4 Mile Run - June 2nd

Hi everyone.

So I begin my training diary for the 2007 Marine Corps Marathon. I'm super excited to run the entire 26.2 miles this year, as opposed to last year when I walked every 6th minute. This time I won't be stopping if I can help it, but I'll have a better feel for that once we start our longer training runs.

On June 2nd I participated in my first team run - 4 miles. It was a nice run, although the sun was already bright at 8am and the humidity was a little thick as we ran along the C&O canal. Although I started the run with a group (10 minute milers) I ended up running most of the trip by myself - mostly because the group was faster than I am at this point in training. It was nice to have some time alone with my thoughts - without the distraction of a cell phone or an ipod drawing my attention elsewhere.

Somewhere around mile 3.4, I noticed that the girl who had been in front of me nearly the entire run started to walk. I really wanted to walk because the heat had been so bad and the smell of the canal was stifling. Besides, I am used to a walk break every few minutes.

Since my goal is to run the entire race, I made the decision to keep running. Once I caught up with the girl (whose name I learned was Erin - she's a first time marathoner), I asked her if we could run the last stretch together. It was a great motivation for both of us - and we kept each other going!

After the run I felt great! It was only 9am and I had the entire day ahead of me!!