Why I Run Full and Half Marathons…

Tomorrow morning, I’ll wake up at about 5am to make it on time to the Frederick Running Festival where I plan to run a half marathon – which is 13.1 miles.

When I started this blog, nearly a year ago to the day, my very first post was about the completion of my third full marathon. Since then, I’ve completed two more full and several halves.

Often times, friends and family say they understand my desire to run a few miles – but they completely don’t get the rationale behind running 26.2 miles or even half that distance. They think it’s crazy.

Maybe it is.

While I originally started running to reap the benefits for my physical health, I recently came across an article that nicely articulates the mental health benefits running provides – so maybe I’m not crazy after all.

The excerpt below was originally published in the spring 2011 issue of The Trail magazine, a supplement publication I get from Runner’s World.  The article was written by Shannon Farar-Griefer, 49, who is a mother of three kids and started running in 1997.  Since then she has completed 25 ULTRAMARATHONS – which is running 100 miles straight through.

Now to me – running 100 miles is crazy.  So I thought it might be worth reading her justification for such supreme lunacy.  Here’s the article in full.

“Running 100 miles is about the challenge of pushing your body and mind to places where someone who’s not a runner – and maybe even a marathoner- might thing unimaginable. It’s not about running all-out fast, like you might do in the other races; it’s about finding a consistent pace that makes sense for the terrain and keeping your legs moving , no matter how much they might want to stop. To me, it’s like a metaphor for life. You’ve got to take the bad with the good, because there are times you are going to hurt and feel horrible out there. It’s going to hurt – just like hitting the wall in the marathon, but in a 100-miler that hurt might last for two hours or four hours or 10 hours.

It's safe to say that I'm hooked....

I used to think that I was a fairly balanced person overall, but it’s clear that I continue to exhibit a certain pattern of behavior that is clearly out of balance in most people’s minds. 

That being the fact that I’m a marathon and half-marathon junkie….

Yesterday, I completed my fifth full marathon – this one was the 39^th Annual Virginia Beach Shamrock race.  Here are a few pictures that my wife took of my daughters and I after that event – I’ll post official photos from the race organizers as they become available over the next few days.

While I didn’t set any land speed records, I managed to finish the 26.2 distance in 4 hours and 34 minutes.  That marked a personal best for me and netted out to 5.75 miles per hour or an average 10:45 per mile pace.

I understand that those numbers might not mean much to anyone, but my slowest marathon took 6 hours and 20 minutes – so this race was a major improvement. 

Statistically speaking, fewer than three percent of Americans will run or train for a marathon – and there’s good reason for that – namely, a marathon is controlled, self-induced trauma and pain to your body.  That’s reason enough to avoid distance running altogether.

I Made a Mistake and I Need Your Opinion....

Two weeks ago I completed the 35th Annual Marine Corp Marathon, marking the completion of my fourth straight marathon - not too shabby for a slow, overweight 41 year old.

However, since that race I've felt great and have been thinking about the next one I'd like to complete.

So yesterday I signed up for the Yuengling Shamrock full Marathon that is scheduled to occur on March 20, 2011 in Virgina Beach, Va. I had a buddy who ran that event last year and he had a ball - so we'll run it together next March.

However, as I was looking through the calendar today I became aware of the fact that the Shamrock will be exactly 18 weeks away this coming Sunday, which means I "should" start training for it this week if I plan on following my typical marathon running regimen. Here's a link to my training schedule http://www.halhigdon.com/marathon/inter1.html.

The problem is that I was hoping to take a month off from running altogether so I could rest and really pack on the pounds...um, er I mean...really enjoy spending quality time with my family and friends during the holidays.

I know this seems like needless self-imposed drama, but I question whether I should take a break or take to the streets and begin training again. What would you do? Please let me know.....

Photos from 2010 Marine Corp Marathon

Here are a few photos from the Marine Corp Marathon on Sunday, October 31, 2010.....


The pre-race family - all bright-eyed at 7:30am (ugh!)



I think this was taken shortly after mile 10,
I carried a small flag in my visor - that's what was
flapping behind my head

This was around mile 18 on the Mall
in downtown DC. I was running even
though the photo looks like I'm walking

This is the finish photo taken in front
of the Iwo Jima Marine Corp Memorial -
it'll be hard to top that feeling!



Need Inspiration??? - The GroundPounders Have it in Spades!!!

Image via Wikipedia

Here are four brief yet truly inspiring biographies about non-traditional athletes that I came across at the web site for the 2010 Marine Corp Marathon. If you've had difficulty getting moving or starting an exercise program, these might help you get moving! I promise you'll at least throw out all the leftover Halloween candy in your house....

