In Case You Need Some Inspiration:

Check out the blog of 29 year old Triathlete, Rebecca. She just completed the Duke 1/2 Ironman, coming in 2nd in her age with the AMAZING time of 5 hours 21 minutes, a personal best even.
Cool, huh?
Did I mention she gave birth to her daughter in January 2008?

A race like that is pretty time consuming. But she has some great posts describing how she squeezes sessions in.

"...if I need to do a run longer than 30min, I do the first part outside and once I get home I put her down for a nap and then hop on the treadmill with the baby monitor."
...
"I start my ride during her first nap of the day. Once she wakes up, she starts her own session in the Jumperoo which sits next to me in the garage while I bike. Her Jumperoo tolerance has decreased from 40min to 20min so most of my rides are only about an hour long. I did go longer today though and got 1hr 27min. My trick was to haul the Pack 'n Play out to the garage so she played in that for about 20 mins. It helps that I have playlists on YouTube of all her favorite kid music such as Laurie Berkner and the theme to WonderPets."

Anyhow, I dig this Ironmanmom.

too late, Philly Marathon

Really, I am a blog mommy blog blogger. Really. I just have not written for a long, long time. I never got around to race reports from the National Half-Marathon, the Cherry Blossom 10-Miler, the George Washington Parkway Classic, the Capitol Hill Classic... I'm sorry. And now it is too late. Ah, well. I'll get on it next time. Next race is the Sun Herald City to Surf in Sydney.

But now I have done something that scares me a bit: I signed up for the Philadelphia Marathon on November 23. Hm. I have not run a marathon in six years -- not since getting married and having kids. I run a lot, and I have a good strong base. I am as fast as I was when I ran my first marathon in 1999. But marathons are scary. From personal experience, I know anything can happen after about 18 miles. No matter how well-trained one is.

I ran one fabulous marathon, my first, in NYC. I did not finish my second in NYC. Then I finished, but had a truly miserable time after about 19 miles, the Washington DC Marathon (the one in March of 2002 that had only one official running; the race organizer went bankrupt the next year). Half marathons are fun -- and tough -- but not out of control. I love half marathons.

So I am scared. But I am going to do it. I think. I hope. What training plans do people swear by? I have a strong base now -- I can cover 12 miles "easily", and I even completed 15 a week ago. Week one of an 18-week plan starts on August 4 -- when I will be away in Sydney, Australia, (alone with my 13-month-old) sorting and clearing my mother's apartment. So I can't get crazy-serious until I return, on August 13.