The Marathon Thread

Several of my friends here have gotten into running and after some initial hesitation, I've decided to give a half-marathon a shot. We have a training schedule that'll take basically anybody from no running ability whatsoever to being able to complete a half-marathon.

I had my doubts at first, but one of my friends (an Army Captain) has done this for several people in the past with a 100% success rate.

Just curious to see if anybody else has any has tried doing one of these races before and could share any experiences.

How long is a half marathon? 11 miles or so?

Anyway, I ran 5Ks in middle school when I ran cross country. I think my best time was 18.5 minutes or so, which is pretty damn good for anybody in highschool, let alone my age and size...but that was my best by far. Olympic marathon runners typically do that same distance during a marathon in about 16 minutes though.

Nice!

I've been a runner on and off for the better part of seven years.

The most important thing I can say to anyone wanting to run on a regular basis:

-Get good fitting high quality shoes
-Stretch before running. And not some half-ace stretching either, develop a good prerun stretch routine and stick to it.

I've never did a 26 miler, but I've always wanted to train to give it a try. I run atleast four times a week now, normally between 3-5 miles 'cause I bring the dog with me.

I could probably knock out about ten miles now and a moderate pace, dunno how much more though.

Good luck!

A half marathon is 13 miles. The target date for the one I'm doing is labor day weekend, September 5th.

Kidnemo: yeah I need to get better about stretching. I'm a total slacker about it with my weight training, and I always suffer the day after.

There's a custom shoe place around here that will make your shoes based off of how you walk/run. They're a bit expensive, but everybody I've talked to has said it's worth the cost.

I've never tried custom shoes, I always deal with a shoe store that allows returns and I'm very picky about what shoes I get. I've had my current pair of running shoes for a couple of seasons, I should probably get a new pair soon.

Sept. huh? I'd think you'll be more than fine to run 13 miles by then. What can you run now?

re: stretching - before I started the martial arts, I always had problems in my right knee. I think the combination of stretching, and all of the different flexibility excercises have done wonders for me though, no more knee problems.

I haven't actually checked or timed myself. I can't run for very long, I know that for sure though. I can walk a goodly distance, but I don't have much in the way of cardiovascular endurance, which is part of the reason I'm getting involved with all of this. The training program I'm getting into is designed for people with 0 running ability, which is good for my lazy ass =)

I have a lot of strength in my legs, but I need to work strecthing into my routines. I've been going up in my weight training, and it's taking its toll on my knees, so I really should stretch more, and with a real routine.

That's cool though. If you have the dedication, and you don't have any phyiscally limited problems, you'll do fine.

And don't forget to stretch! :D

So this past weekend, I took a shot at the Rock 'N Roll Half Marthon in VA Beach. It was a hell of an experience, that I'll definitely be repeating in the future.

First, there's the actual training and preparation to talk about. I started officially training for the 13 miles back in June, starting with simple timed runs, and slowly working my way up to distance runs, then longer distance runs. Unfortuantely (so I thought), I was training in a pretty hilly area, and I have a problem with my left knee that kept me from going any distance over 7 miles. So it was I found myself at this race having never even topped 10 miles, let alone 13.1, which left me with serious doubts as to if I was going to be able to run the whole distance, let alone finishing.

The race started at 7, which meant getting up about 5am to get ready. We had about 8 people running, and some friends who came along to cheer us on. We got to the race area about 6:30, and we got herded into our corrals with about 5 minutes before the race started. Runners are seperated into groups (corrals) based on your estimated finish time that you submit when you register. The elite runners of course are all up front, so when the race "starts" and they take off, you still have to wait for your corral to get started, which can take anywhere from 2 to 6 minutes, depending on the # of people. There were 17,000 entrants at this race, which is a pretty impressive site to see running down a road.

I can honestly say that the spectators made a huge difference. It was hella cool to run around the corner to people cheering you on and encouraging you. It gives that extra energy between water stops to keep going. There were even cheerleeders along the way, but I didn't have a camera with me so i didn't get pictures. Almost all were jailbait though. We had our names on the front of our shirts, so people would actually call out "Keep going Mike!". It was superficial of course, but when you're slogging along trying to get to that next powerade stop, it sounds sweet to the ears.

There were also bands spaced out along the course, to give you some music to listen to as you were slogging along. You're not supposed to have portable players with you, but I saw some runners using them anyway. They were mostly just local cover bands, but there was a reggae band at one mile marker to break things up.

My pace was slow, but I managed to make it 9 miles before my left knee finally said "Ok, slow down for a bit chief". I walked mile 9 and part of 10 before picking up the pace for the last couple miles. I walked and jogged for 11, then just ran for the 12 and 13.

The crowd at the homestretch was awesome. Lots of cheering, handshakes and yelling for the competitiors. Some of the other racers hung out too, to cheer on those who were still going, which was pretty cool of them. By the time I crossed the finish line, my goal was to find the beer tent and an ice pack for my leg.

My time was 2:48 or so. To give you an idea of the elite runners' pace, the winner finished in 1:02 . 13MPH on foot. Oof.

I had a great time at this race. I can definitely see doing another one, but I don't think I'll ever do a full. 26 miles seems like just a bit too much strain to put on yourself. 5Ks, 10Ks and halfs are doable though.

Pictures will be forthcoming. One of my fellow runners got a ton that he's promised to hook me up with once he gets back.

well done
you should make it your ambition to do the full one sometime in a few years, as if you only started training back in june and made a half marathon, imagine how good you'd be if you kept up the same standard of training for a year or so; a full marathon would be possible
by what you have said, it sounds within your grasp, so go for it