Marathon Training Thoughts

Completing a marathon has been my list of "Life To-Do's." It seems like most years that I was living in St George we would go cheer on the runners and watch people cross the finish line. Each year I thought "I should really run this sometime." Last year I finally said- I AM DOING THIS! Ethan said a marathon on his life to-do list as well- so it was nice to have a partner in crime.

Deciding on what marathon to do was easy. Many moons ago (35 years to be exact) my grandpa Horlacher helped start the St George Marathon. He ran the course several times, with several family members. I only wish I would have had the opportunity to run with him, or get training tips from him. He is now suffering from Alzheimer's Disease.  So even though he is no longer able to help train students or give me tips- I am sure he will be running along with me in spirit. I am also sure grandma Roma will also be cheering me along. 

How excellent is the picture below?

As a side note- Grandpa was the best grandpa a girl could ask for. He once took me to all the parks in Washington County when I was little. Everyone in St George that found out I was a "Horlacher" had something positive to say about him. He really deserves a post all about him. I was also fortunate to get one of my grandpa's race bibs. I love him SO much and am so grateful to have him as a grandpa.

As far as training goes- my sister Tacy said it best when she said "It is like having a part time job of running for 4 months." I am feeling a little burned out on running, though the half marathon helped lift my spirits. It also helped that we read during the week leading up to the marathon 60-70% of our diet  should be carbs. Ethan responded with "So, basically we keep eating how we always eat?"

A lot of people ask (or assume) that Ethan and I run together. This is TOTALLY not the case. We did run a 5k together once- it didn't work out for either of us. As I was jogging I had Ethan "encouraging" me along. He was running circles around me, jumping in the air, and cheering the rest of the runners on. Meanwhile I was running along, at times struggling, and kept telling him "PLEASE JUST RUN AHEAD!" He kept saying he wanted to run with me- I kept saying it was no, no you just run ahead- it just kept going and going and going. It was during that 5k that I realized we should never run together again. We have had lots of training runs this summer. Our runs included us starting at the same place/time, running the same stretch of miles, and us ending at the same place... albeit I reached our final destination each week quite awhile after Ethan.

I am ready for the marathon this weekend... well, as ready as I am going to be... for now. I am really looking forward to crossing the finish line and crossing this off the to-do list. I will report back sometime next week on the actual running of a marathon. Until then- feel free to rest your legs as much as possible on our behalf.