So as you may or may not know, I've decided to run the Baltimore Marathon (October 15th, 2011). Not only is this my first marathon, I've never even run a half-marathon or 5k, let alone any sort of running race. Am I insane? Maybe. But I figured, why not just go for it? Is this the best strategy? Probably not, but I figure I can talk about running a marathon, or I could just bite the bullet and do it. And I made sure that I picked a marathon that was far enough in the future that I'd have enough time to properly prepare for it.
Aside for doing a marathon just to do it, I actually do have some further motivation for running this marathon. My long, long-term, waay down the line goal is to one day complete an Ironman triathlon. So yeah, maybe I am pretty insane. And I figure, if I'm going to be able to complete an Ironman, which involves running a marathon at the end, I should at some point run a marathon, and thus my running the Baltimore Marathon. Seeing as running is by far my weakest link (and by far and away my least favorite) in regards to swimming, biking, and running, I decided that I should get used to running a lot and at long distances. And what better way to get into the habit than by registering for a marathon and thus giving myself no other choice than to prepare for it.
Now, about the Baltimore Marathon... As it turns out, it's not the flattest marathon in the country, and as such probably isn't the best option for my very first marathon, but as they say, what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger, or something like that, right. Yeah...I probably should have looked at the elevation chart BEFORE registering for it. (In reality, I did, but only after I had my mind set on running it). They say you should pick a flat marathon for your first one, and it probably would have been the smarter choice, but as I'm not really looking to shell out extra cash for a plane ticket and potentially a hotel room in addition to the marathon registration fee, I decided it would be easiest to run a marathon that was close enough where I could have one of my friends drive me down, and since the Marine Corps Marathon fills up way far in advance, the Baltimore Marathon was the next best option. It isn't too hilly, there are really only two major hills, one the first few miles, and unfortunately, one around mile 20, which could be pretty devastating. I figure as long as I incorporate hill training in my preparation, I should be decently prepared come race day.
Finally, my last, more recent source of motivation has come via a sort of bet between myself and several friends. When I was toying around with the idea of running a marathon, we decided to look at famous people who had run marathons and how they had done. In browsing celeb marathon times, we came across Sarah Palin, who in 2005 ran Humpy's Marathon in Anchorage Alaska in a respectable 3:59:36. And naturally, as Sarah Palin is all that is evil and wrong in this world, we decided that I should make it my goal to beat her (kinda like how P. Diddy's goal in the NYC Marathon was to beat Oprah). Of course, as this is my first marathon, my main goal should just be to finish, as that would be a pretty good accomplishment in itself. But, being the competitor that I am, just finishing isn't good enough. This may not (and probably isn't) the best strategy, but I figure I'm dedicated enough to make it happen. It's going to be challenging, but in order to beat Palin, I'd have to average just over 9 minutes per mile, which is a pretty decently fast pace, but also very doable.
A few weeks after I had officially registered was the Boston Marathon, where the marathon world record was unofficially broken (it couldn't be officially recognized because the Boston Marathon is basically a downhill race and because of the tailwind, and maybe other things that I don't necessarily know about or understand), and that got me really pumped for my marathon. It also planted a seed in my head, an thought that, "yeah, maybe I could one day run that race". One problem, you need to qualify for it. And the qualifying time for my age group is ridiculously fast, at least by the standards of a marathon novice. 3:10:00. About 7:15 per mile. That's pretty fast. And the bad news is each age group only adds an additional 5 minutes to the qualifying time, and I'm in my current age group until I'm 35, so I guess I have plenty of time to try to qualify. I'm probably getting way too far ahead of myself, but I guess it's good to have long-term goals, and who knows, maybe (and hopefully) I'll do better than expected and decide it's something I can do in the next 5 years. Yeah, that sounds like a reasonable goal.
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