One of the things I had hoped to do with this blog was include the details of how I prepared for the trip to Peru.  Reading other travel blogs about Peru helped me a ton with planning so I wanted to add some notes of my own about the preparation process.  I fell short of that goal this time.  I could go back and write up a quick entry that sums up my preparations, and I probably will at some point, but what’s more important is that I actually blog about what I do to prep for my next adventure as well.

Here’s what I need to do to prepare for the Marathon du Medoc:

• Register and actually get a race number.  This is the most important item.  Everything I’ve read online says that this marathon is extremely hard to get into if you’re not French, but I’m going to try!!!  Registration opens in February.
• Figure out what days to travel.
• Book hotels (I think we already have one reserved just in case actually).
• Get plane tickets.
• Figure out what to do, where to go, what to see while we’re in France- besides the marathon.
• Run!  And run some more, and actually be ready for the distance!

As far as running goes, I’m slowly getting back into running again after the whole summer and most of fall off.  The Inca Trail really helped kickstart my fitness level, but I’m nowhere near ready to run even a 5k, much less a marathon.

So.  I’m working my way through the Couch to 5k (or c25k for short) program.  Today I completed Week 4, day 2 and it’s been super easy so far.  Still, I’m sticking with the program to the end to make sure I don’t overdo it and injure myself.

When I finish the c25k, I’ll be starting this Novice Supreme Marathon Training plan.  As long as I start the marathon plan by mid-February I should be ready for a full marathon by September.  I’m starting early because I know I’ll either miss runs, or repeat weeks, or both.  I’ll need that extra time.

And, to get me through the dark winter runs I bought some reflective yarn.  I plan to knit myself some reflective mittens and a reflective hat.

To motivate myself to keep going, I’m planning on running a New Year’s 5k, the Colfax Half Marathon, and maybe another Half marathon sometime in the summer too.

That’s the plan so far at least!!

I can’t believe how long it took me to finish writing up the Peru trip blogs!!  Once I got home I was extremely busy with my sister’s wedding and family visiting.  Then, it was back to my normal routine and suddenly it’s November and I only had the first 2 days of the trek written.  Today though, I finished the rest.  I suck as a travel blogger!  I need to do better than this if I intend to keep it up!

So, next up is France!  I am planning on running the Marathon du Medoc in September if I can manage to register.  It’s very popular and they restrict the number of non-French participants.  The Marathon is 10 months away and I’m barely back into my running.  Luckily for me, the Marathon du Medoc is more of a fun event than a competitive one.  I know I won’t be running most of it — especially not with the 23 wine tasting stations!!  Although I haven’t tried yet, I’m pretty sure I can walk a Marathon (26.2 miles), so I just need to make sure I can finish it within their time limit of 6 and a half hours.  I have to maintain a little over a 14 minute mile average to meet the time constraints, so that’s what I’m working for.  And hey, if I can’t go to France to run a marathon, at least I’ll be trained and ready for the Denver Rock and Roll Marathon instead.

And on that note, its time for me to go running.