Break or Boston or Both?

I intended on taking the entire month of December off from intensive running, since marathon training for the Delaware Marathon didn't start until January 3rd. I planned to run a few times a week at 3-5 miles per run. Nothing like marathon training! And I wasn't going to "squeeze in" a run when I didn't really have time to run (like I have to do when training). And I wasn't going to give up precious hours on the weekends to do a long run.

Then I got a number for the Boston Marathon. That would mean I would have to start training on December 13th which would put a major damper on my plan to take some time off. Long story about how I got the number for Boston, but the bottom line is that I came in 2nd place in a year-long competition in one of my running clubs and an invitational bib was my prize. The club was even going to pay half the registration fee. If I ran Boston on April 18th, this would mean I'd run 3 marathons in the course of 6 weeks. I consulted running expert Bart Yasso, who not only told me to run Boston, he told me how to train in between each of the marathons.

With Bart's blessing, I accepted the bib to Boston. Yet I didn't give up on my plan to take some time off. My marathon training program, as dictated by Hal Higdon, lasts 18 weeks. I decided to start at week 3, thereby cutting down the training to 16 weeks. As a veteran of 13 marathons, I figured I would do just fine with a 16 week training program. This gave me a month off between the Richmond Marathon and the start of training, which commenced on December 27th.

Thank God for breaks!! It was so well-needed. And I think it did my body good. I am slower now, but who cares? I've got 15 weeks until the Boston Marathon. Plenty of time, right?!