I am going to call this Marathon Monday (sans beer) because today is the day I kick off training for my second marathon – why hello emotional roller coaster, nice to see you again.

Brief History: I ran the Hartford 2014 Marathon andddd not to toot my own horn or #humblebrag BUT the whole experience was relatively easy for me AND my body. I underline my body because this is a HUGE part of training that I will touch on in the following weeks. I felt healthy day-in-and-day-out during training and did not experience any issues during my long runs. I also did not have a problem on race day. It was amazing to say the least. Best. Day. Ever. I was able to hit both of my goals, 1) Under 4 hours, 2) Negative splits the second half of the race. I finished at 3:49.

Boston 2017, I see you.

For those that don’t know, the Boston Marathon qualifying time for women my age (27) is 3:35. Running the Boston Marathon is the ultimate goal, therefore, I have decided to run the Philly Marathon in November and attempt to shake 15 minutes off my time. Shake it off, shake it off. Easier said than done T-Swizzle.

Throughout training I will log my experiences here in hopes you can learn a thing or two! Maybe even inspire you to sign up for a race (Becca included)!?

That being said, below are a few key nuggets I am pinning to my dashboard as I embark on this journey again. These are in no specific order, honestly, I need to do ALL of them consistently!

1) Speed. Eight minute miles are fairly easy for eight miles, what about 26.2? I did not focus on speed or mile splits last year. You will see a lot of speed work in my training this year.

2) Nutrition. I gained weight last year during training. Trust me, it is easier than it looks.

3) Weightlifting. Very little and very low weight. I have 0 breathing issues but my legs tend to get tired when I run faster.

4) Stretching. Do it. I literally did 10% of the stretching I should have been doing in 2014 = Bad Paige.

Stay tuned everyone!