New runner, training for 1/2 Marathon (Read 1808 times)

Quote from slosh252 on 1/6/2009 at 9:06 PM:

Well, the only friends I talk running with are other runners since I get no sense of pride or satisfaction from discussing my races with people who think that finishing a marathon is more impressive than an 18-minute 5k. To people who know something about running, a really fast 5k is more Mount Everest-esque than a slow marathon.

But, yes, to the general population, a marathon is a mountain.

And I totally agree with Scout. Competition is not for most people. Just getting out and doing something is great. Running one mile at any speed is more than what about 95% of Americans can do.

Quote from slosh252 on 1/6/2009 at 9:06 PM:

Yes, that and being pissed off at all the trash that is left in a sacred and once-pristine place by people who think they can buy self-respect with a wad of cash and the help of professionals. Most elite climbers stay far away from Everest.



No, they aren't. This is rare as hell.



Training to run a 5k to the best of your ability takes the same amount of work as training to run a marathon to the best of your ability.



Not my friends. They aren't impressed by what I do. They just want me to be happy.



I thought the analogy was to being hauled up Mt. Everest. Which is probably still much much more difficult than running a marathon.

Quote from Jeff on 1/6/2009 at 9:57 PM:

What?! We couldn't care less about your happiness. But a sub 2:30 marathon would be very impressive.

mta:

Quote from TanyaS on 1/6/2009 at 10:03 PM:

You're not my friend.

mta:

<insert> cooler emoticon</insert>

There is nothing rare or unique about finishing a marathon. Hundreds of thousands of people do it every year. Marathon finishers are a dime a dozen. Is it tough to do? For sure. But so too is blasting out a good time at a shorter distance.

Quote from slosh252 on 1/6/2009 at 10:10 PM:

I believe in swamp leakage.

Despite the fact that I ran high school track for a very good program and almost ran in college and always owned a pair of running shoes and knew where they were in my closet for many years just in case I needed them, in the late winter/early spring of 1999, when I was 29 years old, I was not a runner by even the most casual definition--and had not been for at least 11 years. So when I signed up for my first marathon it was because, in my completely uneducated state, The Marathon reallywas some Everest-esque quest to check off my list of things to do so I could say I did. I signed up for one, trained a bit, went out too fast, crashed and burned, waddled through it, it hurt like hell, and...perhaps most surprisingly, a year or so later, I decided to become a runner. Now I look back and laugh at myself and the marathon has become to me what it always was in reality: a road race. But I still remember what it felt like to finish that first one and how it changed the way I looked at myself and how on some level it possibly lit the spark and led to running being what it is for me now. And so I don't begrudge people who want to run headlong to the marathon without racing other distances and I understand it. To the non-runner, the marathon has an allure that other races just do not. And because the half marathon has the word "marathon" in it, it works almost as well at cocktail parties.