2/28 Off and Running

Welcome to my Blog, Al's Aching Toes. I'm your host, Al Bangorhard. This blog chronicles my training as I try to make my way back to marathon shape. (And yes, I will refer to myself as "I." It bothers me when bloggers refer to themselves in the third person. Why do they do this? Al won't do that.)

I'm 37, and I've been out of the game for about 5 years. In my late twenties and into my early 30s, I was a relatively competitive marathoner. I logged about 12 marathons all over the country and a shitload of smaller races. My personal best (I just like using that phrase cause it makes me think of Mariel Hemingway getting naked with that other chick) was 3:20. I had about 7 or 8 that were in that range.

But then I became a bag of shit. 5 years, two kids, and 15 pounds later, I couldn't run more than 5 miles, and I couldn't do that at better than a 9:30 pace.

Now I'm back (sort of). I've dropped ten pounds (fuck I'm hungry). I spent two months building a base of 25 miles per week. Now I'm three weeks into a proper marathon training cycle, and I'm doing 37 miles this week. I've logged three long runs, thus far: an 18 at 9:40 pace, a 15 at 9:30s, a 14 at 9:20s. I'm mixing in some speed work and some hill work, and I've gotten my 10k pace down to 8:15ish.

P.S. My toes hurt.