Third Time's a Charm
OK... here we go again... with the blogging... and the running....
This will officially be the 3rd personal blog I will be "narr-writing," and the 3rd Marathon I will be "running."
As many of you know (as if "many" is a term I can use to evaluate the number of readers to my blog(s)), I have attempted to run 2 marathons to date, and have succeeded only in completing 2 marathons. I have attempted following a training plan in both cases, the first of which, I had a training partner in Ashley Wolfe, and as a team, we did a decent amount of training....
Decent until I had a euphoric high in my recreational basketball life scoring 9 of our teams 11 points (going by 1's and 2's) including the game winning shot over the mountain who calls himself "Darren" who sits about 6'3", and 240 pounds, immediately followed by a "tragic" low when my right foot landed on the "Mountain's" size 47 shoe on the way down from said shot, resulting in a high ankle sprain, tearing the ligaments in my right ankle roughly 8 weeks before the Marathon... Although I do not believe this kept me from my goal time in the marathon, it did leave my partner training by herself, and as I'll explain in my 2nd marathon attempt, that is not easy.
My training partner woke up the morning of the first marathon (Ogden) with the confirmation of NOT being pregnant as her alarm. This meant I had to be the strong partner right? Make sure that being the one with pockets meant that I kept a pace sufficient to provide "supplies" to my partner when needed right? OR I could find myself falling way behind on mile 14 as my "disadvantaged" training partner powered through her "condition" a full 30 minutes ahead of me, waiting with her son and husband at the finish line to cheer my weak "A" as I "bravely" sprinted to the banner at the end of the 26.2 miles...
For Marathon number 2, I found myself training alone as my aformentioned partner had to go and get herself pregnant (resulting in one of the cutest, and chubbiest little girls I've yet to see). So there I was, with a map of the Salt Lake Marathon's Course drawn out on a white board, Training Goals listed, Miles, Dates, Times... Oh yes, I was going to own this Marathon...
I ran exactly 8 times before that marathon... 4 miles, 5 miles, 5 miles, 3 miles, 4 miles, 9 miles, 7 miles, 13 miles, and 13 miles... that's a grand total of 56 miles over a 4 month period... Hal Higdon, a reknowned marathon runner and teacher has a Novice training guide, in which the trainee would run 435 Miles over an 18 week period, or just over 24 miles a week. I ran a little over 3 per week. Training alone is hard... I lasted until about mile 16 when I convinced myself that I would do the "charitable" thing and walk with a nice old lady who had started an hour and a half early with her goal to complete a marathon in under 7 hours. I gained a lot of respect for this woman, and walked with her for about an hour before hobbling ahead for the last 6 miles. After completing the marathon, at just over 5 hours (yuck), I waited with my daughter and my beautiful wife at the finish line for my new friend, who completed her first marathon at the age of 57, in 6 Hours, and 53 Minutes. I can't help but feel like she had beaten me in every way.
So to recap -
Marathon 1 - Girl with "girly condition" beats me by 30 minutes in a race we trained for at virtually the same pace
Marathon 2 - 57 year old woman puts me to shame by actually sticking to, and accompishing the goal she set out to accomplish
3rd Time's a Charm...
p.s. Follow Ashley's training and marathon blog for the 2010 Ogden Marathon here.
