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.