Has it really been 8 weeks?

Today marks the end of the 8th week or our 18 week Marathon training plan. It’s hard to believe that we are still a week shy of the halfway point and the Harrisburg Half Marathon. In these last eight weeks we have ran over 240 miles and burned an estimated 47,000 calories (not that I’d put much faith in calorie estimation). That puts us 55 days into our 125 day journey to OBX. That is 70 days and only God and Hal Higdon knows how many miles until we race our first Marathon. The day we run the Outer Banks Marathon we still will have 26.2 miles or 46.1648 kilometers or 138,336 feet (depending on your favorite unit of measure).

With all of todays high tech training tools available to an athlete there is one that is easily overlooked… The Donut of Misery!!! This is a tool I commonly use while deployed in far away third world countries that I seem to frequent to help me chart my stay. A couple easy changes and BAM!! A perfect training tool to help keep you aware of where you are in your timeline to your goal or event.

I guess we should talk about today’s little jaunt. The “plan” called for a 15 mile run and who am I to break from the plan. We chose to do two laps around the Pope Army Airfield flight line and then some. Our attempt to get an early start wasn’t as successful as we had hoped. I had set the alarm for 5am but then by the time we ate breakfast, packed everything up, and drove to Pope it was already after 630am and the sun was beginning to creep above the horizon. The 100% humidity was pretty evident right from the get go. Even with a hydration vest with a .75L Camelback I could never seem to take in enough water to make up for how much I was sweating due to the humidity. Once I was finished and back at the Pope Park where we started and finished the run, I continued to hydrate and drank a protein shake. I could tell I was going to feel the after effects of this run.

Now back at the house, showered, fed, and typing away I can feel the after effects of the run. We are both relaxing in our compression socks (yes, Kelly finally broke down and got a pair) and looking forward to Labor Day… a day to celebrate and take a small break from running. I think my body is telling me I need to rest.