Oops I Did It Again...

Signed up for a race, gonna run more terrain
Oh baby, baby
Oops you think I would laugh
That I'd stick to that ha-a-a-a-lf

I'M RUNNING A MARATHON.

Yup. I have officially entered crazy land and signed up for a full marathon on May 1 2016. 42.2 Km (26.2 Miles) of running my buns off, all for the sake of a hunk of metal and bragging rights for the rest of my life. :)

I always wanted to run a marathon, and the success of my half marathon training and race made me realize it was entirely possible if I just trained for it. I debated whether to sign up for the spring or fall marathons (Toronto has both), but in the end I decided on the spring for a few reasons:
1. It is just before my 30th birthday so I thought it would be a good way to kick off the next decade of my life
2. Training in the summer was long and hot and took up a lot of my "beers on the patio" time. That being said, I have never run in winter, and I know that winter training will be a whole 'nother ballgame. I need to figure out lighting, ice, snow, safety, and just plain keeping warm. I do have access to a treadmill for terrible weather too, but I am hoping not to use it because it is super boring and too warm in the gym for running.
3. I am super impatient!

Honestly, #3 is pretty important. I personally find it very hard to stick to exercising without an end goal, so signing up for a May race will keep me running for the next 6 months! I already drew up a plan which has me running various distances 3 days a week, and strength training 1-2 days a week. Then in mid-January I officially start marathon training! I am following RunKeeper's Beginner Marathon plan, since their half plan did me so well.

I don't really have a time goal in mind, but I think somewhere just north of 4 hours might be do-able. The full is completely different from the half so I really have no idea how I will do over such a long distance. I will hopefully get an idea when I am further into training!

EEE!