In Which I Post a Marathon Training Update

Training for my December marathon officially starts in September, 17 weeks before the event, but as you know, I've been trying to get my sorry butt into better shape before I start training so I can maximize whatever benefits that training will have on a sagging, pasty, inflexible middle aged body. It's really sort of the anti-marathoner body.

So, after 3 months of increasing both distance and rate, I can happily report that my basal walking rate has moved from 3.6 mph to a very comfortable 3.8 mph. It takes me between one-half and one mile to really hit my stride, but I've found the past three weeks that I can easily walk the next 3 miles at 3.8 (or more) without a hitch. I've been doing some interval training on certain days, which has definitely helped. 4.0 mph may be attainable after all! (Don't worry, I still hate running with a passion!)

So now, my weekday walks will settle into walking for speed to build up my pace, while the weekend walks will start getting longer. I've only done 4 miles so far, partly because it's so dang hot, but next month it should start to cool off in the early morning hours, which should make increasing to 6 and then 8 and then 11 miles much more easy.

I now have three of those cute little skort exercise skirty things and they make me feel like a real athlete. Not a jock, because jockdom is way beyond my capabilities, and always has been. But an Athlete with a capital A. One even has flirty little one-inch slits on each side, the purpose of which I am unclear about but which make it more skirtier. It's hot pink. Can you see my big smile just thinking about it's pinky glory? And three pairs of those scientifically designed socks that wick sweat away from you. They don't wick away my hot flashes, though. Now that I have the uniform down, my next adventure will be in the Food Category. Apparently there are gels and nut butter tubes and all kinds of disgusting things out there to keep the marathoner upright. I'm contemplating how to stash a blueberry muffin in my 1.5-liter hydration pack because the thought of squirting some gel thing makes me shudder. But I'd want a nice cup of hot, strong tea with that muffin and there's no way I'm carrying my thermos with me.  Although, there is a bungee cord stretchy thing on the front of my pack...

Oh, but that might lead to bathroom issues, and I just read the section on that in my How to Walk book and am wondering about adult diapers as a desperate measure.

I'm listening to Charlaine Harris this week. Not the Sookie Stackhouse series, because paranormal stuff doesn't interest me, but the first Aurora Teagarden mystery, Real Murders. This is the best reader so far of the audio books I've listened to the last month.