Come one, come all

This is a long overdue venture - so late, in fact, that I'm tempted to just hold off for another month - but it's better late than never, right?

For those of you who don't know, I am one standard month away - tomorrow I'll be one calendar month away - from the starting line of my second marathon (the OC Marathon) and first "goal" race that's longer than a 10k.  What I mean by that is that my goal for my first marathon was to finish, preferably in under 3:30, which translates to 8 minute miles.  I intentionally set that pace easily within my grasp in order to be able to focus on my primary goal while also having some sort of number-driven motivation.  I like numbers.

This time around, I picked a pace that, according to my 10k PR (39:00), I should be able to hit relatively easily: 7:10 minutes/mile, which translates to just under a 3:10 marathon.  This also happens to be the qualifying time for the Boston Marathon in my age group.  Coincidence?  I think not.

I say this is long overdue because I'm currently halfway through week 17 of 21 in my training for this marathon.  To fully recap the last 4 months would be tedious and, to be honest, very unexciting.  Instead, here's a very quick numerical summary:

Days/week running: 6, every week.
Weekly mileage: 39 in week 1, just under 65 in week 14.
Total mileage: just under 880 as of this entry.
Total time: 121.5 hours.
Intermediate races: 2, both of which I placed 2nd in.
Falls: 2, one of which was during an impromptu (and intoxicated) "race" against a friend.
Bonks: 1 major, a couple minor.
Rattlesnake encounters: 2, one of which I saw in time to give it a wide berth.

In short, I run.  A lot.  And no matter how much I bitch about being sore and/or exhausted, I love it.

So, come one, come all; feel free to watch as I try to prove something to no one in particular.  I promise to try and keep this updated somewhat regularly (Sundays and Thursdays would be nice).