"In 1976, the first Marine Corps Marathon welcomed nearly 2,000 runners to the start line. Only four of those original runners have participated in every MCM. They are affectionately named "the Groundpounders". Known for their dedication to the sport of running and their allegiance to "The People's Marathon", the Groundpounders are staples on the course, rich with history, memories and the spirit of the MCM."

My Legs Hurt Today Because of Those Bloody British Royals!!!

Queen
Alexandra of
England, 1908

I guess I should take some responsibility for the fact that I’m walking (ok, it’s more like a shuffling motion that’s posing as walking) like an arthritic 85-year old man today.

It could be argued that it was ultimately my decision to sign-up for and run in a marathon this past Sunday – I mean no one held a starter pistol to my head and forced me to run 26.2 miles.

Regardless, the lingering race-generated lactic acid overdose in my quads, hamstrings and calves this morning has me hobbled as badly as James Caan’s character in the movie Misery.

However, in typical Generation-X fashion I would prefer to blame someone else for my pain and that someone else is the British Royal family – specifically Queen Alexandra of England.  Hear me out on this one….

35th Marine Corp Marathon - Mission Accomplished!!!

DC Mayor - Adrian Fenty

Sorry for the writing hiatus, but there’ve been big doings of late that pushed my spare time into the negative column and that’s the column where this blog happens to live for now.

The primary time glut has been preparations for the yesterdays 35^th Marine Corp Marathon, which covered 26.2 miles ranging from Arlington national cemetery; two treks across the Potomac River; a jaunt down Hayes point; a lap of the National Mall with an uphill sprint to the finish at the U.S. Marine Corp Memorial (Iwo Jima Monument). Here's the race route map if you're interested.

More than 30 thousand runners signed up for the race and 22 thousand of us finished. My official marathon completion time of 5 hours, 21 minutes was posted this morning at www.marinemarathon.com, which means I averaged nearly a 12-minute mile the entire race.

Despite my lackluster performance, it should be noted for posterity that I crossed the finish line before 39-year old Washington, DC mayor and marathoner Adrian Fenty [see photo insert above], but I still got smoked by a 69-year old speed walker. I know that because the back of his sweat-soaked shirt read, “I’m 69 years old and if you can read this I’m not in last place!”

While my actual race result was ok at best, I was thrilled about how good I felt at the end of the race and that I was able to run the entire course without walking at all – I guess those are the celebratory milestones of a middle-aged man trying to outpace death. 

Regardless, it was a perfect day for the marathon with crisp temperatures and zero humidity. I’m still trying to process everything that occurred and that I experienced – but hope to share more in the coming days.

Suffice to say for now that of the four marathons and handful of half-marathons I’ve completed during the past two years – the Marine Corp Marathon has been my favorite and will be the most memorable.

Mainly because my wife and two girls accompanied me to the race, yet somehow managed to pop-up at miles 10, 16 and 26 to cheer me on!  It’s hard to describe what that means, but I will certainly try in a future post.

More to come including photos....

When a "Zero" Can Make You Smile

At this week's WeightWatchers weigh-in, I maintained the EXACT same weight as I did last week, which means I lost "zero" pounds. More importantly, it also means I gained "zero" pounds and for me that's a win.

That’s especially relevant given the fact that this past weekend had the potential of a double-weight-gain whammy as we celebrated Father's Day and my birthday.

[Editor's Note: If I had gained a couple pounds I might have cursed the day I was born or at least the double helping of chocolate trifle in which I partook celebrating the day I was born - weakness, thy name is trifle!!!].

Despite my best efforts at self sabotage, I was able not to lose any ground. Here's the week-by-week breakdown by the numbers over the course of the past ten weigh-ins since my initial joining back on April 7th.

Latest WeightWatchers Progress Report

A busy work week forced me to wait until today to attend a lunchtime weigh-in over at my local WeightWatchers locale. I was pleased to see that I dropped another -1.2 lbs for a total loss of -19.4 lbs over the course of the past seven weigh-ins since my initial joining back on April 7th.

Here's been the progression since that date:

Official Training for the 2010 Marine Corp Marathon Starts Today

This year's Marine Corp Marathon in downtown DC and Arlington, VA is held on October 10th, 2010, which is just about 18 weeks away or so. I've been running consistently since finishing the Frederick, MD Marathon at the beginning of this month - which spurred me to launch this blog!

Regardless, pasted below is the running schedule that I'm going to follow that was developed by marathon-training guru Hal Higdon, it's free and listed on his web site.

If you're interested in a great book by Higdon, I've inserted an Amazon link here but much of the same content is listed on his free web site, which can be accessed via link after you click the "Read more" button.