Runner Insight

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Once I made the commitment in January to run the full marathon in July of 2007, it was obvious I hadn’t been running enough miles. I had slacked off toward the latter part of 2006. Because of the change in seasons, and the fact that I didn’t have a specific race that I was training for, I had been just taking it easy.

Because I had sloughed off on my running, I knew I would have to increase my mileage just to get to the point where I could even begin the marathon training program. Ironically, I had to pre-train in order to be able to start training.

So again, I had to modify the running mileage chart, this time the build-up mileage chart, to coordinate with my schedule. The race wasn’t until July, so I had time to get in pre-marathon training shape, but I didn’t have to start as low as the chart suggested starting, because I wasn’t starting from zero miles of running per week. I had been running, probably about fifteen miles a week, just not enough to be prepared for the marathon training mileage that I needed to be ready to start in April.

With both a marathon training program as well as a pre-training running program lined out, the next thing I had to decide on was my goal for this race. As I mentioned, my back-up goal was to finish in the time allowed to run a full marathon. They allow 6 hours for an “official finisher” to complete the marathon.

But I also had some lofty dreams of running it in 4 hours. I didn’t really believe that was possible, as that would be a pretty fast pace for me. Not to mention that, err….well, I didn’t want to do any speed training. I run for pleasure, and that’s not fun. That’s more like work. So I’m not sure why I was even considering a four hour marathon finish, but, hey one can dream, right? However, I did think that a 4 ½ hour finish for the 26.2 mile race was do-able for me, and without having to do any of that nasty, unpleasant speed work.

So now that I had my mileage charts all planned out, week by week, and an end goal to strive for, I was excited to get started. Having those kind of specifics laid out has always been a great motivator for me.

At the end of 2003 my running had really slowed down to where it was almost non-existent. I was going through some pretty exciting changes in my life, and well, running just kind of took a back seat at that point in time…Okay maybe it wasn’t even in the backseat…I’m pretty sure it got left back there somewhere, forgotten in the dust!

But in the beginning of 2005, life was flowing wonderful and stable, and I had started feeling the void that used to be defined by the activity and endorphins of running. I decided to train for Bloomsday 2005 in Spokane, Washington. It took place the first weekend in May, so I had plenty of time to get my mileage built up. It was a 12K run with over 40,000 racers! I finished that race in what I considered to be a good time, and was glad that I had done it. But the point I’m trying to make is, that by having a targeted race and a goal to train for, I knew I would do the running it required to get there.

Oh and by the way, I finished first in my name group at Bloomsday! Okay, so there were only three running with my last name, but still, I finished first in that category! You’ve got to celebrate the victories as they come, right?

How ‘bout it?

-Vision Runner

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