Ugggghhh!

Day 8
Weather: Indoor
Distance: 4 mile run and Weights
Week Total: 4.0
Type: Tread Mill/Weights
Pace: 8:45 per mile

Day 9
Weather: 60
Distance: 5.5 miles
Week Total: 9.5 miles
Type: Slow easy
Pace: 9:52 per mile

Take a look at my Day 9 time. I'm not sure what is happening, but leg fatigue is setting in big time. If that wasn't enough, the nagging groin injury is back and it is difficult to walk, much less run. As I sit typing this morning, I'm debating on whether I'm going to attempt a bike ride, something I had planned to add in to maintain my conditioning, while taking some stress off my legs this week.

One of the reasons I started this blog was so that some friends, and perhaps someone else who stumbled across the blog, could follow my training for a marathon and so I could share some of my thoughts on my faith and my life.

Having done one marathon, I felt the urge to do another, but after one week I'm pretty disgruntled. I feel more beat up/broken down than last time I trained. I think this is because my running has increased in distance and intensity. This I can work through and tough out, the physical and mental challenge is one of the reasons that I am proud I did one marathon and why I'm going for another.

More importantly is the time requirements for training. Even if I get up early, before everyone else and get my runs in, there is still the fatigue component which can rob time from my family. After one week, the running, coupled with less sleep than I should be getting during training, has affected my mood in a very negative way. Just ask my wife.

Now what? Time to refocus and readjust. I took up running for fitness, to try to stave off the heart disease and high cholesterol that plagues my family. I have to remember that staying healthy and sticking around for my wife and kids is why I started running and that has to be my focus. I have to realize that if I want to do "crazy" stuff like run a marathon, or maybe an ultra one day, I can not sacrifice my family, because that's the whole reason I started this silliness to begin with.

Why am I being so personal about this? So that if anyone else decides that they want to do a marathon, they are fully aware of the time necessary to train, even the minimum required to "just finish", and will not go into it with false assumptions. Is it worth it? Yes, like my college degree, I have a marathon in the books and no one can ever take away that accomplishment. Is it worth making my wife and kids miserable, well maybe when they are being mean to me, but as a general rule, NO!

I'm going to try that bike ride now, wish me luck...