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These are the things that I have learned about myself in the past few weeks:

• I hate waking up early but I also don’t like starting a run after about 7:30 am.  My disdain for running late overrides my love for extra sleep.  I feel MUCH better when I start running early.
  
• I do not like running on the treadmill.  Okay, I already knew this.
• If everything is not in place when I need it, I get off track and start procrastinating.  To get around this, I MUST get EVERYTHING that I need to run the next morning together at night.  Can’t find my earbuds:  an hour lost.  Can’t find my SPIBelt:  an hour lost.  (What’s a SPIBelt, you ask? Check it out here:  http://spibelt.com/?gclid=CMnens75mKwCFQLj7QodXB9VLg  IT IS NOT A FANNY PACK…  IT IS NOT A FANNY PACK…) Does it take me an hour to find these things?  No.  That’s just how long I can veer off track when I have to stop and look for something.  The computer starts calling my name as if the secrets to the location of my lost items lie within.
• Running alone is harder than running with someone else.  I’ve run ‘long’ with others and alone.  I run a little slower with others (don’t know why) but it’s more of a struggle to keep going when I’m alone.  I need to get over this.  I’ll be running this marathon all by myself.
• I am obsessed with this marathon.  Okay, so this is not new news.  I have an obsessive personality so it’s only fitting that the marathon has become a subject of obsession.  I wake up thinking about it.  I think about it all day long.  Every time I feel a little soreness or twinge of pain ANYWHERE, I wonder if it’s going to affect my next run.  I can’t walk past exercise wear without wondering what I’ll wear to run the marathon.  Every time I see a ‘26.2’ sticker in a car window, I think I should hurry and buy myself one to make sure they don’t all sell out before I get one.  I’ve visited a hundred (seriously) sites about running marathons.  See…  I’m going on and on just thinking about being obsessed with the marathon.       Oh, well…  I guess after the marathon, I’ll move on to the next thing.

I’ve been running my runs according to my training schedule.  Today, I ran 3 miles at tempo pace (which for me is 12:00min/mile) this morning on the treadmill.  I felt pretty good.  I actually inched the speed up to 11:15 then 10:30 miles/min on the last mile.  It felt like I was sprinting.  I guess for ME, it was kinda like sprinting.  I wish I could run that fast again.  One day…  This week’s long run is 11 miles.  I’m nervous about it.  Not sure why.  I’ve run further than this before but it was PRE-knee surgery.  I guess that’s why I’m nervous.  Will my knee hold up?  I don’t have any indication that it won’t, but I’m still nervous. 

Here’s what this week holds (held) for me:

1. Monday:  5 ‘easy’ miles on the street
2. Tuesday:  4 miles at marathon pace (12:48 miles/min) on the treadmill
   
3. Wednesday:  3 miles at tempo pace (varied between 12:00 and 10:30 miles/min) on the treadmill
   
4. Thursday:  rest day
5. Friday:  4 ‘easy’ miles
6. Saturday:  11 miles on the street – I will be walking for 60 seconds every 1-1/2 miles
7. Sunday:  rest day – in the bed!  😉
   

Total miles:  29 (Last week’s total miles:  27)