Well, marathon training has started again. It’s hard to believe that it was only this past July that I started training for the NYC Marathon and now six months later I’m started this whole thing over again for the New Jersey Marathon in April.

This will be my first spring marathon so bring on all the usual anxiety attacks and oh yeah, I have a new goal in  mind. In order to hit this goal I will need to improve my pace by 40 seconds. 40 seconds!!!

Training has been rough this first week for reasons that do not have anything to do with the holidays. For the past few weeks I have been dealing with a kidney stone issue. I named him Fred and found out today that he has siblings. The good news is that they are not obstructing anything so I can take my time and come up with a plan for charging them back rent and evicting them. I have also found that when they get a little painful it just zaps me of energy and making running harder.

The weather has been hard to deal with. Every year I have to work hard to adjust to running in the morning before work, in the dark, and in the cold. My bed wins this battle more often than not. Then I feel like crap because I didn’t run and then I feel guilty because I know I could have easily gone running.

But this is only the first week of the marathon training and it’s not like I haven’t been running.

After the NYC marathon I continued to run but at much more leisurely paces and shorter distances. I knew I needed to give my body a bit of a rest before entering into full out training mode again. That training for the Miami Half Marathon began after Thanksgiving and so far is going well when I just consider the long runs. (See note about kidney stones and cold weather.)

In the past I have been a little scared of making this race a goal race but with the help of my buddy we are both going to PR. But I really can’t wait for this race. There is such a pleasant familiarity of the course and warm weather to make it all so much fun.

This of course will then lead me right into the nitty gritty part of my marathon training. This is when the miles will really start adding up and I have to figure out how to run them in the coldest part of the year. Does anyone want to join me for some long, cold miles in February? Does that sound appealing to anyone? If you don’t want to run with me how about holding my coat and making hot cocoa for me? Winter terrifies me and that is aside from the usual panic attacks.

Oh and hey, remember that strength training I was supposed to for my last marathon? That strength training I never did? Well, I’m going to try and make more of an honest effort to do it this time around. Seriously. Really.

No, I don’t have the personal trainer I was hoping to have but I have plenty of exercises that I have been posting on my Pinterest page. I just have to do some of them. I’m not committing to all of them just some so that I can see if it helps. I know I need to strengthen my core. I think we all do. I also need to strengthen my quads for all that long distance running stuff.

This really does seem like my fall marathon plan. Well, almost. I think I’m being more realistic and I know I have had far fewer panic attacks than last year. So I’m off to a fabulous start.

Now, how does one charge back rent to a bunch of kidney stones?