When I decided I wanted to run a marathon it was last October and I was only slightly enamored with the idea. Knowing that I might get serious about it, I continued to run through November and December but only put in 9-12 miles a week, maybe a little more on warmer days. By the end of December I had committed myself to the March 1st marathon and my running friend and I decided we would officialy start training January 3rd.

The only problem was that the training plan we picked out was a 16-week plan and we had nine weeks to prepare. Although you might not consider that as something that went right in the process, my point is that we found a training plan, adapted it to work for our schedules, and stuck to it. I wrote in my calendar the mileage that needed to be completed each day so that it was a constant reminder to me of what I needed to do. If I ran more or less on any given day, I would edit the mileage in my planner so I could adjust accordingly on the next run. The night before any run I would double check the weather as well as my route so that I would be prepared for what the next morning would entail. I don’t think there is any way I could have successfully completed a marathon if I just ran willy nilly leading up to the race. Continue reading →