I registered!

EEEEKKK! I just signed up and paid the entry fee for the marathon so it's official. I have to do it now, can't lose 40 bucks:) Here's the official website for the race...

Sunday, Feb 27

Today I was able to walk outside. Paul was home and the weather was decent so I headed out for my longest walk yet...4 miles. I did it in just under one hour. I love walking outside though I get a little uneasy when I am in areas without many people around. It was great. I hope to walk outside again tomorrow.

Today I did 3 miles on the treadmill inside at the Y again. It was tougher today than yesterday so I slowed the machine down to 4.0 speed. Will take tomorrow off and do a short walk tomorrow before trying for 4 on Monday.

Thursday, Feb 24th

I did 3 miles on the treadmill at the downtown Y today at a speed of 4.2. It was the first time I had gone there since we joined up last week. There are two branches in town and I usually use the smaller one. I did it in about 43 minutes and hurried out to shower to go to Mallory's school where I volunteer on Thursday mornings. I'm going to try to do another 3 tomorrow and Saturday, take Sunday off and go 4 on Monday. We'll see. The weather is bad, rainy and cold so I can't go outside this week. Maybe it will be nicer next week.

Training Schedule I Plan to Use

I found this schedule online and plan to follow it with a few tweaks. I will do my long walks on Mondays instead of Sundays and adapt the rest of this when I catch up.

Walking Connection®

Training To Walk A Marathon

Walking Marathon Training Schedules for
Beginner Walking -- 4 MONTH PROGRAM

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Week	Rest	Easy	Medium	Easy	Rest	Medium	Long
1	0	3 miles	3 miles	3 miles	0	3 miles	6 miles
2	0	3 miles	3 miles	3 miles	0	4 miles	7 miles
3	0	3 miles	4 miles	3 miles	0	4 miles	5miles
4	0	3 miles	4 miles	3 miles	0	4 miles	9 miles
5	0	3 miles	5 miles	3 miles	0	4 miles	10miles
6	0	3 miles	5 miles	3 miles	0	4 miles	7 miles
7	0	3 miles	6 miles	3 miles	0	4 miles	12 miles
8	0	3 miles	6 miles	4 miles	0	4 miles	13 miles
9	0	4 miles	7 miles	4 miles	0	4 miles	10miles
10	0	4 miles	8 miles	4 miles	0	5 miles	15 miles
11	0	4 miles	8 miles	5 miles	0	5 miles	17 miles
12	0	5 miles	9 miles	5 miles	0	5 miles	14 miles
13	0	5 miles	10 miles	5 miles	0	5 miles	20 miles
14	0	5 miles	8 miles	5 miles	0	4 miles	7 miles
15	0	4 miles	6 miles	4 miles	0	3 miles	8 miles
16	0	3 miles	4 miles	0	0	0-3 miles	Marathon

Wed, Feb 23-Paul was in the middle of his colonoscopy and called me while I was on the treadmill and told me to go get Mallory from school and come on to the hospital so I could be there when the dr came to tell me how his procedure went. So, I was only able to go 2.5 miles. I wanted to do 3 or go 45 minutes whichever came first.

Tomorrow I plan to go 45 min again.

Tuesday, Feb 22-went 2.08 miles on the treadmill at the Y in 30 minutes. I have upped my treadmill speed to 4.2. Feel like this is pretty good progress in a week. Last week I was going at 3.7

My marathon history

I did the Portland Marathon in Sept of 2001. My friends Missy and Jeanine and I all trained and flew out there a couple of weeks after the tragedy of Sept 11. I walked most of it but ran down hills when I could and my time was 6:12. This is a huge event and there are thousands of participants. Loved the whole experience. The funniest thing that happened around this marathon was that the day before the 26.2 we were walking around downtown Portland and Jeanine stumbled somehow and went down on the road. We were all just shocked. She was OK but we were just thinking, "after all that training, mile after mile on that treadmill, for it to end the day before on a leisurely stroll thru the streets of Portland!" We all got a laugh after it was clear she was alright!

