FIRST SERIOUS TRAINING RUN OF THE YEAR!

I'm done messing around. It's time to get ready for that spring marathon. I don't care how cold it is or how challenging the icy terrain might be, I need to get in those long miles. The Glass City Marathon is creeping up on me faster than anticipated. On April 27th I will line up at the starting line in Toledo, Ohio for better or for worse. I'm hoping it will be for better.

Feeling the pressure of the quickly approaching marathon, my training partner and I did our first long run on Friday, a 12 miler. I know. You're not very impressed. With the race less than three months away we should be at least up to 15 miles on our long run. Hopefully, by the end of February we'll increase our mileage another three or four miles.

Friday's run was brutal. It was 19 degrees outside with about a 5 degree wind chill factor. We had to run the back streets because the sidewalks were treacherous. One section of the road for about 150 yards after crossing the Aetnaville Bridge was a lumpy mess because all the footprints in the snow had frozen. I'm guessing many of you are facing the same hazards in your neighborhoods.

My training partner is taking this marathon very seriously. She wants to set a personal record and possibly place in her age group. She informed me that she wanted to do this run under eight minutes a mile. I couldn't sleep well the night before thinking about it. We went out at about 7:45 pace. I thought that was a little fast. By the six mile mark we had dropped under 7:40, and I had difficulty breathing that cold air. By ten miles I knew I was in trouble. Lucky for me, we hit that long lumpy mess before the bridge and my buddy slowed down to keep from wiping out. That gave me a chance to catch my breath and I was able to finish without falling behind. We ended up running a 7:41 pace for twelve miles.

After I finished all I wanted to do was soak in a hot tub. Then I gave my glutes, hamstrings, and calves a good going over with the Marathon Stick. The worst pain I'm suffering now is soreness on the ball of my right foot from a big callous and an ache in my left ankle from running on uneven ground. But you know what? It feels great getting the first serious run in. I'm actually looking forward to going 13 miles next week. Let's hope it's warmer than 19 degrees! Does anyone out there have a remedy for thick callouses?