No turning back now

It's official. As soon as the clock flipped to 1 a.m. here in the East, the online registration opened for the 2008 Chicago Marathon. I waited up, logged on at the first possible moment and am now officially registered to run the 26.2 mile course on Octber 12, 2008. So, what has been a whole lot of talk is now set in stone.

I've paid the non-refundable fee and can now really start mapping out my training for the coming months. The only thing that could derail my part in all this would be if the Blue Jays make the playoffs and then advance to the ALCS. Let's just say the percentages are in my favor that I'll be able to run in the marathon.

As for my latest workout, yesterday I ran seven miles, which is the most I've run at once since Christmas Eve. I had removed long runs from my workouts in order to stick to indoor runs for now. The long runs will return in a couple weeks, when I'm down in the comforts of Florida. The winds have been blowing nearly 60 mph up here in Toronto this week and it's snowing now.

I finished the seven miles in 55:48, so just under eight minutes per mile. According to my handy-dandy Garmin, I took 9,568 steps and burned roughly 886 calories. My legs were aching in the first three miles (splits of 7:57, 8:02 and 7:47). But then I cooled down with a 9:01 on mile 4, suddenly felt refreshed and finished up with splits of 8:10, 7:47 and 7:02 on the last three miles.

It's nice to know that if I do feel some fatigue, I can slow my pace for a mile or so and then pick right back up after that. A lot of times, the fatigue seems more mental than physical. Once I slowed my pace, my legs no longer felt sore and I was able to steadily increase down the stretch. Hopefully I can use a similar approach come October if my body tries to convince me to stop.

Stay tuned for more...