I'll eat my words ...

But it's over, and I'm never, EVER running another marathon again. EVER. -- Maureen Kenyon on Oct. 27, 2008, while sitting in a hotel room in Crystal City, Va., after waking up to a right calf that was so swollen and black and blue that she couldn't walk.

That was the day after I had run the 33rd annual Marine Corps Marathon in a not-so-stellar performance of 6:26:06.

I was hurting.

A lot.

But this season -- marathon season, that is -- I was coaxed into running another marathon.

Now before you start yelling at me through your computer screen, hear me out.

+ I've dropped 25 pounds since my last marathon, and I plan on dropping at least 10 to 20 more before this one.

+ Said marathon isn't until Feb. 28, 2010, so long training runs won't be until November, December and January.

+ It will be the 10th and final running of Tampa's Gasparilla Marathon, so I kind of, sort of HAVE to run it.

Right?

Oh c'mon. You know you want to see me suffer for the THIRD time.

Formal training begins July 18, even though I never stopped running. I'm starting off with very low mileage, and I'm taking about two more months to train since I'm also training a group of "newbie" runners with my co-leaders, Sherry and Sheryl.

So after having sworn off running a full marathon EVER again, here I am running a full marathon. Again.

And I'm totally excited.

Please check back here for updates, photos and words of wisdom.

Another long run in the bank

Well, my ankle hung in there and I completed 22 miles today. Yay!

I felt pretty good up until Mile 18 when I slowed down a lot. I pushed through, though, and actually got really emotional at Mile 20. Like, I started crying. I calmed down a bit with a little walk, composed myself and trudged on. Yes. I actually trudged. :)

I was up at 2 a.m., on the road at 2:30 to stash water and Accelerade and running at 3:42. We spent too much time at our water stops, which added almost 30 minutes to our total run so I think I have a chance at "beating the bridge." I'd better! They're going to have to DRAG me off that course!!

Grammy and Grandpa were here this weekend and took me for pasta Friday night and today we had a very nice brunch. They look great. Seeing them, especially Grandpa, re-affirmed my quest to kick the Marine Corps Marathon's butt!! <3

A much-needed update

I haven't been updating.

BAD! BAD!

I'm up to 20 miles. I have a 22-mile run Sept. 20 and then a 24-mile run Oct. 4 and then ... THAT'S IT.

It's almost here and I can't believe it.

A week and a half ago I sprained my left ankle, badly enough that I had to take a week off. I iced and elevated, and it seemed to feel better by the following Saturday. I ran 4 miles Saturday and it didn't hurt, per se, but it was there. Ya know?

I ran 4 this morning and I'll run 4 or 5 tomorrow and 10 on Saturday, so I think all's well. I still don't think I've been putting in enough miles. We'll see on Oct. 26, won't we?

I'm very excited to see Megan and to RUN with Megan. I think we're going to run a short, little 2 miler the day before the marathon. I hope she picks Rock Creek Park or the National Mall to do it in! Megan, on the other hand, has been a training fool and is easily going to run a 4:45 or better. Me? I'm hoping to make 6 hours. (Or better.)

To those of you who still visit here, I'm sorry I haven't been updating. Work's been NUTS and well, I'm pretty much doing the same thing I did for the NYC Marathon so updates would be rather redundant. But thanks for checking in.

Another week down!

Guess I should update this thing, huh? (I'm sure no one's reading it anyway.)

Timmy and I ran 18 miles Saturday, our longest run this season. It went well! Besides being really tired and hot, my body got out of it relatively unscathed. My feet and legs swelled up a bit Sunday, but other than that, my body felt good, if not a little sore.

I do need new shoes, though. I have close to 300 miles on mine now and since I'm a big runner, I should think about getting new ones. But Brooks Day -- my brand of shoes -- at Fleet Feet isn't until the end of the month and I need shoes now. (We do only get 10 percent off, which is better than nothing, but not that much ...) Plus, the MCM isn't until late October so I might need another pair by then. What to do, what to do ...

This weekend we only have 10. Yippee! We'll take out the Gallowayers for 4 and then run 6 more. It'll be a nice, easy run. I'll be sure to get in runs tomorrow and Wednesday and do some sort of cross training Thursday or Friday. Walking has become my friend.

Galloway Kick-off

There was a good turnout for the Galloway kick-off on Saturday. Timmy, Jackie and I ran our mileage before the meeting and then took out the newbies for their first taste of how Galloway works. It's always great to see their reaction to: "You just ran 2 miles!" when they've never run even a mile in their life. It's very rewarding, and it's awesome to be able to share with others what got me through my first marathon.

