I just finished week 14 of my marathon training plan. I ran this in Tracy around a man made lake with a one mile running route.

This was tough run. It got warm as the sun was completely out. And having to run in circles 11 times made the run less interesting. The various people I saw there varied the view a bit.

The 12th mile comes from half mile to reach the route and to get back.

I realized here that the shorts I was wearing won’t be the one I’ll be wearing on marathon day as it caused me irritation in my inner right thigh.

Today I felt that feeling when your body no longer has immediate energy availabe. My body was starved!

On to week 15!

This morning’s run was my longest long run to date.  For some reason I could not maintain a steady pace.  The Nike+ graph showed I was bouncing all over the place in terms of speed.  I’m not sure why.  I think part of it is because I was drinking mixed water-cranberry juice.  I was too worried about spilling the drink on my clothes for fear it will stain permanently.  On top of that, the drink didn’t help much to quench my thirst; as a matter of fact, it dried up my mouth or lips.  I also dropped the bottle and had to go back a few feet to recover it.

This is the first time I’ve run this particular route.  The bad part about it is that some parts of the route don’t have sidewalks.  I had to run on the dirt a couple of times to avoid oncoming traffic.  I also heard many barking dogs.  I’m always afraid that one of them will run after me.  Of course I’m always thinking that if a dog ever attacked me, the best thing to do is to stand my ground and see if I can scare the dog.  I always thought that if it doesn’t back down, that I’ll have to hurt the dog just to show it not to mess with me; fortunately, I’ve not had any bites.

Mile 7 and 8 were tough.  That’s when I started to feel the tiredness of my gluts and knees.  I remember feeling this when I did the 8+ mile route for the first time.  My gluts were sore, but I concentrated more and more on my stride.  With about 1 mile left, I slowly increased my pace.   Then with about a half mile left, I sped up even more.  I completed the 10.5 mile run in 1 hour and 38 minutes.

I might just have a chance at doing the marathon in less than 4:30:00.

OK…the Chicago Marathon is still several months away. Just so that I don’t forget, I’m posting this video I found on Runner’s World:

I hope anyone who finds this, finds it useful.

There is a site called animoto.com which allows anyone ot take a set of pictures and turn them into a dazzling collage of images that has life  Below is a sample of what you can do with it if you use the free version:

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Today the Chicago Marathon registration opens. 

I registered early this morning before work.  I’m in now and absolutely committed; no turning back.

Maybe if I’m lucky I get a number below 1000!