When I started this endeavor I suggested you might pledge by the miles I complete or a bonus for beating my previous marathon run. Should you choose to go this route I feel it’s only fare that I supply you with statistics on which to base your pledge.
The first marathon I ran was in 1994. I had just turned forty-two. As I described earlier the only prior race experience I had run was a five-kilometer “fun run.” I wasn’t immersed in a culture of running. I pretty much just went out and did it on my own terms. I don’t remember my routine of sixteen years ago but certain details would suggest that it was lacking in appropriate intensity. I had been running short distances, fast. Just prior to the marathon I did the Wall Street 5k Run in which I was only seconds short of a 7-minute pace. I feel certain it was the fastest I’ve ever run. Despite a lack of marathon research some essential information penetrated my stubborn independence. One of those important details was the essential requirement to do longer runs. Had I not I would most likely of gone out marathon day at much too fast a pace and spent myself early, perhaps not even finishing. I completed the marathon in 4 hours, 21 minutes. Except for the finishing times of friends, whom I consider to be more serious if not simply better athletes, I had nothing to compare it to. This isn’t the type of race the majority of us would ever think of in terms of winning. To put it in perspective, about the time that I was reaching the half way point the front runners were finishing. If I were to go out and run only one mile as fast I could, it would not even be close to what the front runners average over the course of 26 miles. This is the type of race that’s about a personal best. I knew I had pushed and run the entire distance and felt good about my time.
It was seven years of getting back into the mood and three years of attempting to receive a number before I ran again. It was 2004 and I was now fifty-two. I was still doing things my own way but this time a bit more seriously. I know I trained harder and longer and the results showed, 4 hours and 34 seconds. That was 34 seconds shy of my 4 hour goal. But I was also ten years older and 21 minutes faster. A finishing place of 8,603 out of a filed of 36,513. I felt pretty good about that until about three days later when I remember thinking I could have done better. I had to remind myself that I had been getting up at 6am to run before work, running on weekends and generally investing most of my free time. How much more committed could I possibly have been. That’s how it gets you hooked and makes you want to do one more. That’s why I’m here again now.
Come Sunday November 7, 2010 I will be three days past my 58th birthday and my goal – under 4 hours.
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