Running Blog Friends Rock

I got a great response to my Short is Not Bad post from Kristina over at Marathon Mama. She let me know that not only were my short runs necessary for my overall half marathon training, but very good for me indeed with respect to injury avoidance and just plain getting stronger. Here is the thing: I know that. I've read that. I've read no less than 150 times that, at a minimum, I should run two shorter runs during the week and one long run on the weekend. I'd read it, read it again, and yet again on a website or in a magazine and I'd process it and I'd say "Okay, that's what I'm going to do! Starting next week, I will run 4 miles on Monday, 4 miles on Wednesday maybe throw in one more shorty somewhere then go all out on Saturday for a long run that I will slowly increase every other week."

Yeah. That was the plan. By total luck, I ended up getting my long run up to 11 miles way back when the weather was nice, but I was not consistent with my training. I had no real schedule. I had a mom with two kids schedule which I know sounds like a total cop out, but as much as I wanted to run and loved to run, it took a back seat because I'm doing this without a running partner which, as you can imagine, makes it easy to put off. There is no running partner waiting at the corner for me so I'd push the run off until I got to a point where I was in panic mode because I hadn't run in 4 days. Then I'd get out and push my poor body until I had at least 7 miles. I'd do this 2 and 3 days in a row then nothing. No running for another 4 days. And the cycle would continue. Kristina is right. And for some reason, probably because even though I've never met her, I know she is a mom fighting for running time just like me and I know she loves to run, getting that advice from her seems to work for me. She is a bit more real to me than the running websites and magazines with the perfect schedule outlined next to the perfect half marathon woman who had a finish time of 1 hour and 30 minutes or something totally out of my reach. So cheers to you, Marathon Mama! You are right and you are not a magazine! Short is not bad! And starting now, I am going to somehow develop a training schedule! This half marathon is 70-some days away and it's time to get serious! Besides the fact that I have this nagging pain in my left knee that I've been ignoring which is telling me that I'm going about this all wrong. I have to say though, this would be a lot easier if you would come down to Virginia 3 days a week and run with me!