Day 34.

Today I walked 3 miles and then ran 2 miles. It was cold outside, but very sunny and it felt great to be out basking in it.

Day 33.

Rest day. I did 2 DVD's: a 25 minute cross training/strength routine, and a 20 minute belly dancing workout. It felt good to fit it in this morning and work up a good sweat before getting on with the rest of my busy Friday.

Day 32.

Today was a longer run day. Going by my training schedule, my longest runs will always be on Thursdays, unless I need to switch the days around for some reason. I started with Yoga, then walked to the park to warm up and then ran 3.75 miles and walked home.

Day 31.

This morning my training schedule called for a short run. I walked to the park with Nicolas in his stroller, then ran 2 miles and walked home. I took a slightly longer route home, so I got in an additional 15 minutes of walking. When I got home I did a 30 minute cross training DVD. I am having so much fun doing this marathon training. I didn't realize I would enjoy the running as much as I do. I feel antsy to get my endurance up so I can go farther because when I'm out there running, I feel invigorated and I just wish I could do more. I'm following my schedule closely, though, so as not to do too much too soon.

Day 30.

This morning I warmed up with 15 minutes of Yoga, then I walked to the park and ran 3.2 miles, walking home to cool down. I also did a 30 minute program on the elliptical.

Day 29.

Beginning of week 5!! This morning I warmed up with 15 minutes of standing Yoga, then, since Nick was still sleeping, I jumped on the treadmill and started out with 10 minutes of walking, before starting to run. About 2 minutes into my run, Nick came in the room and asked when we were going on our "walk in the stroller", so I bundled him up and off to the park we went. So I got an additional 10 minutes of walking warm up on the way there, then ran 3 laps (1.8 miles) and walked home. Then I did 25 minutes of intense strength training.

Day 28.

Even though today is a rest day, I still like to make a post on the blog to keep my days in order. Here's a great story for inspiration. When I read things like this, I realize the strength and power of the human spirit. We can totally do this, Jen!

http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-243-297--13446-0,00.html

Day 27.

Today the schedule called for 30 minutes of walking, so I went outside and spent some quality time with my good friends the snow flurries! I actually ended up walking for 15 minutes, then running for 15 minutes and back to walking for the final 15 minutes. I felt good and wanted to do more, but I don't want to deviate from my training schedule too much.

Day 26.

Fridays are a busy day for me, with the kids on a four day school week, Friday is the day for Cub Scouts, errands, play dates, birthday parties, etc. Thankfully my training schedule has Friday marked as a rest day, but even though I don't run, I still like to do some kind of workout. This morning I barely squeezed in a 20 minute cross/strength training DVD. Maybe as the day progresses and the weather is looking decent, we can get out for a walk or something.

Day 25.

This morning I warmed up, as usual, with 20 minutes of Pilates and Yoga. Then, after walking to the park, I ran 6 laps on the track, which equals exactly 3.75 miles. Then I walked home to cool down. I also did some stretching. I'm not sure if pushing Nick in his stroller makes much of a difference to my run as far as difficulty. The stroller itself is a dream to push with the big wheels, but my arm does seem to get more tired than when I run alone. There are only a couple of (very) small hills to conquer on my current route, so it's not too bad. When I start doing routes to accomodate my longer runs involving some big hills, it might be a lot harder to push the stroller along, but hopefully that will help my endurance build.