New goal - Salt Lake City Marathon

I recently decided to take on my 2nd marathon. This time I will be running the Salt Lake City marathon on April 18, 2009. I had been contemplating this ever since completing the St. George marathon (SGM) but I had to wrap my mind around the thought of training for another one. The pivotal factor was my desire to run a marathon in memory of my sister Shannon who passed away the day after the SGM. Not that I think she would have ever desired to run a marathon, but she would have been happy to cheer for me and encourage me in my quest to accomplish the task. I also requested other family members to join me in this adventure and suggested that we use our participation in this event to raise funds for Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Shannon's husband Paul and my brother Boyce have also committed to run the race and several family members have agreed to help solicit funds for CFF.

My 18 week training program begins next week so I have been getting my weekly mileage up the past few weeks. I am getting excited to see how much I can push my body this time around. I would like to run a 3:40 or maybe even a 3:30 but I'll just have to see how the training goes. I will run a half-marathon on January 31st at London's Run in Queen Creek, Arizona and maybe some other 10K along the way as well.

I am going to try and do a better job of logging my runs on a daily or at least a weekly basis so I can refer back to them when needed. Hopefully, my experience with last marathon will help me to prepare better so I can improve on my time and have a great time as well. Here goes nothing!