However, I purposefully started this as an experiment in accountability, and it works because I pulled my ass off the couch a few times this week late at night in order to run a mile so I wouldn't have to shame myself to you all who read this.
Let's see. a brief recap.
Monday Nov 1 - Day 23
Miles 5 - I ran in the evening on Monday after teaching a science class and participating in a 3 hour workshop on curriculum. It was slow.
Tuesday Nov 2 - Day 24
Miles 1 - I sat on the couch from 6-10pm, drank 3 glasses of wine and considered lying to the blog about running. As I was heading into the bedroom, some inner force galvanically forced me into running shoes and shorts, put the dog on his leash and I staggered around the neighborhood, half drunk, dragging a very reluctant beagle for a mile long shamble. It wasn't pretty, but I did go to bed a little later without that guilt and shame on my head.
Wed Nov 3 - Day 25
Miles 4 - Ran after work with Jorge, who had a spring in his step - bastard. Was feeling run down. Then went and saw Of Montreal. Bizarre evening.
Thurs Nov 4 - Day 26
Miles 5 - drove down to the trail at about 8:30 pm and ran 5 in the dark. It's a lonely place that time of night.
So, total for the week is 20 so far. I will prob. run 5 or so today, then 12-14 tomorrow.

I wanted to give a special mention to Erine today.
He plans to be on the starting line in NY for the marathon this weekend in an act that is both extremely ballsy and incredibly...umm, something, based on his training blocks and "build up" for this race. We're rooting for you Erine. Bring home the medal.