Linden's Pensieve

That’s right: Today is 16 weeks out from the Berlin Marathon and official training has started. I am warily excited. I’ve tried this before and didn’t make it. But I am stronger and more prepared physically and mentally.

Thankfully, I’m not alone. Rob has committed to training with me and cheering me on during the big race (what he doesn’t know yet: I’ll have a map with places he and his family will meet me, complete with estimated times that I’ll pass the spots), plus my Springfield training partner just announced that she’ll be training for a sprint Tri during the summer (not as good as training together, but better than nothing!), and a new-found running blogger buddy starts training for his marathon two weeks after I do (although under rather mysterious conditions).

[caption id="attachment_754" align="alignright" width="144" caption="Linden at the end of the Giessen half-marathon"][/caption]

I have been telling you about who helped me believe it was possible for me to start running and who helped me continue being a runner, but today I’m going to try to tell my part of the story. Well, at least the most relevant parts. :)

When I started training for that 2005 Chicago Marathon, Rob and I had one car and we lived just north of Grand Street. We both worked at Bed Bath & Beyond. This means that both of us spent lots of hours at Border’s waiting for the other to get off work. I spent most of my time reading about running, and I started with Hal Higdon’s marathon book.