187 Days--I think I can, I think I can

The Little Engine That Could has nothing on me!  I sometimes feel like that little blue engine, huffing and puffing to get to the station.  Recently, I had a conversation with a local guy who has been a runner all his life.  He ran cross country in high school and throughout college, has done a few marathons, as well as several road races each year. He very nicely pointed out that the more mileage I run in these beginning weeks will make it easier to develop a "runner's body".  And with this runner's body, it will be easier to go longer, breathing will be less laborious, and my knees and ankles won't be as pained.  While I understood what he was saying, I was a bit insulted by his insinuation that I didn't have a "runner's body" (I am kidding, believe me I know I don't have a slim, svelte frame as of now)! Our conversation led me to think very long and hard about what training program I should be following.  Obviously, running twice a week for 30 minutes with long runs on the weekend and an easy jog on Fridays (the Galloway method) would be a much easier schedule for me with 3 kids, a house, and life in general to manage. But I think I am going to have to step it up and bite the bullet.  I will be running 4 days a week and doing long, crazy runs on the weekends (Hal Higdon's method).
All this scheduling is a bit hard, though.  My husband travels for work, quite often, meaning I don't get my morning run time every day.  Add to that my youngest daughter's erratic sleeping schedule and you will find me scrambling to figure out how to get a run in most days.
But it is amazing to me how running has become a daily part of life these days.  I was particularly crabby today and my husband and kids could see it. It was so bad, in fact, my husband and I discussed it after our kids went to bed.  He pointed out I didn't run yesterday or today, and maybe my body was off because I was used to running now.  It made me think, "Hmmm, maybe I am a runner after all..."

193 Days--The Leap

I signed up for a 20k race, which happens on June 4th.  In case you are not proficient in converting kilometers to miles, that is 12.4 mile race.  It came about by a friend who has been training for it for a few weeks who encouraged  me to think about running with her.  I originally planned to run a 5k with my mom and sister, but they are unavailable, so I began looking closely at the training schedules I have been considering and determined that if I started this week, both of the schedules pointed to running between 9 and 11 miles on the weekend the 20k was happening.  So, I leaped!  I am scared, but I think I can do it.  I ran outside this weekend, 4 miles on Saturday and 3.5 on Sunday. It felt good, really good.  Maybe the treadmill was the enemy.

The two training methods I have been looking at are Jeff Galloway's and Hal Higdon's.  I am not sure which is better, but both have big followings, so I am sort of betting I can't go wrong.  I am leaning toward Galloway's, as he advocates short, hard workouts during the week, with a very long run on the weekends, as well as a run/walk approach to the long runs.  This schedule seems to fit my lifestyle better than Higdon's way, who estimates an average of about 6 hours per week devoted to running, not including stretching, strength training, or warm ups.

What do you think?