Marathon, the third, on deck

Well, it's official. I registered for my third marathon -- and this time, it's international. Assuming all goes well, I'll be running the Nagano Marathon in April.

First, for pacing, I've got a half marathon this coming weekend, and based on my performance, I'll be setting my pace goals for the marathon. It should be interesting, since I've been sick, sick, sick-amundo for about two weeks and running like crap, if at all.

I expected to take a serious hit on my time this last weekend, and went out for my first long run after deep chest cough recovery to find that I was *faster* than I had been 2 weeks prior. As in, much faster. As in I ran 9 miles at the fastest consecutive pace I'd run since during the last marathon. Wow! It was such an enjoyable, fast, light, speedy run. I hadn't had a non-race run like that in more than 6 months. It was so fun -- I found myself grinning, even as rain pelted me and wind sang in my ears because I should have waited 'til the storm passed. I guess the speed training on the treadmill once or twice a week was actually paying off, despite the illness.

So, stay tuned. In addition to blathering on about the boring 2nd year associate legal life that I lead and the food-obsessed breaks that I take, I'll now go back to my old habit of annoying all of you non-runners, with 3 consecutive months of marathon training posts.

Oh, and if you were wondering, I finally managed to get just barely back within my 10-lb healthy weight range after the holidays. Just in time for this weekend's race (and bathing suit weather!). I suspect at least some of the newfound and very joyful increased speed is allocable to that change... but who am I to resist?

Onward!