A new beginning...

For Christmas 2008 my wife got a book from our son and his wife. She (my wife, Amber) has been a fan of "The Biggest Loser" and has followed it each season. It is truly an inspirational program. I am in awe of what the contestants accomplish. One of the trainers from the Biggest Loser, Jillian Michaels, wrote a book called "Making the Cut". It is a plan for people who want to lose between 10 and 20 lbs and really get into good shape. We started just after the 1st of the year and followed it pretty strictly for about 90 days. I lost about 20 lbs and could feel that I was in much better shape than I had been for a long time. The food on Jillian's plan was really good as well as good for you. I never felt hungry and I had more energy than when I was just eating whatever I pleased. I began to become more educated about what I was taking into my body and a lot more aware of the good, the bad and the ugly.
I had resisted running for some time because, while I wasn't fat, when I ran I felt things bouncing and giggling that I didn't like. After a couple of months on Jillian's plan though, I felt ready to get back out running.
After we decided on which marathon we would run I started looking for a plan to get myself ready. My friend Terry Tuttle had run a few marathons (including Boston) so I asked him if he had a training schedule that I could follow. There are any number of training plans out there. They vary from, "go from couch potato to marathon in 6 months", to "train for competition and run your PR". Terry's plan is somewhere in the high middle I'd guess. It is pretty aggressive for me but I decided to try it. The biggest challenge would be to find the time. When you start doing runs that are longer than 4 or 5 miles, you have to dedicate some time to get them done.
In our area it gets pretty hot in the summer time. When I had trained for races in the past they were always early spring so I was training through the winter. I definitely prefer running in cooler weather. The heat really sucks the energy out of me.
Terry's plan was a 24 week schedule. He customized it to fit the time I had so I will be ready to run on November 14th. I have had to work it around things like camping trips, family reunions, school reunions, etc. Summer is a busy time but I have been able to stay reasonably close to the plan. I am making some progress too. Two weeks ago I ran a 14 mile run. While doing so, I checked my time at 13.1 miles (1/2 marathon) and found that I had just run my PR by almost 10 minutes. Today I did 14 again and beat that PR by 2 more minutes. That feels good. Now if I can just keep up that pace for another 13.1, I'll make my goal time! Fortunately I have about 10 more weeks to build the stamina to do that.