Time To Update

It's now September, and summer is basically over. I wonder if there was really A SUMMER at all this year here in NW England. The hot weather didn't happen but for the very few days interspersed throughout about 3 weeks. That was it. Rain? Oh yes...lots of that!!

So getting to the point, training. NYC Marathon is now on the horizon and getting closer with each day. The stepping stones to that have been my day to day runs which now are increasing with mileage. I am using the plan I found that helped me last year. A modified version of the Hanson's Moderate and Consistent plan. It worked well for me in London this past April so I am hoping to see positive results on 2 November.

I participated in the Birchwood 10K, not my favorite distance, but I set a new PB (70:41) and that I am pleased about. However, towards the end my left quad muscle ached terribly and I needed to slow down which cost me valuable seconds. With stretching and treatment I am hoping to eliminate this from happening again.

Now I am looking on to the half marathon in Angelsey, Wales in a short 1.5 weeks. This will be a new experience running there. Looking forward to running in a new area. Of course my stomach gets a bit queasy when I think about it, but I just continue to put down the miles.

Then there is the Coniston Trail up at the Lakes. This will be my fourth time running it and I enjoy the change from road and the different locale. It's a challenging route but not as nutty as the Derwentwater or Garburn Trails.

Just a week after Coniston is the World Wide Festival of Races. I'll be doing a 20 mile training run that day of which I will count the first 13.1 miles as my World Wide Half Marathon. It will be a course of my choosing and one that I used last year.

Then on to the New York City Marathon. Now it is less than 2 months away. I figured that I have covered over 250 miles just in training for this race so far and might just complete another 250 by race day. There are some very high weekly totals looming.

How do I feel about this marathon? Hmmm.. I'm excited of course, I'm nervous, I'm wondering just how I will do, I wonder how the course will be, I wonder how the weather will turn out, I wonder if my family members who say they will be there show up, I wonder if any of my friends will be able to watch...guess I wonder about everything! The biggest concern is of course, will my training allow me to run the best time in a marathon?

This is when I have to trust my training, trust my experience, trust my routines....TRUST. Just pure and simple. I know I can run the distance, I know I can fuel myself correctly before, during and after the race, I know my body has the endurance for this. With this trust, I can push aside those concerns.

It's that one foot in front of the other mentality. Show up for each training run, each nutritional meal, each positive thought...and come race day it will all come together.I will TRUST this.