This week I received my entry form for the 25th running of the Twin Cities Marathon, to be held Sunday, October 1, 2006. Since I’m attending the U.S. Open in New York this year during Grandma’s Marathon weekend, TCM will be my only marathon this year. I met my last marathon goal at the 2005 Grandma’s, when I finally finished that race in under five hours. So it’s time for a new goal and I’ve decided to aim for a new PR (currently 4:42 at the 1995 TCM). This, however, means I need to actually train. I started this weekend with a 4-mile run that went well and plan to run the annual Get In Gear 10K next weekend.

There are a lot of different training plans out there, but I like to make my own. I’ve tried everything from Galloway to stay-active-but-don’t-run-too-much. If I ever want to get to Boston, I’d have to follow something much stricter than I’ve done so far, but here is my plan for this year:

• Mondays: 4-mile run
• Tuesdays: treadmill, sit-ups, free weights
• Wednesdays: 4-mile run
• Thursdays: treadmill, sit-ups, free weights
• Fridays: 4-mile run
• Saturdays: golf
• Sunday Mornings: increasing long runs

Only 159 days until race day…DK

Edited to add: Registered online 4/26 at 12:01am.