It's a Long Road Back

Last fall registration was open for the 2013 Ogden Marathon. At the time it sounded like a great idea to sign up for it. After all, I worked so hard to stay in shape while I was pregnant. I felt like I was getting back to running quicker than ever after having a baby. And May seemed ages away, right? Plenty of time to get ready...

Fast forward to February. Wow, is it really only three months until the marathon? That great idea suddenly sounds a little ambitious. November was busy. December I spent half the month sick. And January was downright cold. Alright, to be fair I have made quite a bit of progress. I started training with my coach again and I feel really good. It's just when I compare where I am to where I was two years ago it's easy to get discouraged.

So remember that terrible winter racing circuit I've told you about before? Those ones with the huge hills I really hate. Well, what better way to test how I'm getting back in shape? Yikes! I forgot how hard these hills are to run fast and how cold it still is in February. I've made it through the 5k and 10k so far. I went in with pretty low expectations. After all, this was a first race back and I figured it would give me a starting point and then I could try to improve from there. The hills still feel as hard as ever but I was pleasantly surprised to beat my best 5k time on that course by 4 seconds. I was thrilled to be right up there with all the runners that I usually run with. I had to settle for 3rd thanks to some extremely fast girls that showed up. At the 10k they were there again and with more of their friends. I thought I'd try to keep them in my sight this time and maybe catch some on the hills the last couple miles (the course is mostly downhill the first half and uphill the second). It started out so fast that by two miles I was wishing I could quit, the leaders were fading away, and I was still going downhill! Somehow I managed to slowly start picking off runners up those terrible hills. Half way up the big hill my cheer squad showed up (Jason, Kaitlyn and Jared) just when I really needed them.  It's amazing how much energy their screaming and ringing cowbells gives me!  I finished 5th, hating the race as much as I ever have but I had beat my best time on that course by 43 seconds! (By the way I'm not giving actual finish times because these courses are so hard that the times for everyone are pathetically slow.)  Here I am just getting to the top of the hill.  Looks like fun huh?

Maybe I'm in better shape than I give myself credit.  But I've also only raced as far as a 10K.  26 miles is a long way to run and I have yet to see how I can handle longer distances.  So with a new beginning comes new goals. So here they are.  Obviously run the Ogden Marathon in May.  I view this like the Winter Racing Circuit.  I want to use it as a starting point and see where I am.  However, I'm not getting any younger and I want to break that three hour marathon so badly before I really start to slow down in the next few years.  (Yes, I was sad to realize that everyone beating me in these races is younger than me!  This goal isn't going to get any easier as time goes by!)  So I want to at least run under a 3:20 in Ogden to get my 20 minutes under Boston qualifying and register in the first wave.  I'll see how close to three hours I can get and then try again for that 2:59 in the fall.  I'm already realizing what this means.  No more sleeping in!  Lots of early mornings out in the cold running more miles than I want to count.  Eating right (this is the one that always gets me but I'm determined to do better this time.  Especially after I worked so hard to get rid of all the extra baby weight.)  Hard workouts every week where I push myself harder than I thought I could.  Hopefully this all pays off in the spring.  I'll keep you posted.