This weekend I watched Kristin complete the Portland Marathon. It was an exciting experiance for me. Even though I was not participating, nor was I fully trained for a marathon, the whole time I wanted to jump on the course and start running. Although, I felt pretty bad for Kristin and my friends Tony, David B. and Amanda at the same time. The weather was supposed to be decent, maybe some light showers. The race started dry, then about an hour later, it poured for the next 4 or so hours! I don't mean a little Portland sprinkle, I mean full on rain. Regardless, I would have rather been running with them than sitting cheering.
This has lead me to make an announcement
I have signed up to run in the Eugene Marathon on May 3rd, 2009. There are some pros and cons with choosing this race. First, I will start with the cons.
Cons
- Okay, maybe just one really. I want to spend six months training up for the distance, and the speed. Choosing an event in early May means I need to start training in November. This means I will be making many weekday runs in the darkness as it gets dark in the winter before I get off work. Then, add on top of that all of the rain that we get, I will be running in the dark, in the rain. On the weekends when I make my long runs it will also be in the rain most likely.
- The other smaller con is my cycling fitness will probably fall off some more, but I am hoping to maintain it.
Pros
- It will help to keep the winter fat off, and maybe I will even lose some weight.
- When the marathon is done in May, I will be free to do other things during the summer months. Maybe even doing an endurance Duathlon in the summer (56 mile bike, 13.1 run) and probably at least one or two centuries (100 mile bike rides).
- I love trail running, and this will give me more of an excuse to do long trail runs.
- I want to do the Big Sur marathon, but I would be foolish to make it my first. This will be a good start.
- The marathon is held in track town USA. This is a Mecca for runners in the US. This is Perfontaine's town, along with other major track and field stars (Hayward, Phil Knight the founder of Nike, Alberto Salazaar, and the list goes on).
- Doing a marathon, need I say more?
2 comments:
Glad to hear! It will be an amazing experience. I recommend early morning runs - less cars. Get yourself a reflective vest. Nathan makes one with LEDs to improve visibility. Also a good headlamp so you can see where you are going. Run on roads you know well, that hopefully don't have a lot of potholes!
Tony, how do you find the motivation to run early in the AM? I am not joking. I am not a morning person, and when I wake up in the AM all of my ligaments are really tight.
I know you are in to morning runs, but honestly, how do you do it?
Post a Comment