I can’t remember who first posted the idea of people from our class taking part in the Bluenose marathon this May 18, but they must have been very convincing as I decided to sign up to do the full marathon. I did run the half marathon in 2005 which was my previous longest distance. Since the end of M+F I have been in training for the marathon, 42km. I have been running 5 times a week, each week increasing my total kilometers, as well as the length of my long run on Sunday. So far I am up to 34km in my training so I have a ways to go.

As I said training is 5 days a week. The training has been going well. I am getting used to running the longer distances, and I feel I am in good shape cardiovascular wise, and I am not having any joint or muscle problems. One of the biggest challenges is finding time to do all this running. It does take up a lot of time. Not just the run, but also the warm-up, stretching, the cool down, etc. Sometimes it can be hard to balance it with the studies and other activities, but so far I have managed (well I think I have, I am still waiting on my PIM mark). Also, the long runs often are pretty tiring and it can be hard to study afterwards.

Most of the time I have been running outdoors, but on occasion I have had to run indoors due to bad weather. A few times at DALPLEX, and I have done a few of my long runs on a treadmill, the longest being 31km. I probably don’t have to say this, but running 31km on a treadmill is NOT FUN! That’s right, I ran for 3 hours and 10 minutes in the same spot on a treadmill. I am really glad that it is starting to warm up so I do more of these runs outside.

Anyways, good luck to all those who have decided to take part in the Bluenose marathon. Keep up the training and I’ll see you all at the finish line.