I CAN do it

I am : MARATHON

I can't really think of anything to say. I've been focusing on this point for almost five months now. I have sacrificed friday nights in favor of sleep. Saturday mornings in favor of running. I chose the pavement of St. Paul over the company of friends countless times. All for this.

All for the singular goal of finishing a marathon.

I can't even remember what I was thinking when I signed up. Oct 2 was a day way off in the future. One of those days that is not really meant to ever arrive. A day that is nice to talk and dream about, but still mostly fanciful. But, now its here. Now its time for all of my training to be put to use.

When I first began running seriously I had never run more than six miles, and I had only done that two times. The first was in high school during soccer tryouts. Of course, that was also when I was a bit lighter, and I was running every day during practice. The second time I was when I was in Hungary. I wasn't really in shape...my time was terrible and it hurt really bad.

When I first began training for the marathon I weighed 205 pounds. Slowly, gradually, as my knowledge of nutrition improved, as my weekly miles crept up, the weight began to fall off. Which, in turn, facilitated the high mileages. My very first long Saturday run was 8 miles. I was very nervous, I wasn't sure how it would be. Luckily I was able to do so with a running group, and they were very understanding of my quest. They helped me along and thankfuly there were people who ran at my slow pace. My miles crept up. Soon I was running 8 miles during the week, and double digit miles on Saturdays. On may 28 (Frank's birthday!), I ran my first half-marathon, and it was thrilling! For almost 4 consecutive weekends, I ran more miles than the week before, which meant that each of those runs was the longest of my life.

My first real experience with genuine, debillitating fatigue came the first time I tried to run 18 miles. I started strong, but didn't know much about how to run at those lengths, and my finish was terrible. I stumbled back to my car feeling awful. My stomach was in knots. My legs were full of lead. What was I missing? Nutrition. Foolishly I wasn't giving my body fuel during the run. The next time I tried to tackle 18 miles I had Willard Water and Honey Packets. These things made a world of difference. My times were faster and I felt much stronger at the end. Soon came my first 20-miler. Armed with nutrition and a wisening run-sense, the 20 miles was hard, but possible. I worked my way up to 24 miles in about 3 hrs and 20 minutes. As of right now, thats the furthest I've ever run. My last big run of my training was a 20 miler which didn't go all that well. I've already discussed this. I finished my training with a tapering of miles and times, designed to rest but also reenergize and sharpen my mind and legs.

Now, I am ready. I CAN do it. My mind, my body...they have been in training for the last 5 months. I am now ready to put myself on the line, to run further than I have ever run, to accomplish something that few accomplish, and to be satisfied doing it.

Thanks for listening.

Miles Since 4/23/05: 626

posted by Lord Alex @ 6:37 PM