Finally, I have gotten into a solid routine with my running and training for my marathon. My shin splints haven't been bothering me, and I'm slowly but steadily increasing my mileage every week to work up to those long runs. I went on an 8-mile run yesterday, which was one of the longest runs I have been on in a while. I don't feel like I ran that far, but I think it is because it wasn't very fast. Runner's World has a program where you put in your recent race time, how many miles you've been logging each week, and all of this other information--and it creates a training plan for you. Pretty nifty, eh? I like using it because it gives me a running plan that fits me and where I'm at athletically. This will help prevent my shin splints from coming back, which is pretty exciting.
The marathon is about 4 months away, which is getting more exciting yet still nerve-racking. I hope to get in some hill runs pretty soon, which'll take a lot of patience. If I start running too many hills too fast, my shin splints will come back again, and frankly, I'd rather not get set back in my training again now that it's got some momentum to it.
I still need to get some good trail-running shoes, so I plan on checking those out pretty soon as well. If any of you guys have any tips or ideas, feel free to let me know! I've yet to figure out what all I'm going to need for the marathon: i.e. food, shoes, and other gear that I might need.
So for now... all is well. Stoked for the marathon, training's going well, and all-in-all, everything's going great.
Oh--and sorry for the randomness of this blog. Didn't really know how to write all of this and make it as "dramatic" and "blog-appropriate" as I usually do. Haha.
