Wednesday, September 30, 2009

First Marathon!

I've got my first marathon coming up on Saturday, the Triple Lakes Trail Race in Greensboro! It will be a training run for me, and I'm feeling a combination of excitement and nervousness over the experience! Most of the time I feel like I'm going to nail the distance, but sometimes I think, "What if....?"

I'm trying not to get bogged down in the doubts, so I'm busy getting grocery shopping and errands done (after work) before Saturday, so I can take it easy for the rest of the weekend. I'll be getting to sleep early the next few nights, to boot. (I haven't done a good job of that so far this week! Yikes!)

I haven't written much about my marathon training here, since I have a running blog at Going the Extra Mile. My race report will show up there, probably some time next week.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Busy End to Summer

It's hard to believe it's the end of the last weekend of summer! Wow! Life has been busy, mostly with marathon training, smattered with a couple of recent road races. We also celebrated George's grandfather's 95th birthday in August, which included dinner at the Angus Barn (very nice!).

Running this summer, especially training for the marathon, has taught me a lot about myself. I recently completed a 20 miler, and while my body was wiped out, it was a nice feeling of accomplishment. I'm still pretty slow, so I've been working on speeding up, with some results. It's also been good mental training for "long haul" stuff, as it's been tempting sometimes to quit and make it s shorter run.

I've been trying to read more this summer, though I've discovered recently that I have to take a break from books about running! Thinking about running, training, sleep and nutrition, it's on my mind almost constantly, so I need my reading to be a diversion, something to give my brain a break! Once I have fall racing behind me, one of the books I hope to read is Born to Run.

Speaking of reading, just last week I rediscovered the website Bookcrossing.com, a way to recycle used books and follow a book's travels around the country or the globe. I have so many paperback books at home that I haven't read, so this should be motivation to read them and start "releasing" them! I've already ordered my first batch of bookplates and sticky notes from the BookCrossing store (though it's not necessary to do so), and am looking forward to getting going again with this little project. My BookCrossing profile is here.

Between marathon training, reading, and life in general, I haven't been watching much television this summer, and most of the time, I don't miss it! I'd be surprised if I've watched a total of two hours of TV all summer! Hard to believe. :) Of course, I've spent more time on the computer, some of it doing research on running, genealogy, and other things.

I'm looking forward to fall, for sure. Happy First Day of Fall on Tuesday!