The Happiest Miles on Earth

 So much for the weekly posting stuff.  Life moves fast, and with football and other fall festivities, there’s barely time for training much less blogging. But here we are, only 11 weeks to go, and time to get serious.  Hopefully you’re getting some long runs in and getting some miles on tired legs.  Being able to get out there and run after thinking you left it all out there the day before is a huge step towards surviving in January. Thank God that run is over- now what? The key to running on tired legs is taking care of them after every run.  No matter how long you’re out for, every run should end with some walking.  While those leg muscles are still warm, be sure to keep moving and cool them down gradually.  Do some high steps, long steps, other funky steps to stretch out your quads, hamstrings, glutes and calf muscles.  For those longer runs, take a little extra time when you’re done to stretch the joints out too.  Hip, knee, and Achilles...

  Nope, you didn’t miss a post- I did.  Fully meant to post from Germany but I blame Lufthansa for not getting my luggage there and throwing me off my game.  Hope you’ve been able to keep the momentum going during the two weeks we’ve been apart. The Long (and sometimes Winding) Road With just over 3 months to go now, training is in full swing and the long runs are getting longer.  Never fun to do alone but absolutely necessary to at least get out there for large blocks of time.  Here are some things that help me get through the long runs and help prepare for the marathon itself. Hold Your Head Up - Not just a motivating mantra to get you through, but practical advice to keep you focused on the path ahead.  I know I have a tendency to look down when I run.  Especially during the longer runs and on the longer stretches, I have to remind myself to keep my head up and look out at the road ahead.  Helps with posture and also helps identify markers to r...

How’s your week been?  Hopefully you have gotten out there a few times and are getting a little routine going.  Last week’s post was fun to write but don’t expect that too often.  Much briefer updates coming in the weeks ahead, just enough to keep the conversation going. Weather Report Clearly way too early to know what to expect on the morning of the big race, but not too early to acknowledge that just about anything is on the table.  We’ve run in ski hats and gloves, and have run in tank tops and shorts.  Central Florida in early January can go either way, so prepare for both. Thinking about both extremes early will help with the preparation.  Get used to training runs with layers and consider some treadmill days to get used to warmer temps.  As we get closer we’ll talk about what to pack to prepare for anything on race day. MM 1.9 to MM 3.0 Epcot!  After sneaking in the side door between Mexico and Norway, you’ll take a hard left onto World Sho...

Well hello there! Way too much to say in a text, so I thought it would be fun to put some thoughts into a blog to keep us all motivated.   There are actually fewer than 17 weeks until we actually arrive in central Florida, but since the common thread for all of us is the marathon I set up this countdown that way. Lots to cover in the next 17 weeks.  To keep the blog simple, each week's post will have two parts: (1) something about training or race logistics, and (2) a progressive virtual runthrough of the course! Let's get going...  The Most Important Training Tool   At any pace, at any distance, there's one thing (in my opinion) that every runner needs: a good playlist. Running playlist songs should have a good tempo with a driving beat and good lyrics (that ideally reference running somehow). The list itself should have a mix of short songs to give you a boost and longer songs that can get you into a flow. Everyone's got their favorites, but here are 5 of mine that...