I am fuzzy on the date but think it was Dec of 2002 that I did the Memphis Marathon. Missy was training to run the half so I went ahead and decided to go with her and do the marathon again. It was cold and I remember seeing all the sweatshirts that people shed on the course lying on the sides of the road. This marathon hadn't been going as long as the Portland but was still a good one and they even had an Elvis impersonator on the route to cheer us on! My time got better, 5:39.

After all that I have read about the Hatfield-McCoy AND considering the fact that I am 10 years older I don't look for my time to get better. I really just hope to finish and would like to do it in 6 hours.

What I've done so far...

Tuesday, Feb 15- walked about 20 minutes inside the Y on the track. Went fine. You have to dodge people quite a bit and it's pretty boring walking in circles but it's manageable and climate controlled which is good.

Wed., Feb 16-walked around the track about 20-25 minutes

Thur, Feb 17-decided to try the treadmill. Used my headphones to watch tv as I walked. I went 30 minutes. I really don't care for the treadmill. My friend Jeanine who did the Portland Marathon with me in Sept of 01 trained exclusively on a treadmill so it's possible. I just really don't like this method.

Fri, Feb 18-30 min on the treadmill again, went at a 4 miles per hour pace which I will need to improve on for the actual marathon

Sat, Feb 19 walked in our neighborhood, ahhhhh, this is what I like best. I don't use an mp3 but just walk and look around. It's much more enjoyable and much less boring. Cons: major hills in our neighborhood, but if I train on hills I should do better on the marathon course; also, I don't have someone to watch Michael so can really only do outdoors on Mondays and Saturdays when Paul is off.

Sunday, Feb 20-took the day off, rest

Monday, Feb 21-45 minutes in our neighborhood. Weather was nice, perfect walk. Figure I did nearly 3 miles. It's getting easier. Still a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG way to go.

10 years later, can I do it?

We re-joined the Y last week after about a 3.5 year hiatus. I went on the first day and checked Michael in to the child care area and started walking around the track. It's an indoor track and takes 20 times around to equal one mile. I was enjoying the exercise since I really have done nothing since Michael was born in the summer of 07.

This crazy idea popped in my head to do another marathon. I have always wanted to do another one but after having the kids have never worked out a good time to train. Now with Mallory in school and this renewed Y membership it just might be possible.

I went home and did a google search for the 2011 marathon schedule. I needed to find something near our hometown that was interesting and was set for sometime in early June. It would take about 4 months to train and I wanted to have it done before we started our summer traveling which includes the Church of God Convention and a trip to Alabama to spend with family.

The Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon was interesting because it is just down the road in Louisville but I really didn't think I could be ready by the end of April. The only other marathon in our vicinity was the Hatfield-McCoy which is held on the West Virginia/Kentucky state line. This one looked kind of interesting. It actually winds back and forth across the river there and goes in and out of Kentucky and West Virginia. I read some reviews posted by marathoners who had run it and they all gave it rave reviews on the hospitality front. Said the director was a great guy and the people of the communities where the course takes place all come out and really support the event. Said there were drink stations and porto-potties at nearly every mile, this is definitely a good thing. I read on and decided this was the one for me to go for if I was going to do it. It's June 11 which is just perfect time wise. So, I called Paul and told him I wanted to do it. I told him when I had done my other two marathons I always thought it was so sweet to see dads with kids holding signs saying "Go Mommy-You can do it". I asked him if he would do that with the kids and he said, "well if you can train and go 26.2 miles we can sure sit in the shade and hold a sign."

I quickly made a hotel reservation in the Williamson WV area as local accommodations are slim considering the size of the town and the people who show up for the big Hatfield-McCoy reunion held the same weekend. I was surprised to get a room but crossed that off my list.

Now all I have to do is train to walk for some 6 hours straight. Oh dear. That's not going to be as easy as making a reservation at the Super 8.