Marathon Training: 4 weeks in

Much can be said about having a goal and sticking to it. Goal: Run the Boston Marathon in less than 4 hours. Or at least beat P. Diddy's NY Marathon time of 4:20. With the run date of April 18th looming almost exactly 3 months away....yeah, I think I can do it.

I came home at 9:30 pm and I DID NOT want to go out there. Snowy slushy misery. But I thought about the goal, and how I can't sleep at night if I don't exercise now that my dad is helping out more and I am not working out as much. Hallelujah! I thought about how much it sucks to do a marathon with insufficient training. I thought about bashing my 4:53 time in 2005. I logged onto my friend Nabil's training website Fivi.com and got excited as I started mapping out my run. And then I forced myself out into the cold.

It was absolutely poetic. The streets, empty. The snow, ethereal. With crystals truly from heaven falling, there was silence of the streets only occasionally interrupted by a car swishing by. I pulled out a decent 9 minute mile pace. My thoughts were alternated by a "Let's do this bitch" and "hm, peaceful. Glad I chose to run." Both sentiments were very satisfying. I was slip sliding all along the slushy slush around the Brookline reservoir. Neil is absolutely right about the whole getting into a routine thing. I doubted it, but I find it's true. Go into mindless patterns. Don't think, just do. Just go. I decided to change it up a bit and head up Washington St instead, to make it a 5 mile run instead of my usual 4. My body was kind of regretting it, but my mind was feeling satisfied by pushing said body into submission. I ran by The Fireplace, out of which some nice jazz was spilling out. Decided to put in when I saw my friend Fred at the bar. He offered me a beer. Very tempting to stop running and drink, but I was DETERMINED to run the full 5 miles. I logged onto a marathon training calendar and today said I had to do 5 miles so by golly 5 miles I decided to do! I told myself that my reward would be the rest of Chapter 8 of The Help. I can NOT put that book down! Oh, it is delicious. I miss my reading. It's good to be back.

Another victory for today...the location of my parents' surprise party has been finally tamped down and nailed. Feb 11th, Temple Obahai Shalom (Lovers of Peace), here we come!!!!