March Madness!

It's been over 4 weeks since my last post, and these 4 weeks have been pretty hectic. I was on the road for 2 off the 4 weeks, some of it planned, some of it not. Had to make an unplanned trip to India, which resulted in missing out on the Shamrock 15K . I was kinda looking forward to this event since the 2010 Shamrock Run was my first ever racing event and I was hoping to get a gauge on how much I had improved over the course of the year. Guess it wasn't meant to be.

Being on the road definitely affected my running progress. I guess I still haven't reached a point where I am motivated enough to run when I am traveling. My goal at the beginning of this month was to hit 200 miles, but I am hovering around the 180mile mark at this point. Not terribly bad, still averaging ~60miles/month but I'll need to take my mileage up a notch for the next couple of months.
I figured taking a couple of weeks off from running would do me good, but man, was I wrong! First run after the break and I was gasping for breath and doubling over with side stitches. But if experience has taught me anything, it's to run through the pain (not recommended for joint or muscle pain!) and sure enough, after 2.5 brutal miles, things just seemed to click together and the World was a happy place once again. The best way to sum it would be:
"To a runner, a side stitch is like a car alarm. It signifies something is wrong, but you ignore it until it goes away"

As I close out March, I just realized that I am halfway there! 3 months to go before the Marathon and the training has gone pretty well so far. But as I look ahead, things are looking pretty intense. Looking at the training schedule, I see that the majority of my weekend runs are going to be double-digit runs from now. Not only double-digits, but I am approaching distances that I haven't encountered before. I feel pretty comfortable going up to 13 miles, but anything beyond that (15,18,22 mile runs) and it's going to be an immense mental challenge.

Let the madness continue!