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NOTE: To all of my AR friends that are reading my story. I will get to the race.... I promise. I have always wanted to document my full marathon experience from coming up with the idea.... to my painful conclusion. Thanks for bearing with me. Just a reminder..... as mentioned in part 1.... this occurred two years ago.
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OK! Thanks to Super Dave, I now had a better idea as to how I should proceed. It seemed that there were two main action items on my list, get new running shoes and find a running schedule that will get me ready in twelve weeks. I can do this!
The old sneakers hit the garbage can with a loud thud and I searched out one of the stores that Dave suggested. It was only about 15 miles away, so as soon as my head was clear from the pints the night before, I headed out to get my first real taste of running shoes at Marathon Sports.
I was quite impressed with the whole Marathon Sports shopping experience. This was not a typical trip to a shoe store. Have marathon runners been hiding this from us?
After entering the store and finding someone to help me, I was instructed to remove my shoes and walk towards the associate.... three times. This was not just a sales person.... this was a shoe genius. The associate watched my feet, how I walked and examined my instep. He then asked me how long I have been running and why I was buying the shoes. Only then, did he measure my foot.
Even more amazing. Once I tried on the shoes, I was instructed to leave the store and run down the street to see how they felt. Typically, if you get an item at a store, leave without paying and start running.... they call the cops! I did this with three different pairs before I finally found one that fit well and was comfortable to run in.
It got even better at checkout when I told the associate that I was running the marathon as a non-profit fund-raiser. They took 10% off of the price of the shoes. I would highly recommend Marathon Sports to anyone that is ever in need of any type of running gear.
Next on my list was to find a training schedule and what better place to start.... Google. I truly don't understand how anyone was able to find any information before the Internet was developed. Thank you Al Gore!
I spent some time Googling and soon discovered an 18 week training schedule for novices (If you're interested in actually seeing the schedule, you can find it here.....Hal Higdon's Marathon Training Guide Novice 1). Although I only had 12 weeks until the race, I was not able to find anything that would get me prepared in that short a period of time. I downloaded the 18 week program and consolidated it into 12 weeks.
Hal's schedule had me resting on Mondays and Fridays. That was the fun part. Tuesday's were short run days... anywhere from three miles to five miles. I could handle that. Wednesday's were medium run days.... anywhere from three to ten miles... ramping up through the weeks. Sunday I would cross train including either swimming or biking. Dave informed me that pint drinking did not qualify as cross training. I did try to argue with Dave on that but to no avail.
Saturdays were the big run days. These runs started with six miles on the first Saturday and peaking on week 15 with a 20 mile run.
I compacted the 18 week plan into 12 weeks, peaking on week nine with the 20 mile run. That's right. In nine weeks, I'll be running 20 miles!
There! Done! I knew I could do this. I was getting excited. I printed up the schedule and hung it on my door. I was now officially training for the Boston Marathon.
Now.... to deal with the fund-raising!
Stay tuned for What Was I Thinking (Part six)
What Was I Thinking (Part one): In the Beginning
What Was I Thinking (Part two): Goodbye Reality
What Was I Thinking (Part three): The Point of No Return
What Was I Thinking (Part four): Super Dave
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