On the Road to Our First Marathon (Week 5)

Yesterday was the 113th running of the Boston Marathon, which provided a fascinating view of the top marathon runners in the world competing in a fast and furious race to win this prestigious event. Americans Kara Goucher and Ryan Hall both had tremendous 3rd place finishes – a feat that is remarkable given the sport's recent dominance by a strong field of international stars. The marathon and its 23,000+ participants were an inspiration to so many, especially to those in training for our first marathon.

Adrian and I have started Week #5 of our marathon training program. We have gone from running a total of 15 miles in our first week to 20 miles on Week #4. It has been an amazing experience for both of us. When we first started training, we couldn't even imagine ourselves running more than 5 miles. It was a good thing that we had a sound running program to keep us motivated and on track.

By taking baby steps and working at maintaining our energy levels, we have been able to focus on each day's tasks and set realistic goals for ourselves.

Nutrition has played a key role in our preparation. Having been on a local diet for almost a year, our bodies feel stronger and healthier than ever before. Eating nourishing food has helped with both performance and recovery. Even though we've found some of our workouts to very tough, we have noticed that our bodies are able to jump back very quickly. We've also learned that proper hydration is critical with the demands we are putting on ourselves.

We still have many weeks ahead of us, and the workouts will only get more grueling. However, we have seen that the mileage which seemed so daunting months ago is starting to look (and feel) more achievable each day. Sure, there will be joint pain and muscle soreness – all those little physical signs that remind us of our mortality – but with each training run we record in our log books, we are another step closer to our goal of completing our first marathon.

You can keep up with our fitness journal as we continue with our training: Adrian | Maggie