The weather has been in the high 50’s and raining here this week, so I have pounded out my two runs thus far – on the treadmill. My son joined me for half of Wednesdays run, but my 8 last night was on my own.
The one on the right is actually broken, and won’t raise/lower. But my son enjoyed “running with dad” regardless!
I’m spending a lot of time thinking about the Marine Corps Marathon lately. I have worked for three years toward getting to that starting line, So I suppose it makes sense. I am not worried about finishing it. I have NO doubt that I will. I do have some questions as to what pace I should run it in. I still believe that I can complete it in under 4 hours, but I’m not sure I should try. Being that it is my first marathon, I can see aiming for a 4:20, and really concentrating on enjoying the scenery and experience. After all, you only get one first marathon! (But then, wouldn’t it be cool to have my first marathon be under 4 hours?)
I also have many thoughts from the build up – inspired by the knowledge that a goal from over 20 years ago is finally approaching, as well as what I have learned about myself in the training. I have no doubt you will hear FAR more about these thoughts in the next month or so. Some will come out before the marathon, and others will come out afterwards.
It has been said that you can’t run a marathon without it changing you. While I haven’t found this out yet, I can assure you – you cannot train for one without becoming a different person than the first day you strapped on your running shoes with the intention of starting your training..
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As my marathon training ends, I find that the time I have left to raise funds to help the homeless is also drawing to an end. I would ask you to please click in the top right corner on the Help the Homeless banner, and consider donating. $10 becomes 20, as Fannie Mae is matching the donations. For my international readers, yes! You can still donate! (I know you were wondering)
Please help.
I run, because I am a runner. Having realized that I have always "been a runner" - even when I went years with out running, I am learning how it has integrated itself in all aspects of my life. When I started running in highschool, my perspective on life changed. Funny that I didn't realize how much it had affected it until just recently.
Once and Future Runner 
Oh my goodness — sub 4? I’m just trying to make sure my marathon time starts with a 5! Good luck in two weeks. I bet friends and family will be happy to hear us talk about something else besides MCM soon!
LOL. You aren’t kidding on that one!
I know my wife and kids will be happy to see more of me – when I don’t spend 3-4 hours running every Saturday!
SO proud of you!!! 🙂
Thank you!
Also, I’ll be there cheering everyone on! So make sure I know what you’re wearing so I can spot you out in the crowd. I’ll be in Crystal City somewhere around miles 22-25. 🙂
Absolutely! That is awesome.. At mile 22-25, I can’t promise I’ll see you.. I will probably be staring at my feet saying “move foot.. now the other one.. and again…”
But I will look! 🙂
That’s PRECISELY while I’ll be stationed there…lol. I remember that around mile 13 and 22 I had a breaking point. I’ll be sure to find you! 🙂
Not that I’m a professional marathoner, but I have run over 30 marathons, granted most of them were over 20 years ago and the ones in the past 10 years have all been far from stellar. That said, if I could offer any advice for your first marathon it would be to listen to your body. If it tells you to run slower, run slower. If it tells you to run faster, run faster – but be smart about it. Don’t worry about your finish time, rather, make sure you enjoy yourself. If your goal is to run this one marathon and never run that far again (a very common and respectable goal), then you want to make sure that you enjoyed it and that your memories of it years from now are happy memories. If your goal is that this is just your first, you’ll increase your odds of doing another by having fun than by pushing yourself to exhaustion or injury. The marathon is as much mental as it is physical. Approach it with the goal of having fun and you will not only finish, but you will finish happy!
Good luck to you! Hopefully I’ll see you there.
This is excellent advice David, thank you