I recently signed up for the PEC Marathon, which this year is on October 5th. This will be my first marathon and I’m looking forward to it.

I actually have not been doing any strict “marathon training” per se, but have just been running my regular schedule for most of the summer, which consists of a 10K run three times a week. I usually run it at a relatively quick pace (for me), finishing it in around 41-42 minutes.

I only learned about this marathon two weeks ago from a co-worker. Since I’d run 20K before with relative ease, I decided that I’d try the full marathon: I knew I could do a half-marathon but didn’t know if I could do a full. Plus, if I failed, I had an excuse to fall back on: I simply didn’t train hard enough. (I like making excuses 😉 )

After signing up I decided that I’d have to at least see if I could run 30K; I went for such a run (at a much slower pace than normal) last Tuesday and didn’t have too much trouble except for some expected soreness. If I wasn’t able to complete that run, I think I’d have stepped-down to the half-marathon.

I woke up early this morning and went for a 20K run. It was cool and so the run was also quite easy. I’m starting to feel pumped and upbeat for the marathon, but now I’m worried that I’m getting overconfident. I talked again to my co-worker who gave me a link to Hal Higdon’s marathon training guide, which he himself was using. I’m trying to “slip into” the “Novice 1” schedule right now and am starting my “taper” to give my body some rest.

I still have some unknowns. First of all, I’ve never ran this distance before. Secondly, the marathon starts at 8 AM but I’ll probably have to get up around 5 AM to get ready properly – this is far earlier than I’ve gotten up on a Sunday in more time than I can remember. Lastly, if the weather is hot and humid on that day, I think I’ll have serious trouble finishing.

Nevertheless, I remain optimistic. If I can complete the marathon, that’ll be one of my life’s goals accomplished!