Please read this and take it to heart!

I forgot how much I like blogging. I was thinking all day today what I might post. I'm sure that if you are reading this blog now, that eventually you'll get tired of reading it, because it will be all about me and my training. I'll try to make it entertaining, but really, who am I kidding?

Don't feel compelled to stay. Feel free to stop by occasionally to see how I'm doing. I don't expect anyone except maybe family to read this on a regular basis (my family is awesome).  It's really just a way for me to motivate myself.

I never understood why people are obsessed with having people read their blogs. It's a bit narcissistic, isn't it? Unless you are a writer, or promoting something, I don't know how anyone can find a blog about you and your life to be interesting. But then again, people watch "Reality TV."  Which isn't really real reality anyway.  But I digress....back to ME.

What I really wanted to write about was how excited I am to start my training.  I got my first email from MIT today.  The advice was about what your pace should be while training.  Apparently this is VERY important, because it was prefaced with this statement:  "If you read nothing else throughout the course of the season, please read this and take it to heart!"   I've already paid enough for this training to ensure that I will read each and every email they send me.  Still, it seemed important, so I read it closely.

We are advised not to train at "race pace," but to train at a pace a whole minute slower than your expected race pace.  Since your training will not take you to a full 26.2 miles, you need to be able to be on your feet running the length of time it will take you to complete the marathon while running likely no more than 22 miles at the longest. Running slower ensures you can endure the hours it will take.  And it will definitely take me hours!

I had an average race pace of 11:30 minutes per mile for my last race, which was a half marathon. 13.1 miles. In two and a half hours.  So I'd like to run a five hour marathon.  Yes, that's correct. Five hours. First, I can't imagine being out there for five hours. I'm going to get hungry.  I'll have to pee. I'll be bored. My music player batteries will die.

Second, if I take the advice to go slower in training, one minute slower is 12:30 minutes per mile! I don't know if I can go that slow.  It's hard enough running as slow as I do (I imagine people put quotes around the word "running" when I tell them how slow I "run"), but I know people who walk races faster than that!  Even worse, if I figure out a pace for 22 miles (which will likely be the longest I will run in training) for 5 hours,  that's 13:38 minutes per mile.  At that point, why bother "running" at all?

Oops I think I just talked myself out of this crazy thing. Maybe blogging about it is not the best way to stay motivated. I have two more days before training starts.  I might not make it.