Marathon Training

Well, really I'm training for a HALF marathon. I don't quite have the desire to do a full marathon. My race is on September 11th at Camp Pendleton. Two years ago, Fischer and I ran our first 5k and it was such an adreneline rush. I loved the race atmosphere, and believe it or not it was quite spiritual waking up at 5am to do an early race. I loved the whole experience and have been wanting to do a half marathon for two years. When I started training in 2008 after Chloe was born, we soon found out we were pregnant again and my training stopped. Then I miscarried and got pregnant again within a couple months. Now that Annie is here, I can focus on my training again. She was 7 months old on Easter Sunday, and I feel that I'm finally at a point where I can focus on getting back in shape and doing this race. Last Monday started my official training. Right now, I'm trying to be able to run 3 miles nonstop. I did 1.25 miles without stopping last Wednesday and am focusing on doing 1.5 miles this week. Monday and Tuesday I made the 1.5 miles, but did some walking to get there. I'm having a hard time getting my mind to believe I can do this. My legs are heavy and my body feels sluggish. I'm focusing on eating healthier and drinking more water. I also started taking a multivitamin today. My frustration right now is that I "KNOW" I can run 1.5 miles if I did 1.25 last week, but my body is fighting my mind. I am doing my runs on my treadmill, which is probably another reason I'm struggling. I got an Ipod for Valentine's Day, so I'm using that, but I think I really need to go outside and run. I really want to go outside, but I can't leave the girls at home alone while I run and by the time Fischer and Barry get home we are eating dinner and focusing on family time. The only other option is to get up early and go before Fischer leaves for school. HAHAHAHA, yes I am laughing. Getting up early is not my thing. Today I got up at 5:30, but had to feed Annie first and didn't finish my run until 7:00am, an hour after Fischer leaves for school. I have a double jogging stroller, but I have three little girls. It sounds like I'm coming up with all the excuses in the book, but I'm really trying not to. I find the time to run on the treadmill every day; I just can't make myself get up early in order to do it outside. I'm going to have to figure something out though because if a mile is hard to do on the treadmill, I can't even imagine trying to do 4 miles and then up to 12! But, "I can, I will, I am able!" I'll be updating my progress as I go, but for now, here is a picture of me a couple weeks ago at the LA Zoo. I'm hoping to lose some weight as I get further along in my training, so I'll post pics as I see changes. By the way, I'm a half marathoner :)