4 WEEKS to GO!

I am 4 weeks out to Marine Corps Marathon, so the training has been occupying all of my workout time!  My last marathon was in 2011!  Wow, I can hardly believe it has been 4 years off of the long distance running!  A marathon is so much different than the halves that I've been doing over these years!  I, was really worried that I wasn't going to ever get "into" the marathon training again onc

e I started a few months ago.  I honestly felt "different" and much older, and my body just (bigger) and more tired/ harder to recover.. and wow.. going out for 16 miles, 17, 18 miles, whoa.... just seemed kinda insane!!!

Well, a week ago I had a 23 mile run which went fairly well!  I've done a 20, 21 and 23 miler and this weekend I will do a negative split/fast 10 mile finish 20 miler.  

I am honestly LOVING IT.  I know, or suspect at least, that I won't be as fast as I was 4 years ago... but I really am loving the training (at this very moment in time haha!)  I finally feel FIT again.  I had a tempo run this week which began at 7:30 pace and dropped to 6:50 pace and was HARD YES.. but i did it and felt UP TO IT!  There is such a difference between the HARD WORKOUTS when you are UNFIT  than the HARD WORKOUTS WHEN YOU ARE FIT!  Ohhh, this feeling of being able to run strong is going to be one of those highlights that get me to continue pushing and go out on a dreary tired day!!  I'm so thankful for getting through frankly some of the sucky feelings of early in my marathon plan.  It is just the honest truth: running is HARD.  It wouldn't be what it is if there wasn't an enormous effort that needed to go into it.  But the greatest joy of it is feeling proud of what you have done through hard work and determination.  You have built this body, this heart and these muscles, which are now working WITH AND FOR ME!  SO ADDICTING!