Never, say never....

I’ve been running for almost 3 years now. I’ve done a couple of 5K races, a couple of 10K races, 5 half marathons, a 25K trail race and a 30K road race…

I always said that I had no; I repeat NO interest in running a marathon. 42.2K is a long bloody way to run. I always vowed that I’d complete a half Iron Man before I ever thought about running a marathon.

Back around early February, I got up one sunny, snowy morning with an ear-to-ear grin. I had awoken from a wonderful dream that morning. A dream of crossing the finish line of my first marathon. That thought stuck with me for the entire day, and the next, and another day…

What was happening to me? Should I go see my Doctor? Book an appointment with a Psychiatrist perhaps? I was seriously thinking about this. Then I started looking at on-line training plans, Galloway, Higdon, Stanton… I pulled out my running books, Shorter, Stanton… This was going way too far, so I decided to tell a couple of friends about my dilemma… I think I told the wrong friends, because they actually encouraged me to pursue this dream, and that they would even help me by doing long runs together…
(My friends all seem to be enablers). Then we started discussing when/where this event would take place, even going so far as to book a B & B for the weekend of this “event”. Then I found a couple more friends who wanted to train for a fall marathon. What kind of giant can of worms have I opened! I’ve tweaked, massaged and edited a 26 week schedule. While I understand that most marathon training schedules are 4 months long, this one really appeals to me as it ramps up slowly with a cut-back every 3rd week. That’s my kind of training. It’s also 3 runs a week with lots of cross training. Perfect for a “dark-sider” like me and also great because my body really isn’t keen on back-to-back running days.

Ironically on April 1, 2007 – I hit “submit” and registered for my very first marathon. I hope to take advantage of every single one of the one million-plus spectators that will be lining the streets that Sunday.

Look out Chicago… hope that you are “my kinda town” after all….