Down to the Nitty Gritty

Last night Brian and I watched “True Grit” and while we liked the movie, we couldn’t help but joke around about whether or not the other has “grit.” My grit is to be determined in the next two months, depending how well I do with this training and mini marathon.

Brian was so kind as to write up a training schedule for me yesterday. This is one perk of being married to a XC/Track coach…(I have yet to find another). After he showed it to me he asked “So, what do you think?” My response was “I think I may have to cry.” Then I buried my face in his chest and laughed to keep from crying.

I thought I was doing pretty well running about 20 miles per week, but Brian wants me to get up to 35-40. Gulp! The long runs don’t intimidate me so much, it’s the workout days that have me scared. I’m not a very fast runner, so running an entire mile “hard” sounds…. hard. We also decided that I should run a couple of races leading up to the mini, so we scheduled a 5k and a 10k. The other thing that has me freaked is my legs have really been bothering me. Yesterday I only ran 2 miles because my right shin felt like it was going to snap. Seriously, it felt like my bone was made of eggshell. I’m not doing that much better today, so I took it easy again with another 2 miles.

The big hurdle is actually going to be the next two weeks because on top of training Brian and I will be working the Creative Writing Camp at Butler from 9-5 M-F. So I’m going to have to wake up earrrrrlllyyy to run only to turn around and spend the rest of the day with 30 3rd-5th graders. I’ll be missing my noontime nap, that’s for sure!

The good news is that if I follow Brian’s schedule I’ll certainly hit my 100 mile goal for June. I’d better lose some weight(!), and maybe, just maybe, I’ll end up a better runner. It’s going to be a long two months.

PS. If you’re wondering, the * on the training schedule means days I’m allowed to bring the dogs with me on the run. THEIR mileage is going to be less than of late… lucky dogs!