From the couch to the road

As we were out celebrating the New Year last night, Adam mentioned that marathon training would start tomorrow. I completely agreed. However, we had different definitions of "training." I thought training meant that we were going shopping for the essentials (shoes, pony tail holder, pants, shirts, socks, etc). Adam thought training meant we were actually running. I'm still highly confused on how he convinced me to get off of our couch where we were wrapped in our warm Snuggies, to put on old workout clothes, and run in 14.4 degree weather, but he did. The plan was actually quite simple. To start our training, we're following the 5k plan. Once we are able to run for a straight 30 minutes, we will begin "marathon" training. This is why it's so great that we have ten months to train. So, for the first day, we just needed to run 60 seconds, and then walk 90 seconds. We did this for a period of 20 minutes. It was relatively easy. I was surprised to discover that the hardest part was not running. It was running in 14 degree weather around snow banks (I'm not exaggerating - all of the snow that the plows have removed from the roadways has created snow banks - a very dangerous condition to begin training because it means you have to run on the road). Roads are designed for driving, not running. However, the highlight of Day 1 training was looking over at my training partner as he ran with me. Because he doesn't have workout clothes, he was wearing work clothes (carpenter pants and a ratty sweatshirt) and it made me smile. I'm quite fortunate to have someone who is with me on this adventure. Plus, you never know, while training, you might even get the opportunity to get your picture with a New Year's Snowman (sorry, not the best quality - it was taken with my camera phone on a break during the run).