It's been a while since I've posted. I guess you could say I've been busy? Maybe. I don't know. Maybe I lost motivation to post because things seemed monotonous and why would I want to bore you with the same post every week?
Well, today I'm writing because I need to. For my own sanity, really. This Sunday, October 28th, my wife and I will be tackling the Marine Corps Marathon. For those of you who don't know much about running, a marathon is 26.2 miles. Always. I can't tell you how many times I've been asked, "How far is your marathon?" It's 26.2 miles. Just like every other marathon in the history of marathons... OK, I got off track...
I don't know when my wife would tell you she started training for this run, but I have been training since October 7th, 2011 when I ran my first half marathon. The one that I did with my wife around our neighborhood just to see if I could do it. That day, I ran 13.1 miles in 2:26:33 (an 11:11 mile). Since then, I've always wondered what it would be like to run a full marathon. This half marathon was when the seed was planted.
After we moved to NJ, it was time to start thinking about our next running adventure. We decided it would be fun to sign up for my first REAL half marathon. Before it was time to run, we had to make the decision... are we signing up for Marine Corps Marathon or not? The date rolled around and it was time to sign up... March 7th, 2012. The race sold out in record time... 2 hours and 41 minutes. We were locked in.
On April 1st, 2012, my wife and I ran side by side for 13.1 miles through Atlantic City and neighboring towns along the coast. I'd looked into running calculators and talked with some more experienced runners about what kind of pace I could maintain for this distance based on training runs and shorter races that we'd done earlier in the year. I was told that I'd be somewhere in the 2:05 range. I wanted to run it under 2 hours. We decided that it was at least worth a shot. That day we took the starting line and off we went. 1:59:21 (9:06 pace) later, we crossed the finish line.
We took a break for a few months until we "officially" started training for the 26.2 mile distance. Our break meant maintaining some level of endurance... so we ran between 8 and 12 miles once a week (as well as other shorter runs during the week) until it was time to start for real.
The average first time marathoner will follow a beginner program. Most of those programs build to 20 and then taper off for the marathon. But I'm not your average person, am I? We ran 20 miles three times. Between each 20 miler, we took a "step back" week and only ran 14 miles. Except for the weekend when we hopped on our bikes and rode 100 miles.
I have to admit, I laughed a little bit typing that paragraph. "Only ran 14 miles." Like that's some small feat. Let me be honest, though... when you've gone 20 miles, 14 doesn't feel so bad. For me, it's one less hour of running.
Now that the marathon is less than a week away and the last 20 mile run is almost three weeks behind me, I'm starting to over think stuff. How's the weather going to be? Will I be dressed appropriately? Am I going to have fun? Will the hills be too hard? Will my legs hold up? Will my feet and knees be ok?
Here's what I know from past experience. The mind is extremely powerful. So I'm going to answer my own questions... Who cares about the weather? You'll be dressed how you're dressed... you'll be fine. Yes you're going to have fun, no the hills won't be too hard, your legs will do what they're supposed to, and if you're in pain, you'll work through it.
I'll be telling myself those things for the rest of the week. Check back next week some time for a race report... I'm sure it'll be a doozy!
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