Help – April 9th is Coming!

In April, 2009, I did 4.6 miles of the Garden Spot Village Marathon as part of a 4-person relay team. It was my first race after being severely injured, so the local TV Station did a clip about my story.

Janet - Loretta - Carolyn ... finish line in sight!

In April, 2010, I was on a relay team at Garden Spot again. That time I did 6.1 miles. With experimenting, I decided I enjoy running the best when I use the Galloway Run/Walk Method. At that race, I did intervals of running 5 minutes and walking 2 minutes.

After that race, I continued training for a half-marathon that June. I trained well, but not great, so I was not as ready as I could have been. Along with that, the weather was not good for a race … hot and humid with temps in the 90′s. I dealt with heat-issues … nauseous, dizzy and light-headed. I planned to do intervals of running 8 minutes and walking 2 minutes, but I ended up walking more than running as I slowly made my way to the finish.

Between then and now, I’ve continued running a few days a week and have run a handful of 5 and 10Ks. I’ve also gradually been changing my diet … trying to eat foods that help my body and give me energy. I do well with this most of the time, but it seems like I average about two days a week when I ‘forget’ about my healthy eating plans.

April is coming, along with another Garden Spot Village Marathon. This year I’m tackling the half-marathon. Garden Spot’s course is beautiful as it winds through Amish farm country. Part of the beauty is the rolling hills this area is known for … which means I will have some nasty hills.

Training has been going good … did a long run of 10 miles last week that included hills. I’ve been running 4 minutes and walking 1 minute and plan to do that at the race, though I might adjust that so my walking breaks happen on the nastiest hills. (Hey, I like running, not torture)

I want to be trained, strong and ready. The race is about 5 weeks away, which is 33 days, which is about 800 hours. Of those hours, I should sleep around 25o hours … which leaves 550 hours of awake time. I’m hoping those numbers help me remember to eat healthy as much as possible … because April 9th is coming!

How do you make sure your dreams happen? Do you make strict plans? And how do you stick to them?

If you’re non-runner looking to start running or a beginning runner, I wrote a post recently with practical information for new runners.
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If you want to join me in seeing beautiful Amish country on foot … check out Garden Spot Village Marathon’s website. This well-organized website is a true indicator of how well the race is organized … it’s one of the best races I’ve done.

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  • http://shawnsmucker.com shawn smucker

    Wow Janet. I haven’t known you very long, but it’s exciting to see how far you have come.

    I was also in good shape through college (played soccer), but after that lost my motivation. Seeing all that you have accomplished makes me think that today might be a good day to get out and start running again.

  • http://www.gardenspotvillagemarathon.org Scott Miller

    Janet – you are an inspiration! Thanks for the kind words about the marathon. As the race director I never dreamed of the level of effort it takes to organize an event like this. This dream has happened because so many other people have gotten involved to help plan, organize, volunteer and participate. My experience indicates that when you involve other positive supportive people in your dreams they you help keep up the momentum. Going it alone it difficult. Going with friends is fun !! I don’t think your post mentions that you organized a running club and signed up 5 relay teams that first year in 2009. That is a perfect example of getting others involved. Like I said . . . you are an inspiration!

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