26.2 #3

I'm currently training for my third marathon, the San Antonio Rock 'n Roll Marathon on Sunday, November 13, 2011. One of my goals for 2011 has been to run two half marathons or one half and one full marathon. I ran the St. Louis Half Marathon earlier this year in April, and decided to go for the full this fall instead of another half.

My official training program began in July, and ever since my early Saturday mornings have been spent running. I begin my runs around 5:30am, due to the heat and humidity we've had this summer. It's hard to run when it's 75 degrees outside at 5:30am without the heat of the sun. I can't imagine what it would be like to start at 8:00am with a higher temperature and the sun beating down on me.

Running a marathon is definitely a time commitment. I run four miles every Monday morning, and started with five miles on Wednesday mornings, increasing the run by one mile every other week, up to 10 miles a few weeks before the race. Saturday mornings are my long runs. The first long run started with six miles and will slowly work up to 24 miles a few weeks before the marathon. 

I'm running the marathon by myself and for the most part am training by myself. The past two Saturdays I've had a friend meet up with me to help me finish the run. This was certainly helpful. Once the weather cools off I'll probably start a little later, maybe 6:00am instead of 5:30am, and Ross will meet me along the course after I'm about two hours in. This is perfect for him - he still gets to sleep in, but also gets to help me out, too!

We're going to make a vacation out of the San Antonio trip. We'll drive to San Antonio on Thursday, tour the city on Friday and Saturday, and run the marathon on Sunday. We'll begin our drive home Sunday afternoon, stopping in Dallas for the evening, and finish the drive on Monday.