A month has passed since I announced my registration for my sixth 26.2 and the excitement is still running high. Over the weekend I spent a nice afternoon with some of my old clients from Mashpee Fitness and one of them asked me why I haven’t been blogging about my training… so here’s an update, Beth:
Marathon training is typically 16 weeks. Training for New York City will officially begin July 17th. From now until then I will slowly be building mileage in hopes of getting up to 8-10 miles as a long run over the next 3 months.
The past few weeks I've been battling spring allergies along with a cold that sidelined be for a few days. At this time my long run is still 4 miles but I have started bring Reggie along again and I also ran 4 miles without stopping—which was a pretty big deal. I ordered Reggie a new Ruffwear running harness/hydration pack for when we start running longer miles together.
Soon after I registered my parents secured 2 hotel rooms in Midtown Manhattan as part of my birthday present this year. One less thing for me to stress about.
Also for my birthday, Craig surprised me with Nike Zoom Fly 5 carbon fiber running shoes. They feature the latest technology which are said to improve speed and efficiency. He knew one pair wouldn’t last until November so he bought two pairs—one for training and one for closer to race day. I can’t wait to start wearing them!
My new shoes inspired me to rewatch the Breaking 2 documentary on Disney+ with Craig. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it. The documentary followed Eliud Kipchoge, Lelia Desisa and Zersenay Tadese’s attempt to break 2 hours in the marathon. Kipchoge came within 26 seconds (1 second per mile) while wearing Nike’s carbon fiber running shoes.
If hotel rooms and new shoes aren’t motivating enough, the Boston Marathon was sure to bring all the feels this week. Big shout out to my friend Elizabeth Trask. I blogged about her being at the mile 19 clock both years I ran Boston. This year was her turn to run and she raised over $18,000 for Tedy’s Team in honor of her late father. It was also marathon #50 as she completed her mission to run a marathon in every state. “50 for Billy” What a rock star!
Speaking of the Boston Marathon and running documentaries, I also recommend watching American Manhunt: The Boston Marathon Bombing on Netflix. I watched that over the weekend then started re-reading Meb Keflezighi’s book 26 Marathons: What I Learned about Faith, Identity, Running and Life from My Marathon Career. Anything to motivate!
I’m looking forward to catching up with Meb’s brother Hawi next week. He’s a big part of why I chose to run the New York City Marathon with Team Meb. I am raising money for the MEB Foundation and super excited to already receive a few donations.
On a final note, I just got a surprise text from an old friend that shared many inspiring words with me throughout Boston training in 2019. So thankful to have people like her in my life.
Ok… that’s enough rambling for now. 200 days to go until the New York City Marathon!
If you would like to support me and donate to the MEB Foundation, visit my fundraising page: https://www.givengain.com/ap/jen-skiba-raising-funds-for-meb-foundation