Weds - week one

Thankfully the training is going better than the blogging. I actually officially start training on Monday - tri coach Dara is writing my plan and I start with an 8-miler.

I can't quite believe that I'm actually going to be running a marathon in April next year.

As I said, it gives me a focus over the next few months. What with my eldest leaving home. My youngest getting bigger and me getting older and miserabler (and if that isn't a word then it should be!). At least the fear of running over 26 miles has kept me focused.

And here's something that I found very interesting. The length of the marathon has changed. How can this be? Well, The standard distance for the marathon race was set by the (IAAF) in May 1921 at a distance of 42.195 kilometres (26 miles 385 yards). Wikipedia gives a lengthy explanation of how and why the distance has changed over the years and now I'm a bit confused as to how far it really is. 26 miles is for sure. It's the last few feet that seem to change - with the distance being rounded up or down. This last 6 1/2 feet may seem like nothing to anyone out there but it may make a big difference between finishing or falling over at the finish line!

For now I'm not going to worry about this last bit - it will probably take me at least 6 feet of pushing and shoving to get over the start line. And maybe this is the way to think of it - if the 6 feet difference is at the beginning rather than the end it doesn't seem so daunting. You know 6 1/2 feet and only another 26 miles to go - that'll get me through it - won't it?