Here we go again!

When I first moved to Jackson, I only knew my boyfriend (now my husband), his best friend, and his best friends girlfriend.  I'm an introverted person, so it's hard for me to make friends (I usually have to be around them a lot to feel comfortable enough to talk about anything personal but most people just think I'm shy or rude for not speaking).
I spent my free time with my boyfriend.  I had made a few friends at work and spent some time with them, but mostly it was with Mike.   His best friend's girlfriend, Meredith, had met a friend (Lidija) that she said was a lot of fun.  They were getting together with a few other women at Lidija's house and Meredith invited me along.  I knew two girls from work there and thought it was a great group of girls. Fast forward 8ish years, past marriage and babies and more baby, and past 6 years of slowly coming out of my shell and now these girls can't get rid of me.  I've got stories that I've told a hundred times that they still listen to, tears that nobody cares that I shed, and constant chocolate whenever we meet.

Three of these girls (Angie, Becky, and Michelle) get stuck with me quite often.  Actually, now that I think about it, I think they can't get enough of me.  They begged and begged and begged for me to run a marathon with them (OK, maybe begging isn't the right word, it went more like this:  Me: "Hey, did I hear you guys talking about a marathon?"  Them: "yea"  Me:  "Ok, I'll run another one with you."  Them: <awkward pause> <whisper> 'Did we invite her?'.  Ha!  I'm kidding!
They did the full training for the May marathon, and I ran half of what they ran (see training schedule ) and we all started the marathon.  One of us became severely dehydrated and had to stop around 21.5 miles.   A few hours after we finished, I volunteered to run another one with her when she was ready.   Last week she decided she was ready, so we are upping our mileage to prepare for an October marathon.  I really don't care about completing another marathon, I don't care about another medal, but I wouldn't miss the training.  I have learned so much from these girls.  I learned how great organic food is, I learned about eMeals (about any night of the week you could pop over to any of our houses and we'll probably be preparing the same meal!), I learned that I'm not the only one who screams at my children until I'm blue in the face.  We read the same articles, listen to the same podcasts, run a ton and still don't lose weight.  We can talk for five hours without much silence.

So here we go again.  Another 2.5 months of training, another hundred or two miles on my shoe, and I'm sure an injury or two, but I wouldn't miss it for anything!  I wonder how many marathons we can fit in next year....

10 week marathon training program

I had committed to running a marathon in October.  We (three friends and I) decided that timing and distance made the Bayshore marathon the perfect one.  I was having some knee issues at the time and was a little worried about spending the $90 before I could 100% commit.  I had to make a quick decision because the Bayshore marathon sells out in about a week.  I went to Optimal Performance Specialists (ops.orthopaedicrehab.com) in Jackson, MI and they told me they could fix my knee.  I signed right up for the marathon!
My friends (this was their first marathon, my second) did some research and decided that a run/walk ratio would be good.  We tweaked it after a few runs and came up with 4 minutes running followed by 1 minute walking.
I spent 2 days a week doing strength workouts for my knee and upper body (we also did some running analysis).  After my final session (I did 12 total), my knee was feeling a ton better!  I was ready to start increasing my training (I had kept a 6 mile long run in December).
In January, I ran:

1. 2 miles, 3 miles, and 6 miles
2. 2, 3
3. 2, 3, 6
4. 4, 1, 7

Then disaster hit.  I came down with the flu.  Right after I recovered, I was playing volleyball and sprained my ankle.  I started physical therapy right away.  They weren't certain if I would be healed up enough to get in enough training by end of May.  I was pretty determined.  

February

1. flu
2. ankle

After a few weeks on crutches, I got the go ahead to try a mile.  If a mile felt good, then to try two.  I spent some time researching 10 week marathon training schedules, and I learned that they don't recommend it, or they started the training (week 1) at 10 miles.  I didn't have the 10 mile distance, so I just started increasing.  Worst case scenario, I would run as far as I could marathon morning and then catch a ride back.

March

1. 1 mile
2. 2, 3, 2
3. 2, 4, 2
4. 2, 6, 
5. 2, 3, 8

I should mention that I'm an experienced runner.  I have been running for over 15 years, with the most time off is a year (and that was usually around the time I had my babies).

April

1. 3 miles, 10 miles
2. 2, 2, 4, 12
3. 3, 4, 14
4. 6, 4, 10

With a month before the marathon, I had only a 14 mile max distance under my belt.  My friends were running a half marathon in Kalamazoo, so I decided to join them.  Running with people would be much better than trying to run 16 miles by myself.  I was hoping to run a little before the race and a little after to get in 16 miles.  I got in 2 miles before the half marathon (@8:30 pace).  I wasn't sure of my race strategy, but when the gun went off, I took off.  I ended up completing the half marathon in 1:58 (9:02/mile) and there was NO way I could take another step after finishing the Finish line.  There was no time for any more long runs.  It was time to start tapering the miles.  Could I run a marathon with only a 15 mile long run?
Yes I could!  I never doubted I could finish after getting in the 12 miler.  I just wasn't sure how I would feel afterwards.  The half marathon was the only run I was sore after (I ran the whole thing, only walking through water stations).   We finished the marathon around 5:10.  I got 4 blisters on my toes towards the end of the race (I started feeling them around mile 21), so I wore flip flops for the rest of the weekend.  My quads were sore after sitting for awhile the day of and the next 2 days, but that was it.  I had completed a marathon with a 10 week make-it-up-as-you-go training program and with only a 15 mile long run.

May

1. 4, 4, 15 - 1/2 marathon
2. 3, 4, 8 - OUCH - very sore from 1/2
3. 3, 5, 6
4. 3, 4, 26.2

I feel like an experienced runner now :)