Monday, April 20, 2009

Boston

Greeting all, on this "holy" day for runners...Even when I was at my most out of shape, this day always held a special place in my heart. As a teenager, just starting to run, I knew several finishers. I always imagined myself training for and qualifying for the Boston Marathon. Of course at that time the furthest I had ever run was probably ten miles. Today, as I train for my first marathon, I have let myself dream a little bit and think about Boston 2011. I am older now and this year move into a new age bracket( I will be 35 in August, Yippee!) So, we are now looking at a 3:15 time to qualify...I do know that the Equinox will not be a qualifying race, but it will get me to the point of being able to cover the distance. Tybee 2010 will probably be too soon as it is only 5 months after my first marathon but there will be plenty of chances to find a fast, flat course to make an attempt at qualifying. After all, I only need a 7:24 pace to hit 3:15! LOL!

As for now, I will continue to focus on getting through today's run, one step at a time, one foot in front of the other.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Just an easy four...

So I have begun running with a partner, we will call her Cubbie, to stay motivated and be accountable. We have run together four times in the last week. Initially I was very leery about running with Cubbie. "What if she's too slow? What if I'm too slow? What if she talks too much?" Shut up and run Thomas! So went went out and have done three, four mile runs and a three mile run. she is training for The Chicago Marathon, which is being held a month after my race. She broke the ice, "How do you feel about running with headphones?" I told her I didn't know the etiquette for running with headphones. We agreed that if we both had them in it would be okay. So we ran. Not too fast, not too slow. Then we started talking, just a little bit at first. Next thing you know we had run four miles. The easiest four miles I have run in a long time. We are planning some long runs together, and will follow a training program to get us through our marathons...Maybe this running partner thing won't be so bad after all. Well, until we start discussing baseball, but that is for another day.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Equinox here I come!


The conversation started something like this..."Hey, so I have always wanted to run this local race and I am probably only gonna be up in Alaska for one more year, so this is the year to do it. If I pay for your plane ticket, will you come up and run it with me?" Let's see, my little brother wants to pay for me to fly to Alaska and run a race with him? "Sure, why not. " "What's the name of the race?" "The Equinox Marathon" Really? Well, I have always wanted to run a marathon so...Then I started doing some research. This run is billed as the second hardest marathon in the United States. At mile 9 you begin a three mile climb where you go from 600 feet above sea level to 2400 feet, a total of 4000' of elevation gain for the entire course! However, what goes up must come down right!

So, I began training. 3 mile runs, three times a week, just to build my base. This week I officially start my training program and with that I have decided to start a blog to chronicle my progress...I have had some great runs theis past week, 4.5 on Saturday, 3.0 on sunday and an easy 4.0 miles yesterday with my new running partner Debbie and her dog Wrigley. (Yes, she is a Cubs fan, but that is for another day. Let's go Mets!)