Reality Check

Registration for the Marine Corps Marathon opened yesterday and closed today with all 30,000 spots full. I will not be one of the 30,000.

What happened? Well, a couple of things. Let's discuss.

The main issue is that I psyched myself out. I had been questioning for a while now whether or not this was such a good idea. For a beginning runner to attempt a 5K, a 10K, a 10 miler, a half and a full marathon in one calendar year? I know it can be done; I just don't know if I am being realistic about what I can safely and reasonably accomplish. My 5K is in three weeks and I am not where I think I should be with my training. Right now, I am doing 2 miles in 40 minutes on a treadmill. At this pace it's going to take me a full hour to run a 5K. It used to take me 30 minutes to walk the 1 and 3/4 miles to work. My pace is no where near where it needs to be to finish the marathon without being removed from the course and I'm not sure that 7 and 1/2 months is enough time for a first time runner to reach that point.

The second issue is money. It's a $90+ entry fee and I just don't have that kind of money right now. I sort of forgot about that part. Living on my own is fabulous and I don't ever want to live with roomates again (you know, unless I'm married to the roomate!) but it is expensive! Especially with the looming threat of a government shutdown that means this girl doesn't get paid for a while. (Dear Federal Gvernment: Please don't shut down. I don't want to be evicted because you stopped paying me and I can't make rent. Thank you. Love, Chelsea)

Now, that doesn't mean that I won't maybe possibly change my mind when the entry transfer period opens but we'll see.

But, if you have been paying attention, you remember that I am trying to be flexible and accepting of change and kinder to myself. SO! I am not getting all depressed and angry about this. I'm not giving up. I am simply re-evaluating my goals. I am running my very first 5K on March 20. The Capitol Hill Classic 10K is May 15 and it is conveniently located in my neighborhood. And, since I am missing the MCM, I am DEFINITELY running the Army 10 Miler in October. That's 3 out of my 5 races. That's more than half. More than half is...well, more than half. I will have completed most of my goal and the rest will just be rescheduled to 2012. Plus, I am going to run the Race for the Cure 5K in June and I figure that at that point I should have this running thing down. Four races in one year for a former couch potato is nothing to be ashamed of.

As for next year, I WILL be one of the 30,000 running the 37th MCM in 2012. In addition, I think I have a few girlfriends willing to run the Disney Princess Half Marathon (it looks like so much fun!). I will totally run the Scope It Out 5K , Cap Hill Classic and Army 10 Miler again. Hm, wait a minute. I do believe that is every race I wanted to run THIS year. So, I will accomplish my goals! Just in a slightly longer time frame. So, I'm not giving up. I'm just giving myself a reality check.

Spoke Too Soon

Yup, the evil cold has returned. This time with sore throat and hives. And just in time for a bit of freakishly warm spring weather perfect for running outside. I managed to drag myself to the gym anyway and got some really good runs in. It's nice to know that even with a respiratory infection, I'm still stronger than I think. However, today I am scheduled for another run but I think I'm going to spend the day on the couch with a box of tissues instead. I feel SO GUILTY about missing a run, especially since the 5K is one month from tomorrow. But I think the smart thing to do is to let my body rest so I can kick this cold once and for all and be strong for the remainder of my training.

So, what do you do when you are sick? Do you take the day off and rest or keep on going? I've heard so many conflicting pieces of advice on this one. But I think I'm going to follow my gut this time and rest up.

Roll With The Changes

So, I was all set to do Day 2 of Week 3 of the 5K training plan (that's a lot of numbers). I am FINALLY feeling better and I had an amazing run on Monday. I was actually super excited to do another one and then I went downstairs to the gym and

...all the treadmills were full.

I use my building's gym and it's pretty decent but we only have 4 treadmills and they are a pretty hot commodity for the after work crowd. I went back after 15 minutes to see if someone had left but they were still full. So I gave up and decided to make dinner instead.

I realized this week that evening workouts are better for me. I guess it's the fact that I've fueled and hydrated all day instead of stumbling out of bed and straight to the gym with no food or water. I run faster, I last longer and I feel better when I work out in the evening. But apparently a lot of people feel the same way so I have to be flexible and willing to change my routine.

I LOVE routines and have a hard time deviating from them. It's the OCD part of me. Normally, I would have been annoyed that my workout wasn't going to happen and pouted and decided to give up and eat a cookie. One of my (many) 2011 resolutions is to accept that things won't always go as I plan and to roll with the changes. I have a bad habit of holding myself to an impossibly high standard and then when I inevitably fail I beat myself up and then just give up.

But not this time. Instead, I will get up early tomorrow morning (5:45 alarm, ugh) and go do my run. I may struggle more than I would at the end of the day but the point is to get it done. And eventually it will warm up enough that I can run outside and not have to worry about treadmill availability at all!