#13

You would think that with 12 marathons under my belt, I’d be a pro at training and prepping for # 13. And in some ways I do feel really prepared going into this race - I’ve learned (after much trial and error) that in order to run all the miles, I must strength train and make my muscles stronger and eat robust meals and hydrate like crazy  throughout the entire week - not just the night before a big run. 

I  have also gotten pretty good at setting my own training schedule these days. I take the basic skeleton of a plan that’s online and morph it into what I need for my fitness level and schedule. If I’ve regularly been doing 13 for my long runs outside of a marathon, I’m not going to start at 5 miles for a training run. I need to start where I’m at so I can continue to help my fitness grow for the race. 

Many people need races for motivation to run. For me, they're more of a celebration of all the hard work I've put into training and planning. It's a few brief hours of a morning where the energy and mindset is focused on running and the people completing the course. Pure, intense excitement that you don't find much of anymore.

Tomorrow is my third training run of this cycle - 10 miles. The remaining runs are as follows:

16

18

13

19

13

16

20

16

22

12

8

RACE - Sept 3

Lots of high mileage, but plenty of "rest days" as well. To me, this whole thing is one big experiment that I know I'll never quite get the hang of, but man, it's sure fun to try. :)

Also - I've put it out in the universe now - when I run my 26th marathon, I'm going to get something like this tattoo:

Only not on the foot!

XOXOX

KS