Here's a link to my marathon photos (Click HERE). Don't judge, it was a rough day. I had also preplanned not to smile because I wanted to look tough and intimidating. It had the opposite efffect. I ended up looking like I was suffering the whole way. Well, I guess I kind of was. There are a couple of me smiling which look pretty decent so next time I'll try to smile more.
So I've pretty much been convinced by friends, family and bystanders to do the Boston Marathon next year. From what I understand it's a fairly prestigious event and "people train their whole lives to make it to Boston". Yeah, crazy people maybe.
Out of curiosity, I would like to find out what would happen if I added some speed work to my training and actually trained like a serious runner instead of the half-hearted runs I've been doing. That's not to say I've been slacking off, it's just that simply doing the mileage is hard enough as it is, let alone pushing the intensity while doing it.
I've decided to try out some training techniques that "real runners" use and see how I do in a half marathon at the end of April.
Today was my first day back to running. I only took 9 days off running since that will leave me 12 weeks to train for the half marathon. I did our lovely signature run up the mountain behind our station. It's only 3 miles round trip but it kicked my butt.
Trying to get myself out the door to even do the run was tough. It occured to me that I just don't really enjoy running. I love the benefits of running. I love how it clears my head and keeps me in shape. And obviously, accomplishing things like qualifying for Boston is pretty cool. But the actual run. Nope, don't really enjoy it so much. I guess sometimes I do, but not when it's cold outside.
It wasn't even that cold, relatively. It was 44 degrees but cloudy and windy. I wasn't thrilled. But I laced up the ol' trail sneakers and took off up the hill.
I should mention I've been absolutely exhausted lately. Since the marathon I've been really fond of daily naps. Sometimes even twice daily. I got home from San Diego on Wednesday night and Thursday morning I drove out to San Francisco (a 5 hour drive) to recertify my Wilderness EMT. I had class Friday, Saturday and Sunday and then drove back home Sunday afternoon. I got home at 6:30pm, ate and went to bed. Yesterday morning it was back to the drawing board: up at 4:30am, off to the gym, then to work.
Yesterday I had a work physical and it appears I've got some white blood cells in my urine. The doctor says it's probably a bladder infection (which I don't really have any symptoms of) but I'm also wondering if it had anything to do with just having done a marathon. They're sending it in for a culture. It could explain why I've been so tired lately. I thought it was just from my run. I guess we'll find out.
So my run today was slow, and pretty tough but that's ok. I don't want to push too hard too soon or there could be consequences. I just wish the motivation to get out the door would get easier.
