Time-wise, I’m halfway through the marathon training, and thought I’d take a moment to review and reflect. I fell short just one of those eight weeks, the first one, where I ran 11 of 14 miles. The other seven weeks, I hit or just passed the mark. In total, I’ve run 155.52 of 156 scheduled miles since training began Dec. 1.

Last Friday’s run topped 12 miles, the longest long run so far in the schedule. This week, the long run is 13 miles, which ties my two longest outings since I took up running — last October’s Brooksie half marathon and a training run I did a few weeks before that race. After this week, I cut back for a week, then tackle a week that’ll have me topping my longest distance yet with a long run of 14 miles. The 14-mile week, though, will be bisected by a Caribbean vacation, so that new personal best distance will wait until the third weekend of February.

My pace so far has hovered between about 7 and 9 minutes a mile. Most often, I run in the the 7-8 minute a mile frame; the 9-minute outlier was on a really slushy day. I’ve tried to keep most of the training under 7:30. To qualify for the 2010 Boston Marathon, I’d need to finish the race I finally choose in 3:15:59, a 7:28 pace. While a Boston time would be nice, I’ll call it a success if I pass the finish line. Plus, I’m not even sure I’d run a Boston even if I did qualify.

Weather and a few minor but persistent blisters have complicated training. I’ve had a couple of runs in conditions I can only describe as wicked: single digits, wind and slush. Slush tops the sh*t list. Cold and wind I can deal with, but treacherous footing makes running unfun. I spend as much energy staying on my feet as I do pushing my body forward. It gets tiring. The blisters … well, are blisters ever any fun? But, if that’s the worst, I can handle this.

Eight weeks down, eight to go. Distance-wise, it’s another story. The next eight weeks will see me covering 264 miles for a total of 420 during the 16-week schedule. Feet, don’t fail me now.

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