Clean and Cold Apartment
I'm not sure what brought up the idea, one of my usual stream of consciousness wild tangents I'm sure. I started looking into qualifying for the Boston Marathon, which is on April 20, 2009. To be honest I highly doubt I'll be able to qualify in time, both physically and logistically as the only real qualifying races I could find between now and then are in somewhere like Toronto or Texas, or other places far away that start with the letter 'T'. I used to be a pretty decent runner in high-school, especially considering I started running my junior year. The qualifying time for my age group (18-34) is 3:10:59, which works out to be a 7:17 minute mile. I know I have the speed to run that pace, but I definitely can't do it for 26.2 miles right now.
Another option is to get a charity waiver. Charitable organizations get 15 waivers for runners that certify they can do the marathon in at most 6 hours. I could begin training now, run this year on a charity waiver (although I have no clue what is required or how hard they are to get), and run for serious next year.
Even if I have to wait until next year to enter I'd be cool with that. I'm gonna start this morning with a 3 mile run around the block just to see how I feel. I'm gonna try and contact my old high school cross-country/track coach too to see if he has any advice and to see if he can recommend a good training regimen.
Since I don't really use this thing all that much I figured it'd be a good place to record my progress. I'm gonna make a weekly post on Sundays and update the post throughout the week with my performance, feelings, etc.
Edit: Thursday 1/15/09
The run was one step above miserable failure. Ran for 1 mile, walked for 1.5, ran last .5 mile back. It was ridiculously cold outside, my entire lower body was numb. I had to lay in bed for almost an hour with 3 layers of blankets to warm up. I meant to see what the temperature was outside, but ended up falling asleep. I'm gonna rest one day, and then try the same route on Saturday.
Google Map of my route: http://tinyurl.com/8tp47v
Another option is to get a charity waiver. Charitable organizations get 15 waivers for runners that certify they can do the marathon in at most 6 hours. I could begin training now, run this year on a charity waiver (although I have no clue what is required or how hard they are to get), and run for serious next year.
Even if I have to wait until next year to enter I'd be cool with that. I'm gonna start this morning with a 3 mile run around the block just to see how I feel. I'm gonna try and contact my old high school cross-country/track coach too to see if he has any advice and to see if he can recommend a good training regimen.
Since I don't really use this thing all that much I figured it'd be a good place to record my progress. I'm gonna make a weekly post on Sundays and update the post throughout the week with my performance, feelings, etc.
Edit: Thursday 1/15/09
The run was one step above miserable failure. Ran for 1 mile, walked for 1.5, ran last .5 mile back. It was ridiculously cold outside, my entire lower body was numb. I had to lay in bed for almost an hour with 3 layers of blankets to warm up. I meant to see what the temperature was outside, but ended up falling asleep. I'm gonna rest one day, and then try the same route on Saturday.
Google Map of my route: http://tinyurl.com/8tp47v