I know you all missed Tuesday Newsdays….I’m bringing it back to life because….(drum roll please….)….I picked another marathon to train for and have begun training!!!!!!

AND, it’s going to be out of state! Woot woot! I’m also announcing something else that I might do that’s pretty crazy. But first things first:

This May, I will already have to be in Maine to serve as one of my best friend’s Maid of Honor. I’m pretty honored (no pun intended) to be chosen even if I do have a million and a half anti-marriage jokes. However, I’m super happy for this couple because I know they are going last, are perfect for each other, and are the definition of how relationships should be.

Anyway, Since I will already have to take off time from work and school, I figured I might as well take just a couple more days and do a race (…or two 😉 while I’m out there).

So, I decided to just make it a full, and my FIRST, marathon!!! There’s a few reasons I decided to pick a marathon. 1) I’m ready to just go for it! 2) For my Racing the States project, I initially didn’t care about the distance of the race; now, however, I’m really enjoying the half marathon length, and think it would be cool to have a medal from every state. Obviously, if I’m in a state for something and there’s no halfs – or fulls – available, I’ll pick something less, but like I said, I really like the idea of having a medal from each state. And 3) Around the time that I’m out there, there isn’t too many race options. The race I picked has a marathon and an 15k option…strange combo, I think. So, why not go with the full marathon!?

Alright…the crazy part…..I THINK I’m going to do another marathon the following weekend as well………….

I’ll let that sink in for a little bit  longer……………………………

Here, you can look at this pretty picture I took on a run last week while you let that info sink in.

This is my regular run lake all frozen over for the winter.

I know, I know! It’s pretty insane in general to do two marathons in a week, especially for it being my first two, but here’s the crazy thought process: I’m going to be in Maine already…and there’s a few other little states nearby, right? I might as well knock of TWO States while I’m on vacation, right!? But there’s no sane combo. I’m out there the weekends of  May 18th/19th and the 25th/26th…I’ve tried every combo I could find. I’ve landed on doing a marathon in Maine the weekend before, and one in Vermont the weekend after the wedding. There’s not any good races in New Hampshire that whole week anyway!

If I chose a race in Vermont the weekend before, there wouldn’t be a good race to choose for after and vise versa (unless there’s anyone that lives out there that has more race info than I’m finding on runningintheusa.com, please let me know…half marathon distance preferred).

Here’s my justification of this insanity: 1) I’ve already gone through a majority of a training plan not that long ago. I learned what to do and not to do for the most part. 2) I have new shoes. 3) My goal is just to finish. I’m not trying to kill myself and BQ my first time out; I’m not that awesome. And 4) Call this the jealousy factor, but a friend of mine that I got into running is soon starting a marathon training plan (without taking the step to a half first) and I’m going to be pretty upset if she completes a marathon before me. That’s pretty rude thinking, huh? But I try to be an honest person, and that’s how I feel. Would something like this bother anyone else? Running is my thing out of all my friend/family/people I know, and I absolutely LOVE that I have sparked someone else’s interest in the wonderful sport, but running is the only thing I have, that I’m good at, and that’s all mine…if that makes sense. Although reason #4 is a only a small factor; I was already thinking about this marathon before this friend told me she was running one as well. (Hopefully I didn’t create too much drama with that statement, but like I said, I do like to be honest and not keep things bottled up).

Well….with that said….

Let me have it! What are your opinions??? The race I’m doing in Maine has a 15k race too…should I just shoot for the marathon the weekend after the wedding and do a small race before (and just not have a medal/half or full in that state), just so I don’t, ya know, kill myself or something?? Or just go for it!? (Side note: both races are relatively cheap for marathons..and I already have to fly out there…the only thing I might add is potentially a rental car). (Side note number two: I’m really leaning towards just going for it!)

I’ll be training for a marathon no matter what decision I make – whether it’s one or two. I starting thinking about all of this at just about 18 weeks out, so I took that as a sign to officially start training. There are a few things I’m going to do different this time, especially if I do decided to do both:

1. Count correctly. Remember how I was off by like 3 weeks last time?? Yeah, not happening again. I’ve already counted, and recounted about 500 times.

2. Foam roll more! Literally, like, every day! Especially that damn IT band (aka the Tensor Fascia Latae muscle…..yep, learned that in school!) This should hopefully prevent and knee pain and just help me my recover time in general.

3. Ice more! And stop being a pansy about it. I should start ice bathing after those long runs. We’ll see if I actually can – especially during the winter; after my foot injury a few months ago, I tried to ice bathe it, and I couldn’t even last 5 seconds. No joke. I remember in high school when I sprained my ankle, I was had to hold it in ice water for 5 minutes straight. I must have been tougher back then.

4. Massage the bottom of my feet more. By this I mean, use the ol’ tennis ball or lacrosse ball on the bottom of my feet to prevent any injuries that may arise (again). I just bought some lacrosse balls from work and tried it last night…it felt amazing!!

So, there you have it! You may be thinking I’m crazy (I’m curious what my Mom will say!). After I hear what people say, I’ll announce the races I plan on doing later this week. Let me know what you all think. I THINK two marathons is doable, with the right mind set and training efficiently. After all, I am in Personal Training school…what better training and information can you get!?