Marathon Training

If you've been reading here you know that I signed on to the Philadelphia Marathon.

Well today I began work with Phillyfit, a group training for the marathon. I decided that to realistically finish in 7 hours I had better run or job some of this thing. So I decided to train with other runners. That puts this in the category of learning new things.

What attracted me to this group is the theme that it doesn't matter who you are, what your running experience is, or how well-trained you are. All that matters is trying. The group consists of people who walk and people who run very fast. There are people who have completed marathons, daulathons and triatholons and a lot, like me, who have never done any of those things before.

Before today, the longest I had run at one time wihtout stopping and/or walking part of the way was maybe close to 2 miles. Today, the first day of training, we had to run/walk a time trial. This would determine our starting point so that we could be grouped with others of similar ability. The time trial distance was 3 miles. It took a lot of internal talking to myself but I was determined not to be scared off by this. My goal was to start and finish at a pace that was not walking.

We were encouraged from the start to go at an easy pace. One where we could carry on a conversation at the same time. I focused on that and on keeping my legs moving and I completed the 3 miles without walking in 33 minutes, 4 seconds. Excuse me, but I am very impressed with myself right now. Participating with a group really helped. My pace run put me in the red group - 10 minute mile or slower.

One day down and many more to go. My long term goal, obviously, is to finish the marathon running or walking. My short term goals are to complete each step of the training. We have a weekly schedule involving three days of timed running/walking. The group meets every Saturday to run/walk for distance.

I'm excited, intimidiated (but a little less so than last night) and determined. I'll keep you posted.