Week 8 : Why would anyone ever want to run 26 miles?

and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was. - Mark 1:34

Another donation! Thanks Smith family! You are mucho appreciated! Just one more sentence with an exclamation mark! :P

My lovely wife recently made a statement, "Don't know why anyone would want to run 26 miles." I thought, "Hey, wait a minute! I'm running twenty-six POINT TWO miles!?!?" I think for me, when started this running thing, the thought of running a marathon seemed like the ultimate goal. When I was just getting up to running a 5K distance, the marathon loomed in my mind as an almost mystical event. I kept the running up and now here I am, smack dab in the middle of training for my 1st marathon race. I wanted to achieve the goal of running the marathon. I want to not just finish, but finish strong. I am taking in as much advice as I can get - I am going to enjoy this first experience and not expect too much. However I REALLY want to run a sub 4 hour race. And why wouldn't you want to run through confetti??

2008 White Rock Marathon (Dallas Observer)

On to this week's training. The midweek runs were good. Not a whole lot to report there. More battling with the wierd Texas yo-yo "Fall" weather than anything.

Week 8 Runs:

Tue: 4 miles
Wed: 7 miles
Thur: 4 miles
Sat: 15 miles ~ 2 hr. 20 min. - 9:20 per mile avg. pace

Week Total: 30 miles

So I have hit yet another milestone! 15 miles goes down like a ton of bricks. It seems so long ago that I was really worried about that 11 miler in week 4. Now as the long runs keep going up in mileage, I just tell myself, "Only 'x' more miles than last week - just finish it!" It feels awesome to mark off the training days and know I'm just a few weeks closer. 10 more weeks...

Also in my training, I have been trying Clif Shot Gels for that mid-run energy shot. Mainly because that is what is provided at mile 19 of the marathon. I'm not a real big fan of gels in the first place because of the texture and I had really not tried any since my high school football days. My assessment of the 3 flavors I've tried so far:

*Blech Meter - 5 Blechs = Most Gross / 1 Blech = Least Gross

Mocha: Blech Blech Blech Blech
- Pretty awful. Only saving grace is it has a bit of caffiene in it for a little extra pep.

Vanilla: Blech Blech Blech
- This one's tolerable, but it's orange and that's just strange for vanilla.

Razz: Blech
- The winner so far! It may just be me, but fruity flavors just work a little better for me.