On the health and fitness front, 2013 is shaping up to be a pretty big year as well. It's the year I'm finally going to complete a full marathon! This one, in fact:
The Vermont City Marathon was featured in the January 2013 Runner's World marathon guide as being a great fast, family friendly race. I had already registered for the marathon when the article came out, but I was excited to see that I made the right choice. Burlington, VT is about 50 minutes away, so it's an easy race for me to get to.
I'm already registered and the training plan is attached to my refrigerator. I'm already a few weeks in and I'm already experiencing all of the emotions that come along with training for something new and exciting and BIG! I'm fluctuating between complete fear and total confidence. I'm constantly questioning how I'm going to run for 26.2 miles while simultaneously envisioning myself crossing the finish line. But, most of all, I just keep reminding myself that each distance has seemed daunting when I first set out to conquer it. After all, I think I was most nervous about my first 5K.
Wow...look how far I've come.
The other day, one of my facebook friends posted the following inspirational picture and I immediately shared it with others. This is exactly how I am feeling right now. I know it's time for me to conquer the marathon, even if many of my waking moments are spent doubting my ability to actually do so.
That's the beauty of this sport. There are tangible results that go beyond body size or weight loss. There's the excitement of running a new distance for the first time. There's the feeling of fulfilment you get after completing an event that you were terrified of completing (Ragnar, anyone?). There's the constant knowledge that if you just keep running, you'll reach a distance that at one point seemed impossible.
So, this is it. The year that I conquer the marathon. I'm sure I'll be talking about it a lot in this space. I hope you don't get sick of me :)
I'm planning to run my first half marathon in October, so I will be eager to read your posts about marathon training. I think it's so important to push our boundaries and I can't wait for the feeling of accomplishment knowing a conquered a goal. Good luck with your training!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on deciding to take on a half marathon! I LOVE the half marathon distance. I have such fond memories of my first half marathon. It's an amazing feeling to put in so much effort training for something and then to cross that finish line at the end of it all. You're going to love it. I'm feeling the same nervous excitement for my marathon. So, please do read along as I take on this crazy challenge. While the distances might be different, the feelings that accompany half or full marathon training are the same. If you want to read about my first half marathon, you can go back to some of my original posts. I wasn't blogging when I completed the half marathon, but I have talked a lot about the process of training for and completing it in other posts. Good luck...and have fun!
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