First Official Training Run for the Marathon? Check!

Lots to talk about today.

For starters and the thing that makes me the happiest is that I did what I am dubbing my first official training run for the Dublin Marathon in 2008 this evening. This is what I did
Walked- first 10 minutes.
Ran- 1 minute
Walked- 2 mintues
For five sets.
Walked- last 5 minutes.
When I first wanted to start running again a few months back, I looked into some beginning training programs online and ended up going with Hal Higdon's 30/30 (or 30/60) plan. I liked that the best because it gave me the opportunity to ease into it.

As with most things in my life, I was all psyched up to get started and didn't follow the program suggestions; I decided to run for longer periods of time right from the beginning putting in five to 10 minutes of running right away. And then I got shin splints and then I stopped running all together.

This time around, I'm trying to avoid all of that. I'm going to be smart about it and use the first 30-60 days as an opportunity to get my body used to running, even if it's only for a minute here or there, so I can avoid injury and then build up the distance and time.

It felt great and it made me happy. And when I came home, I made myself a really nice dinner and have all in all been having a really pleasant night.

The next thing I wanted to talk about was my therapy session last night. I often times feel nervous going into therapy. Last night was no different. As I've already mentioned, I haven't seen my therapist in three months and I was disappointed in myself that in those three months there haven't been these significant changes. I wanted to walk in there all confident and happy, all changed and satisfied and instead I walked in there all depressed and disappointed, dejected and feeling very unhappy with my body and my feelings towards that body.

But I left feeling determined to get this marathon goal moving. I left with this vision in my head about crossing a finish line in Dublin, Ireland in October of 2008. Feeling proud of myself for having accomplished that goal. Loving the person I would be for having done what I set out to do.

I need to take this one run at a time, one meal at a time and continue to be patient and loving with myself.

We talked about lots more in therapy, but getting started on this goal was the biggest thing for me.

And now that I have gotten it started, I do feel great.