Philadelphia, Here I Come

I have made a decision to run the Philadelphia Marathon — 26.2 miles — on November 19. This is an exciting and terrifying decision. Having run the New York City Marathon in 2002, I know what I’m in for.

My friend Donald in New York was recently informed that he did not get selected in the lottery to run the NYC Marathon this year, so he made plans to do the Philadelphia Marathon a few weeks later. Since the Philly race is not difficult to enter, I knew that I could do it if I wanted to. Hearing him talk about it made me a little jealous and a little guilty. I’ve been feeling fat and lazy, and I know training for a marathon will address both those things.

While Donald and I will probably not run together in the race, it will be good to have someone to commiserate with. Training becomes a somewhat obsessive focus, and it’s important to have people to blab with. (Civilians lose interest after a minute or two of talking about shin splints, goo, bloody nipples, etc.)

I’m not going to identify any goals yet other than to finish without any significant walking. My NYC time was 3:56, but I don’t know if it’s realistic to try to beat that time or not. I worked pretty hard to get to that pace. We’ll see.

There is adequate time for a slow start to the training. (Thank God.) I’ve been running in the gym a little bit through the winter, but I’m not in great shape. In fact I weigh about 206 lbs. — 38 lbs. heavier than when I ran in 2002. So, I’m going to start running outside regularly, building weekly miles up to about 15 – 20 miles a week. Starting July 3, I’ll maintain 15-20 miles/week for 4 weeks, and then start a 16-week build up, which will include some long runs up to about 22 miles.

I did my first “training run” on Thursday. A beautiful 7-mile hilly loop starting and ending at my house in Haydenville. I went slowly, but felt ok. That’s the longest I’ve run in quite some time. Yesterday, I explored the unpaved rail-trail that also goes right past my house. It’s a spectacularly gorgeous trail that follows the Mill River through the woods. I have only walked a short stretch of it before, and I’m thrilled to discover such a lovely place to run right from my door. If I run to the first road-crossing and turn around, I think it’s about 2.5 miles. This is a good distance to have in my back pocket. It’s a non-threatening default run for those days that I don’t have the time or energy for a longer run.

I think I’ll try to post my training log here online. I’ll edit the post each day so that I have a week’s record, then start a new post. So…

• Thursday, June 15 | 7 miles | Haydenville loop. Very hilly. Slow pace.
• Friday, June 16 | 2.5 miles | River trail. Felt okay, slow pace, stopped to explore a few times.
• Saturday, June 17 | 0 miles | day off
• Sunday, June 18 | 5 miles (plus 2 walking) | Very hot, very tired. It really depleted me -- I've been a bit dizzy and nauseous all day. Maybe a little sunburnt? I should stick to running in the evening.
• Monday, June 19 | 0 miles | I have a miserable summer cold. Makes me feel better about having such a crappy run yesterday. I did however, by a watch to use for running. Walmart: $6.95. I love it! Why spend more? It's funny, I'm actually really tickled about the watch.
• Tuesday, June 20 | 0 miles | Still sick, and gave an hour-long presentation to Greylock Staff on positive reinforcement, facilitating friendships, behavior management, conflict resolution, and survival strategies. Went over well. The alarm function on my new $7 running watch worked beautifully this morning -- even has a snooze! : )
• Wedbesday, June 21 | 0 miles | still sick, but walked 2.5 with Peter and Butch. (Attacked by three Coyotes at dusk.)
• Thursday, June 22 | 0 miles | still feeling punk.