Half Marathon Training

This blog started two years ago with a marathon training focus. I started training in January for a May marathon. Admittedly, five months of training was less than ideal. I am running two half marathons (and no I don't consider that the same as running a full marathon [even if the two half marathons sum to 26.2 miles]). So, did i learn my lesson? Did I start training sooner?

I will let you decide. The blog I am writing is my first one devoted to training. The first half marathon is a week away. Training is a tricky thing. I treat marathon training like a lovelorn mistress. Even worse, I want to break it off each distance run, anything longer than 7 miles. I would feed it the most cliche lines: "It's not you, it's me", "I am like super busy these days", "We are not a good fit, you know, we just want different things." Still, I bite my tongue, lace up my Merrell's, and put some miles under my feet.

I have trained. Really, I have. It is not the training that will score a medal. Nor is it training that would leave me cruising across the finish line. Like Gloria Gaynor, I will survive. My Jell-o legs will carry my across the finish line, and while my face will be flushed, come Monday I should be, for all intents and purposes, mobile.

And that's all that matters, right? I will run 13.1 miles, wear my medal proudly, and eat no less than three bananas. I might even get to enjoy the festivities, unlike two years ago. After the marathon, the blood was completely drained from my brain, and I couldn't piece together a sentence, forget about enjoying the after party.

I can always justify not training as vigorously by telling myself the first half marathon is training for the second. It is about as realistic a training opportunity as I will get.