Overconfidence… or Sheer Stupidity

You may have already read some of my training fun here or here. I may not have mentioned that I come from a long line of athletically-challenged individuals. It is a serious case of Goldberg-itis. If there was a Wikipedia definition it would say: the genetic makeup of a non-athlete; may have episodes of getting injured while getting out of bed; may spontaneously ache for no reason; will complain excessively about aforementioned aches and pains. Don’t worry, it is not contagious. At any rate, all of the non-athletes in my family continue to think I am nuts, but have generally accepted the half-marathon-training-so-I-can’t-be-functional-until-after-my-nap-on-Saturday life or the fact that I train twice a week in the evenings, so I am not free for dinner on those days. I am at a point now where I am confident. I have a silly belt that holds two 10.5 ounce bottles of water, and has a handy pocket for my keys and iPod. I have a playlist on said iPod entitled Run Faster, with everything from the empowering Dixie Chicks to the festive Jimmy Buffett. I have Brooks running shoes, KT Tape and Sport Beans. I am fully prepared. Oh, except for maybe the running part.

To date, I have done a maximum of 10.2 miles in the pouring rain and have done 9 miles several times. Coach Mike keeps telling me that I will not get to do more than 13 miles in training. I keep telling him that if he thinks I am going to a race not ever having ran (ran/walked in my case) that far he is delusional. I need to be prepared. I am accepting of my type-A tendencies.

The next step is increasing my speed (see note about Goldberg-itis above). So far my best time is a super-slow 12:54 mile pace. It was fast for me. According to my TNT Pace Card, if I can get the time down to 11:30 I will only be running (run/walking) for two and  a half hours.

To think that I am considering entering the lottery for the NY Marathon in 2011, where at my current pace I would be running (run/walking) for nearly five hours and forty minutes, is just silly. Of course, I am doing it anyway.

Stay tuned for weekly training updates. As the race gets closer I will be (a) training as much as possible, (b) freaking out, (c) looking for other races to enter when this one is over, like the Key West Half Marathon in late January and (d) complaining about not losing even one single pound with all this exercise. So stick around, it should get even more interesting.