The training begins

Well here I am a wife and mom and I am about to embark on an exciting journey of training for my first marathon. So why do a blog? Well I have two reasons: the first - I feel if I journal each day of my training that it will motivate me to  keep going even when it gets tough; the  second - Is to encourage other mom's out there that we can go for our dreams, no matter how big or small they may seem. 
As a wife and mom I think dreams are good, they keep us young or at least young at heart.


One of my favorite scriptures is: 
Philippians 4: 13 "I can do everything through Him who gives me strength."  
I think this is a scripture I am going to cling to as I train for a marathon, as I have no doubt there are going to be good days and bad days but through it all I know God is with me. 


I bet you are wondering which marathon is she doing? Well I am doing the Denver Rock and Roll marathon which I think is in about 109 days. Seems like a long time away but I know that it is going suddenly be upon me. So I have consulted various training plans and can't find one that totally suits me, so I think I am going to take a little from all the various training plans. I am going to try and do three days a week of 3-5 mile runs, some cross training of biking and swimming, I did swimming before I did my first 1/2 marathon and it really seemed to help, and then some long runs on the weekend. It is easier to do long runs on the weekend when my husband is at home to watch the kids.


So I have a plan and I have dream and now it is time to put that into practice. It is all very well having a dream but every dream takes some effort and work. I can remember at school loving running and so enjoyed being out on the track or running cross-country, but then there weren't so many distractions and of course I was a lot younger. I still have that love of running which I think counts for a lot when you are training for a marathon. 


So let me tell about my first training set back: On Saturday I was excited for a nice run with the family, my two older girls ride their bikes, my younger daughter is in the stroller, my husband is pushing the stroller and we are off. It was a great run until about 1 mile from home, I think I started day dreaming about chocolate milk shakes and was not looking where I was going. I tripped on an old wooden bridge and ended up with a rather sore shoulder and face. So no running for a few days, but yesterday I felt better and was out again running and this time, good news I stayed on my feet. 

I must say I feel incredibly blessed, I have some amazing friends who are supporting me in this effort to train. My one dear friend came over this morning and spent an hour with the girls so I could run in the coolness of the morning, instead of the blistering afternoon heat, as I say I am really blessed.


So keep watching this blog, I guess it is designed especially for my family in South Africa, so they can keep up to date with my training. Love you guys.  I try will my best to keep you updated with how the training is going and any other tips that might be helpful if you ever want to run a marathon.