#10

as part of the whole finishing-a-marathon-life-goal thing, i signed up for the cherry blossom 10 miler which is in April. Kevin, Aimee, and some coworkers wanted to sign up, so i thought it would be fun to race with people i know...plus 10 miles is a good stepping stone distance toward the big 26.2. my goal is to do a half marathon by the end of this season and a marathon sometime next year.

by the way...the cherry blossom festival is a great time to visit DC...the trees are gorgeous! i couldn't find my pictures, but trust me...it's one of my favorite times of the year to visit the monuments.

having a race as an event to work toward really helps motivate me to keep up with training. i used Smartcoach from Runner's World to plan my training schedule. having a schedule also gets me going because it makes me aware of what i need to do on a certain day to get one step...or in this case many strides...closer to my goal.

i've got a big day tomorrow...5 miles...it will be my longest run ever...and my legs are still really tight from all the walking i did on inauguration day...should have stretched afterwards...damn you Matchbox and your tasty craft beers! i have doubts about being able to make the full 5 because i normally do my long run on saturdays and the legs aren't feeling great right now. my previous longest run is a 4.9 mile gallop last spring...which i only did once. hopefully all goes well tomorrow.