Well it is official...after a 7 year hiatus, I will run another marathon, Columbus 2006!
I have been debating this for the last two months or so, and me being the bargain hunter that I am, figured I was just going to have to bite the bullet and commit to it before prices went up on 4/30. No backing out now, because I just can't stand to waste money!
So here is the history on my one and only completed marathon (Columbus 1998)....
Summer 1998
It was between my junior year and senior year of college. I was running about 5 or 6 miles 4 or 5 days per week. My college pal, Shannon came to visit me in Cleveland and we decided to go have lunch at Joe's Crab Shack. As we sat there drinking our tall bones of beer, there was a triathlon on the tv showing the marathon runners. Jokingly, I said "How about you and me run one of them marathons?" In my head, this was completely not an actual question just my random meaningless babble, yet she was on a totally on a different line of thinking. She replied, "Really, I have always wanted to do one!"
And that was how we decided to run the marathon, end of story. Funny what happens with a couple beers in ya!
So she went back to her hometown of Dayton to train and I continued to train over the summer back in Northeast Ohio. School came and we started to train together back on the roads of Oxford, Ohio and some surrounding communities. Back then, I trained routinely, yet training was often done sweating out the mass quantities of beer I was drinking the night before. Distance was all that mattered and time was not so much of a concern.
More to come on the actual race at another time....but to make a long story short, we both finished. Afterwards I remembered thinking that the training was so overwhelming and although I felt good the entire race, I did not want to put myself through the training again. I thought it took up too much time.
Funny how things change. Eight years later and I am ready to give it another go! I have every confidence that I will be able to smash the time from my younger years as I have learned how to train much more effectively. Additionally, I think it will help that I am not quite the boozer I was back in my college days.
I feel the half marathons are challenging for me to work to improve my time, but the distance is not the daunting distance I thought it was 2 years ago. It is time for another chapter in the running career! Ending unknown..........
6 comments:
Cool! You'll have a good time there! Just don't let them fool you, from 15 on there is a slight incline. Nothing danting but it isn't flat!
Yay!!!!! Dude, you will SOOOOOO smoke that course. You're going to fricken shatter your first marathon time, too! Last year I was 56 minutes faster than my first marathon--I about had a heart attack at the end when I realized what was happening!! Very exciting--now I have someone to go on LONG runs with this summer--yay!!! :)
Recovering marathoner turned triathlete here. I've had the same thought over the years about whether or not to train for another, always to conclude it's not for me; I love multisport too much to give up any of my other training modes. But kudos to you for returning to the marathon. It should be a much more amazing experience for you knowing what you do now about training and recovery and how the body needs both.
Good for you! It has been 11 years since my last marathon and I signed up for Columbus also with the intent on going to Boston in 2007! As Steve Runner from Phedippidations would say, "run long and taper".
I'm trying not to look ahead past September, but maybe I'll run C-bus too.
From your awesome race on Saturday, I say you're well on your way to a great race in October.
If you thought marathon training was a lot, wait till you sign up for Ironman!!!
Awesome! I did my first triathlons last summer and will be doing my first marathon this Saturday in Nashville. I, too, have felt like the marathon training has taken up too much time...but then again, I haven't gotten to race day yet, either. I am hoping that the experience will be worth the time it has taken. Good luck in your training!
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