When the LONG becomes the SHORT

We are in the 12th week of marathon training...I can't believe it! The time has just FLOWN BY! When we started the training 3 months ago, "3 miles" was the LONG run. I think there was an occassional 1.5 mile run in the begining, and up until this week, there was a 2 and a 2.5 mile run thrown in there as well. Those days are no more. From here on out, there is nothing less than a 3 mile run! The 3 mile run is now the short run, and the long run this week is a 6 miler. I'm stoked to conquer that! I have always been comfortable running 3 miles, but I am now getting into a territory that I had panicked about when I browsed the entire schedule in the begining of all this. I have no doubts about participating (and completeting) the marathon itself, but for some reason the upcoming 8 mile run and the 20 mile run on the schedule have always freaked me out. I'm begining to have faith that I will be able to run the 8 miles comfortably, but the 20 mile (and many of the runs in the teens, for that matter) seem unreachable to me. But, as always, I will just keep plugging along, and have faith in the training program.

This past week was difficult and exciting all at the same time. As I mentioned in a previous post, Beatrice has been sick with a cold. She had a fever early on in the week that only lasted 24 hours, but she has a nasty cough and other cold syptoms that are hanging on, so I can't bring her to the childcare at the gym (or to church, waaa!). I have only made it to the gym 1x in the last week (and that was when my hunny could watch the kiddos). However, I rocked my runs old-school style this week. I busted out the double jogger and made it happen. Luckily, all of the runs last week were 3 miles, and Beatrice came with me on every one of them! I was able to do the hills fine, and it was so thrilling to have a new challenge. And then, on Saturday, I decided to let Rick sleep in, and I took BOTH kids in the double jogger and did my 3 mile run. This was A LOT harder! I had to be referee a few times, and Wyatt adds quite a bit of weight to the run! (Not that he is a chunker, it's just that he's 6!) But, despite the added "bonuses" I was able to run the ENTIRE 3 MILES non-stop! This was something I was 100% unable to do just 3 months ago!

I LOOOOOVE experiencing cool changes like that!!! :0)