I finally settled on a marathon training plan for marathon #5 that I will be doing with my relative, Ande. My aunt mailed me old photos that my uncle recently found. The couple on the left in this photo are my maternal grandparents. My grandfather's sister is Ande's grandmother. Our mom's were cousins and I remember my mom saying that she was her favorite cousin. So what does that make us? Cousins twice removed? Not sure what the correct term is.. Anyway.. He's leaning towards either the FIRST marathon training plan or a Runners World rookie marathon training plan. It will be his first marathon.

I'm feeling the need for something a little more advanced since I'm in the best shape I've been in in years, I just completed a marathon two weeks ago, and this will be my fifth marathon. So I picked the Hal Higdon Advanced 2 training plan. I'd love to PR again, but realistically am not sure if that's possible for a much hillier marathon. But I have 18 weeks to train hard and lose weight, so anything is possible. I didn't follow the plan perfectly this week, but I got most of the miles in, ran them all without walking, ran much faster than I thought I was capable of on the speed days, and enjoyed a much needed lazy day with the-main-man-in-my-life on a rainy Sunday.