TotallyOz Posted September 21, 2008 Posted September 21, 2008 On the verge of my first marathon, I find myself excited, scared, exhilarated and depressed all at the same time. First, I am not really sure what someone my age is doing running his first marathon. It seemed like such an impossible task when I first thought about the idea. To run 26 miles on one day just seemed like something only a lunatic could do. The more I thought about it, the closer I started looking at races and which one would suit me the best. I picked a race and a city and started getting ready for it. Instead of loosing weight, I have gained weight on this journey. I am not sure if I am eating more or I am just not concentrating on the workouts the way I did a month ago. In any case, the day of reckoning is less than a few weeks away and I find myself working hard each day to put in the needed miles that was suggested so that I won’t hurt or kill myself. This week was a 15-mile run. It took slightly over 3 hours for me to do. I have to say that that is not a great pace but will put me in around my goal to finish the race. What I didn’t expect was the needed pee breaks, the protein bars after each hour and a really sore neck and back the day after. Next week, I’ll do a 20 mile run to see if that is something I can do and if so, it looks like I am headed to the 26 mile shin dig soon. The journey to get to the race has been a great adventure. I have found myself so tired at times that sex is not even anywhere on my mind. I find my sleeping has become better than ever. Last night, I was so hard sleeping that I fell off my bed. I have not done that is over 20 years. The boyfriend freaked out and thought I was dying. I hit the floor pretty hard and it scarred him. He said I just cursed a lot and went back to bed but he didn’t sleep well as I kept trying to edge to the end of the bed. LOL Life continues to thrill me and while I am still a fat dirty old pervert, the extra training I have been doing to get ready for this task has been a real journey. It has had its ups and downs but I have really enjoyed the ride. I don’t know if I will make it to race day the first weeks of October or if I will have to drop out and do another one. I am hoping for no injuries, surprises or drama. But, as the 15-mile run was a breeze, I look forward to my last weeks of training for this. Please keep your fingers crossed for me and send good thoughts my way. I need them. Oz Quote
Guest Conway Posted September 21, 2008 Posted September 21, 2008 Congratulations. You have really taken your good health to a new level. Quote
TotallyOz Posted September 29, 2008 Author Posted September 29, 2008 Thanks. I was supposed to do a long run on Saturday in the USA but I was held hostage in Thailand. We were suppose to board a non stop plane to USA but they kept delaying and delaying and delaying and finally they cancelled it for the night and put us up in a hotel. They confiscated our passports and shuttled us to the hotel. We had to be back at airport by 6:00 AM the next morning and by the time the plane left, another day was wasted and my last long run before the long trek was not made. I did get into USA in order to have a last week before the run. I am now more worried than ever that I won't finish as I did a mountain run today for 8 miles and it was at a 16 min per mile pace. That is about 4 minutes off the needed time to finish in under 6 hours. So, I have some work to do. The run is not an uphill run so that will help shave off a few minutes but it is not going to be easy anyway. I have found my IPod is my new best friend. The GPS is great and I am using a program called runkeeper which records my time, distance, elevation, etc and then uploads it to their site for me to compare and learn. I have send the link to my family and they have been watching it as well. The time is ticking and I am working hard but not sure that the tired old body will be able to pump it out. Only time will tell. Quote
