Sunday, November 14, 2010

Do All Runners Dream of 26.2?

The good ole running buddy and I have always discussed the thoughts of doing a marathon someday. Both of us felt the same way; maybe one day but not today. Well now Sheri thinks one day has arrived. What? The other night on one of our regular 4 milers, she brought it up"So I am thinking that marathon day is coming" Me thinking in my head "What??" but I answered with "Maybe one day but I am not sure I am ready yet"So from that moment on, it had me pondering the thought. That night I fell asleep on the hubs side of the bed and I had a crazy dream, we was running the marathon and I couldn't believe it we was talking to each other just really proud and then I woke up fell back asleep and was running again! I woke up and fell back into right where I left off still running 3 times finally at 5am I just decided it was time to get up cause I was tired from all that running all night long!! Yesterday on our long run of course it was brought up again. Except this time it was " I am thinking we should do the Flying Pig Marathon"( We have already decided to do the half there, mostly due to me wanting to with the whole pig theme ~ I LOVE PIGS!!) I don't really think I gave her an answer but once again my head said"WHAT?? THAT IS IN MAY!" I told my husband about the talk about it and he said "Why not just take your time since its your first and all" Huh? And that night when we all met up for dinner, I knew it was going to happen, good ole Sheri says" Gerard has Bobbie told you, I think she should do the marathon" and his reply"Yes she told me and I agree I think so to, so she is doing it!" As soon as we got home I jumped straight on the computer and looked it up. So my dear friend and awesome rocking running buddy Sheri here is my answer to the Flying Pig Marathon ( I know you are reading this:)

After looking over the site completely on the Flying Pig I will agree to sign up for the Marathon and train for it. One of the main decision factors for me is the fact that I have until April 18 to decide if I can really do the whole thing because there is an option of switching races back down to the half. So if I do not feel like I am ready by April 18 with the training I will be backing down. Also I am VERY doubtful in myself that I can run the entire thing, I mean look at the last half, so in training I will be doing a lot of run/walking but I am giving it my best effort. I am NOT going to set an outstanding goal time, my thought right now without any training I am saying my hopeful finish time is 5 to 5:15 again not outstanding but a starting point. So my friend these thoughts make me extremely nervous and I sure hope you are ready to be spending some time together we have a journey ahead of us for sure!!

So blog world let's hear it! Do all runner's dream of completing 26.2? Is it ever too soon, do you need to have been a "runner" for years before you are really ready? Is six months long enough to train?(I was really thinking a year) Is it okay to go into it with a run/walk method? Does that make you less of a marathoner? Do you ever feel like you are ready? What made you decide to sign up for a Marathon? What's a good training schedule? Help me??!!

13 comments:

run4may said...

I think many of us dream of 26.3 and then once that is accomplished many of us dream of some day qualifying for boston. Your going to do great- Oink Oink.

Running Librarian said...

You will do great! I must say I don't ever think I will do a 26.2...13.1 is my limit (bad knee so I feel like 13.1 is pushing it at times). So where is this flying pig marathon?? :)

Crystal said...

read jeff galloway's book. he is the founder i guess of the run/walk method and has a book just on marathons. that's what jeremy did to train for his half all summer. the first time he ran all of a long run was burgin 15k, then after that he was able to do all of his 10-12 mile runs running the whole thing. (we have the book if you want to borrow it)

i say do the first one to finish, then you can improve off that.

also, if you can build up your run/walk milage then you can gradually decrease your walk parts. you have a ton of time to build up.

go for it!

misszippy said...

I think so much depends on where you are right now. What is your current base mileage? If it's in the right place, then yes, you can go for it. Just do it cautiously (keep your mileage additions to no more than 10%/week) and back down if you are feeling too fatigued--don't get caught up in the idea that you can't miss a workout along the way. It also would be a good idea to throw a 1/2 in there before getting to F.P. as a benchmark for your fitness. Email if you want to get into more detail!

Kim (Book Worm Runs) said...

You can definitely run/walk a Marathon!!! And I can only speak for me but I never thought about doing a marathon when I first started running but the more I ran the more confident I got and the idea that maybe I really could do it was implanted in my brain. To me, if I can run a marathon I can do anything! :) Congrats and good luck with your training!!

Sheridan Lee said...

YAY! Of course you are ready...our base mileage is about 7-8 miles, but we could both run a half tomorrow...no doubt about it!

You can do it Bobbie! I'll do the same thing...sign up for the full...and back down if we need to! YOU ARE A FREAKIN' ROCKSTAR! Of course you can do it!

Raegun said...

Wow! You are brave. You're lucky to have running friends to encourage you towards new, fantastic accomplishments. ;) Just do what you can. Train hard. You may surprise yourself.

Anonymous said...

You definitely have it in you if you're willing to dedicate the hours to training. Best of luck!!! I know you won't be backing down... just go for it...

Laura said...

Good for you!
I know that one day I will end up doing a marathon, but my time is not just yet!!

imarunnersmom said...

I truly believe you can do this! You have accomplished so much since starting your running adventure. Take your time get a training plan together and run with it!
No pun intended!

Ann ~ Sporty Girl Jewelry said...

I don't know about everyone else, but I dream of running a marathon. I have done a 1/2 and felt I could do more. The main thing that holds me back is the time commitment of training. I think if you have time and a great training partner you should go for it!

Jess @ Blonde Ponytail said...

My running buddy encouaged me to do Portland 10-10-10, my first race ever. We signed up in april and began training with a runner's world plan in late June. I was looki9ng at that Flying Pig one too! It's in Cincinnati right?!

RunToTheFinish said...

i think a marathon has become the thing to do or the thing that we feel like we must do to be considered real runners, but truly running at all makes us runners. I think taking on teh distance has to be about wanting to do it for a lot of reasons, including a feeling a pride