I'm going to be a co-leader with Timmy and Sherry. There'll be some finagling for the next few weeks until everyone has their own pace group. And, of course, when Timmy and I have high mileage long runs (18, 20, 22 and 24 remain) we will not be leading a group. That's why Janet decided to use co-leaders. Not everyone will be able to be there EVERY Saturday. (Well, I always am, but others might not be.) It should work out fine and will not interfere with our training.

Runs are getting easier and easier, which is good. Getting out there to run just 8 or 10 miles doesn't affect me much anymore. Now I can concentrate on eating right and getting enough rest for our remaining longer runs.

It's getting closer ...

We're down to double-digit days, ladies and gentlemen. Yep. There's just 99 more days until the MCM. I'm excited!

Tomorrow is the Galloway kick off so we're only running 6 miles. What??!! I don't know if I can handle that for my LONG run. Anyway, tomorrow is all about the new runners who want to train for a half or full. It'll be great to see their bright, shining faces and then watch them scowl and cry during Week 14. AHAHAHAHA! Just kidding!

Seriously, it's awesome to watch someone cross the finish line who's never done it before. I can't wait to experience that with our new runners.

Cool weather!

When wonderful opportunities present themselves, you jump on them.

Last night's was the amazing running weather that graced South Florida. It rained all day and I thought for sure it would cause sweltering humidity. Nope. There were cool breezes -- yes, COOL! -- and overcast skies. It was amazing! Now hopefully the timing of this weather will present itself on long runs. That would rule.

MCM Goodie #1

I enjoyed posting Marathon Goodies last time so I'm going to start that up again. K?

The New York City Marathon site kicks butt. The Marine Corps Marathon site ... not so much. It's a little difficult to navigate, but it's getting there. It's being updated almost weekly now, and once we get closer to race day, I'm sure it'll be jammed packed with all sorts of cool stuff. But click on the link anyway to read about the MCM's 33-year history.

Long-run Saturday

So I haven't really be updating this blog as often as I did last time around. And I should remedy that, shouldn't it? This marathon is just as important -- or more -- to me so I need to keep this thing fresh.

First off, I wanted to direct your eyes to my Links section. I just added two more blogs to it that I think you should read. Well, only if you want to. My friends, Brian and Stephanie, both are blogging now. They moved to South Dakota last year and also are newlyweds. Stephanie's from South Dakota and Brian's from Florida but they both live in the Black Hills state now. They're cool. Read 'em!

Now back to me.

Timmy and I ran 16 miles this Saturday. Again, I felt great, if not tired and hot. The sun was cooperative for most of the run, even during our dreaded 2 miles down Pine Lake where there virtually is no shade. Timmy struggled, but just bit. He thinks he didn't eat enough to fuel his run the day before. He graciously thanked me for "getting him through the run," but as far as I'm concerned, I owe him a few weeks of that. He's gotten me through most of our long runs so far this training period. Team work!

So yeah ... no pain to complain about this time around. Sorry! ;) I felt good yesterday. I was exhausted, though. I didn't get to nap Saturday because we had a big thunderstorm and my dog was going crazy. Up, down, up, down on the bed, panting, whining, etc. So I just lounged on the couch watching "Real World" re-runs. Ha. Mindless TV helps in recovering, I've found.

Now we have two weeks of "down weeks" until long runs. That holds true until race day on Oct. 26, which is 15 weeks away from yesterday. It's going fast, ya'll!

Long-run Saturday

Saturday's conditions were almost ideal for a run in South Florida. Well, it was a big too hot and a bit too humid but there was a nice breeze. Does that count?

All these things together made for an awesome 10 miler. I had no hammie pain and no stomach churnings. Yay! Maybe I've nipped that stomach thing in the bud. Hopefully.

Our first 5 miles were pretty uneventful. As a matter of fact, so were the last five. At Mile 8 we met Sharon, a woman who was on Mile 10 of 12 and who recently started running again after a stress fracture in her PELVIS?? How does that happen? Anyway, she was doing Galloway 4:1s but dropped to 3:1s with us for the home stretch. She caught herself several times going faster than 12-minute miles -- which her doctor told her not to do -- so she ran in with us at 12:30. We all finished strong and felt really good, if not hot and tired.

Hopefully, Bertha will stay away from Florida because if she decides to stay on a westerly path, Maureen and Timmy might be running 16 miles in ferocious head winds. ;)

TOTAL MILES THIS WEEK: 17