Marathon Training

sounds awful by yourself… 

… but can be fun with the right friends.

After finishing the St. Louis 26.2 back in April, I felt as though I could cross something off a "bucket list" and never go there again.  But then I mentioned (half-joking, half-serious) doing another FULL to Laura, she scoffed, "I've done 3… I'm good." 

I said something about her being able to show off "some more bling" and "getting her swagger on" and a few other silly sayings and I could tell that she was thinking… 

A week or so passed and Laura casually says, "Okay… so I'm considering it."

Meanwhile, our friend, Abby had secretly been planning on doing a full after running consistently over the past year…  

Love this picture with the sunrise and the road sign.

A few weeks passed and during one of our EARLY Sunday runs, Laura says, "So I signed up for Dallas… When are you signing up?" 

"What!?!  NO WAY!" I gasped in shock & disbelief.  Sure, I was razzing her about signing up, but I really thought we'd only do the 1/2, if anything. 

Suddenly Abby chimed in and said that SHE had already signed up for her first full with the early-birds in order to save money. 

Well then… that left me… and this was my bright idea.

So the three of us drafted plans…

Mine plan looked quite different, only running 1x a week since I was teaching so many cardio classes at the Townclub and Amarillo College.  (I say jumping around for an hour counts as a 6-miler, and pulling a double has to count for at least 10-miles.  Right?)  Might not be the best plan, but it's all I can manage with two small children and a still-supportive husband.  

But we all basically had the same long run distances slated for the weekends.  

Our matchy-matchy trail running shoes.  Not quite on purpose- the Academy store here in town doesn't have a ton of variety when it comes to trail running. 

 Doing a little off-roading on the Girl Scout Ranch trails. 

New "trail running" shoes.  

 This book has also been a fun/inspiring read when I can't fall asleep at night. 

Running through Palo Duro State Park in October.

Ranger, the German Shepherd, as our fearless leader and protector.

I usually get dressed in this closet (as to not wake Ben at 5 am) and this tie-rack is sometimes the only thing that gets me going… That, and knowing that either Abby or Laura (or both) are waiting for me in the dark… and I don't want that on my conscience. 

 Taking more pictures of matchy-matchy shoes (again, not planned) and feeling a little silly(?) delirious (?) after a solid 3 hours of running...

Getting to see beautiful things as we are out & about on the streets of Amarillo.

Remembering the fact that we might be slow on some accounts… but we ARE out and moving without stopping (much)… and we are BAMRs. There's something so gratifying in accomplishing a goal you never EVER thought was in your grasp.