Getting a plan

As of today we are 18 weeks away from the marathon (holy crap!), and i have been hemming and hawing on how the heck in actually going to do this!

Generally, I run Monday, Friday, and one long weekend run, and go to Total Body Toning on Tuesday and Thursday. I'm lucky to have access to an amazing gym right across the street from work- Summa. With an almost hour commute to work and two busy boys at home, i make the most of my lunch hour and spend most of my break time sweating it out and rushing back across the street to get back to work. But, it works for me and otherwise, i know i would never make the time.

I have looked at lots of training plans and i just couldn't commit. Some seemed like too much and some seemed like i would be re-inventing my training wheel. Then my running guru at work (hi Tim!) suggested that i look at the official marathon training plan (duh!). So i did (double duh) and guess what??? Coach Jenny Hadfield's plan really seemed to fit the bill perfectly! Her plan has me running M/W/F/Sa and cross training T/Th which is right in line with my current plan that im already doing, so it works perfect. I also like that her plan is based on minutes as opposed to miles. There will be some days that ill run at lunch and then come home and run the rest of the minutes that i cant fit into my lunch break, but that will work and now that i have a solid plan i feel better and one step closer to actually doing this! You can check out Coach Jenny's plans here. Ill be following the beginner marathon program.

I also need to note that i am not an expert in any way, shape or form. Ill do what works for me in the time that i have and learning A LOT along the way!  I'm sure i will need to make some tweaks and adjustments based around life. If you have any tips for a first time marathoner, im all ears!

My first official in training week went well! This week i ran 6 on Sunday, 3 on Monday, Total body toning on Tuesday and Thursday, 3 on Friday, and a little over 6 on Saturday! I also had some gift cards from Christmas so i got some new gear too!  Nothing gets me more excited to have some new gear to run in!

So here we go week 3 on my new Coach Jenny plan! (her plan is 20 weeks out and i got on board 2 weeks late, but yay! week 3 sounds better anyway!)
Im excited to have a plan, excited to have some new gear to test out, and excited to get at it!
What are you guys excited about this week?

Also, check out the officialness of this!!!

Keep following me and let me know how you are doing!  We are all in this together and i feel so lucky to get to vocalize where this training journey takes me. Last year i started following some of the official bloggers and it got me so motivated, so if i can motivate just one person out there, then i'd would be pretty excited!

Also, stay tuned because at some point, ill get to giveaway a race entry as well!  You want to be at this race, is it so fun and if you are on the fence about doing a race, this is the one to do!!! The energy in the city is just magic! There are people everywhere and it hardly feels like a run because they keep you so so motivated!

You can find me on facebook, instagram (where i started #motiovationmonday last week), bloglovin, and even twitter!

and as my mom will tell you (or write a motivational card to you)

Happy running CLE!
GET IT!