Training for my First Marathon: Week 7

Oy!!! I made it to halfway through my training!!!!

This week had a few challenges, first on Tuesday evening the weather was brutal- so I opted for the free admission I had left for a gym. I figured it was the best possible scenario for a treadmill run because I could at least watch my favorite show - The Biggest Loser!

I hopped on the treadmill with the intention of completing 9 miles... By mile 2 I didn't care WHAT was on tv I just wanted to be done. It was nice to see my show don't get me wrong, but oh man was it ever hot in there!! I managed to complete 7 miles before I decided enough was enough.

My Thursday run moved up to Wednesday so that Greg and I could get to the Red Wings game - and it was great that my Thursday running partner agreed to meet me a day early! We had a slow and steady 5 miler which worked just fine for me!

Overall I was happy with my week of training and nutrition and was actually looking FORWARD to the challenge of a 16 miler Saturday.

That Saturday run was BRUTAL. the weather was cold and very windy, but all that was irrelevant when I started mile 8 with a splitting headache. I have never run with a headache before and at mile 12 I keeled over and broke down in tears because I just couldn't take the constant pain and pounding. Thank god my mom was there with me otherwise I would have panicked for sure! The only thing really getting me to the end was knowing my poor best friend was waaaaayyyyy ahead of us not knowing at all what was unfolding with me. She had to have been freezing in that car waiting for us with the key.

Needless to say it was Advil and a LONG nap afterwards just to recover. After all - I still had hills to run Sunday!!

Just goes to show ya.... Training will prepare you for SO MUCH MORE than just the distance of the run.

I read a quote that I loved: "if you want to win something run 100 meters. If you want to experience something run a marathon"... I would like to change that a bit... If you want to experience something- TRAIN FOR A MARATHON!!

Happy and healthy running!