I don’t want to jinx myself or anything, but man, does it feel good to be back into my running routine!
I missed the camaraderie of my group runs. I missed the ability to get my daily outdoors fix while relieving my stress. I even missed my favorite music — Eminem isn’t my artist of choice while I’m sitting in my apartment working, but there’s nothing quite like running your heart out to “Shake That.”
And I missed having the Marine Corps Marathon to look forward to. I signed up to run it after a successful performance at the National Half Marathon in March, and all but put it aside while I was nursing a sore IT band. Now, I’m starting to get excited about it again, printing out my training plan and considering my warmup races.
I’m following the FIRST plan, which calls for three days of running per week, plus some hard cross-training the other days. In particular, I’m following the beginner’s plan, a fairly straightforward plan that calls for just one 20-miler before the race.
Amy Reinink 
Very cool, I’ve read a lot about FIRST and interested to see how it works out for you. Is this your first thon?
I’m OBSESSED with the FIRST plan. I ran an injury-free half following it in March, and improved my time by like seven minutes. I’ve run one marathon previously, with a traditional training plan … hoping for similar results from FIRST this time around!
cool dude! I’m trying to convince Bri & his brother Mark to do this (the MC 10K, not the marathon)…I have some questions, gonna email you.
Glad that you’re back to enjoying running. I almost died of heat exhaustion yesterday after 3mi. But I feel that 3 mi is better than 0 mi 🙂
Indeed! I’m so excited you’ve caught the running bug!
Great news, Amy! I may check out the FIRST plan once I get to run again (it’s only a week starting today but feels like a year, LOL). I know you’ll do GREAT at the MC marathon!
Hope your runs continue hip-pain freeeeee! A few runners at Capital Striders tonight were talkin about MCM. I wish I had thought about Fall races earlier, would’ve signed up for the half (is there one?). are you doing the army 10 miler?? that one sounds fun too!
sounds like a good plan and smart approach! i know you’d be happiest making it to the starting line and getting to run a strong race. much more desirable than being sidelined! after a solid round of training for mcm, you’ll be able to build on that for whatever is next.
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