Two Months!

Do you see the ticker? Two months!!! Whooooaaaaa baby, it wasn't that long ago that I won the prize and it was 10 months away, and I was having to tell people, no, no, its not for ages yet, but I need that "ages" got get my body prepared. Well, I'm happy to say the preparation is going good, now I kinda feel I just need to finish the training programme, keep my body well and uninjured and we're all GO!

I saw a friend at the shops today that I haven't seen in a while and she asked if I was nervous, and as I said to her, funny enough, the closer I get the less scared I get (about the actual run, I'm scared of getting sick, getting injured, the huge crowds I'm not used to and don't like at the best of times). As I get closer and the training gets harder, and I knock off the long runs, the more I believe that I might actually be able to do this and maybe, just maybe, do it pretty well, better anyway than I ever dreamed about 10mths ago when my initial reaction was "what! run a marathon, not *insert bad words" likely" LOL

I did my hill run yesterday, 53:20 - funny, my time gets slower each week, yet I feel stronger running up it - I think I've learnt to pace myself better and pace it pretty slowly before hitting the hill and then take it pretty easy running down ... not worried at all, its getting that hill in that counts! In fact, mad woman I am, I'm wondering if I should attempt doing it twice - or even maybe three repeats of the first half, the first half is steeper - I know now, definitely more of a mental thing, that once I get past the first half it is okay, that first steeper half is the killer. Anyway, I then read the notes on the Hal Higdon training programme last night where it says take Thursday's shorter run easier to prepare for a lot of running this weekend - whoops! 8.5km, steep hill on still a bit tired legs from the weekend before ... maybe not quite what he meant! Legs feel good today though, and its a rest day - so all good :)

Weigh in today, and for the first time in a while I actually lost a reasonable amount of weight (600g, just over a lb). My secret? Well, WW wouldn't like me, but basically a couple of weeks ago I decided to stop counting points and to sound like the hippy that my husband likes to call me (I'm still trying to persuade him that positive thinking, kindness and deepset belief in yourself works wonders) I'm sure that in some sort of strange way, I've released it from head, so my body is happy to "release" as well. Yeah, sounds wacky, but I think there is something in it. Also, mostly, I just can't count points and stick to a "diet" when I'm going to run 2-3hrs the next day, or needs to refuel my body after a 2-3hr run. I'm not rushing out and eating junk, in fact I'm pretty much eating the same ... but definitely those couple of days of big exercise, I'm letting my body dictate more about what it needs. We'll see what happens over the next couple of weeks - hopefully its the start of a downward trend!

So - this weekend - 13km at marathon pace tomorrow and then 27.5km on Sunday ... I've mapped it out on Map my Run ... and boy it looks like a long way! We'll take it easy though, and I'm sure we'll survive :) I get to come home and go to a baby shower for my niece which should be lots of fun, something to look forward to while I'm running!