This morning marked the end of the fourth week of training for my first marathon. Saturdays are always the long run day, and today I put in 11 miles. It’s not the longest I’ve ever run (that’d be 13.1 – the Half marathon I ran in Charlotte last year), but it’s the longest I’ve run in quite some time. It went well and my heart rate and pacing were both on target.

This week I finished with 30.5 miles and started feeling the hints of some nagging pain in my right knee and left foot. I’m not too worried about it because I’m stretching A LOT and also using a foam roller. I think it’s just my body adjusting to the increase in mileage, and it’s probably time to look into some new shoes. The ones I’ve got now are closing in on 400 miles, and that’s about the limit for me. Some of the pain could just be my body telling me to buy some more.

Yesterday was the end of my 3rd week of preparation for the SunTrust Richmond Marathon. To this point, I’ve yet to run anything that I haven’t run before. My long runs have been less than half-marathon distance (which is my longest run to date back at the Thunder Road race in Charlotte in December of 08) and my weekly mileage has been close to what I was running before starting this training plan (around 22-27 miles each week). This past week, though, was the last time I can say that. For the next 15 weeks or so I’ll be running between 30-44 miles each week and will start building my long runs up to a couple 20 milers.

Here’s what I’ve learned so far (and it may be the most important lesson I can take away from this whole experience): you really do have to plan ahead if you want to pull off big things. There’s just no way I could start this training in October and be ready to run it in November. Even though it seems odd running in July for a race in November, there is no other way.

Life, and specifically our walk with Christ, is the same. It is my consistency now that is laying the foundation for success weeks, months, even years from now. I am learning to be faithful and to trust the process, not just in running, but in my faith and life.

This ended up being a pretty good week, but I wasn’t so sure about it at the beginning. I was still wrestling with the leftovers of whatever head cold I brought back from camp in Virginia, and my body was worn out. Add to that the fact that I did 2 of my runs in the heat of the day (vs the early mornings which I typically do during the summer), and it was a week of listening to my body and being flexible.

The biggest change was switching my Tues and Wed runs, but after my long 9 miler on Saturday I finished the week with just under 24 miles. I’ve got one more week of mileage in the low to mid 20s and then things will start to pick up.

Soreness in my legs is not a factor, but the arch of my left foot is stiff each morning. No pain, just stiff, and it works itself out in the early parts of each run.