Week 1 of 20, on my way to Rock 'n' Roll

Summer of 2001, I was in the midst of my internship for the Fish and Wildlife Service in the middle of nowhere, North Carolina.  I started running.  I ran with bears, deer, rattlesnakes, and nutria (what exactly is that?).  I ran with the black flies, yellow flies, and mosquitoes in 100% humidity day after day.  Why?  After years of thinking running was a punishment, I found myself enjoying the challenge.  Enjoying chasing the wildlife around and being alone with my thoughts.  It felt great to be fit.  Oh, and Shannon had signed up for the Tucson Marathon.  So, I did too...

That first marathon was painful enough to keep me from training for another one for 2-1/2 years.  But the rewarding feeling of finishing that race (my first running race ever) convinced me to do it again in 2004.  And here I go again 9 years later.  I'm going to take a real shot at one of my athletic goals--qualifying for Boston.  I don't think I'd actually even run Boston (I mean is it really a reward that for finishing a great marathon you have to run another one?).  But I want to see if I can get do it.  It's important because I think it's important, and that's it.

So, to keep myself motivated and give myself something to look back at, I'm going to try to post weekly updates for the next 19 weeks leading up to the Arizona Rock 'n' Roll Marathon on January 19.  Following two weeks of warmup, I'll be following (roughly) Hal Higdon's marathon training plan, with a bunch of extra mileage and a bike and swim or two per week for cross-training.  I should be able to race at about 15 pounds under what I did in 2004.  I'm hoping that lower weight, along with a pretty solid five years of triathlon training and a good training plan will get me below 3:05 for the marathon.  That would be a whopping 22-minute PR.  Yikes...

So, my first week of build is in the books.  36 miles total, with a challenging 11.5-mile long run up Sabino Canyon and back down Phoneline Trail in the heat.  Mostly easy running, with one five-miler at moderate pace.  I have some nagging pain in my right Achilles that comes and goes.  Self-massage seems to be doing the trick, but I'll need to keep tabs on it closely.  One core/stretching session.  No swims, no bike rides.  Diet was only decent...need less sweets, and cutting out beer for a while :(  Nothing else too exciting to report.  A solid start.

Will be upping the mileage a bit this week, adding a tempo run or two, and including more core/stretching/strength work.  More to come!  If nothing else, I have enough shoes to get me through for a month or two I'd say...