The Little Engine That Could?

I got inspired by this Well Blog article, which basically states that any couch potato can run a marathon, if they so choose. Well, I can be quite sedentary at times, but I don't think I'm a stereotypical "couch potato", who perches in front of a TV/Computer screen and snacks on junk food for long periods of time. I think at least I try to be active and am, somewhat.

So this gets me thinking...maybe I should try running a marathon. I mean, I'm not a couch potato and heck, I'm in my prime!! If there's a time to do marathons, this is the time to do it. I think a lot of times I just want to do something to prove that I can. It gives me a great sense of accomplishment.

And actually, if you think about it, a marathon isn't that big of a deal. It's basically just running for 4-5 hours straight. And if you can do that, you can tell everyone that you just ran A MARATHON!!! and yea, that just sounds pretty fucking awesome.

So the method the article prescribed is the run-walk method. It stresses that a mistake that beginner runners often make is that they push themselves too far, they overdo it--and that's where they get injured. The run-walk method basically states that you should train in run-walk-run-walk intervals, at a pace that works for you. For example, one can try running for a minute and walking for a minute, and repeat. The thing about walking is that it relieves a lot of the stress that your muscles endure when you run, so it's a good way to recover. And apparently people who trained with this method were able to finish in less than 5 hours.

I'm not going to strive for a time really. I just want to do it and know that I did it. :)

I just went to the website for the New York Marathon, which takes place every first Sunday of November. Apparently there are only 37,000 spots and people flock from all over the world to be in this race so they do it in a lottery format. The deadline to apply is June 1, so I still have some time to decide...

This sounds really exciting and I do have 23 weeks to train...but according to coolrunning.com, a very awesome site that provides training schedules for different types of runs, you shouldn't try to run a marathon unless you've been running on a regular basis for at least a year. So I guess the question I have to ask myself is: Can I do this -- train for a marathon -- in 23 weeks without hurting myself? A part of me wants to bet that I can, but the more sensible part thinks I should take this slowly, and just apply to be in next year's (2010) instead...

Alternatively, I could sign up for the Boston Marathon, which is in April every year. I guess that does give me about a year, but it's cold in April and I'd rather do it in New York. :D I also checked the Chicago Marathon, but that's in October...even earlier than the New York one. Then there's the Shamrock Marathon, which is on Virginia Beach, VA. It's less famous, but sounds like it could be fun. I know people who did that. This is in March...so, also a little cold. But I know that in this race, you can run a half marathon if you choose. (I'm not so sure about the other ones.)

As a first step, I just registered to run a 10K (about 6 miles) in the annual Wharf-to-Wharf race!!! I've done this race two years ago. It basically goes from Santa Cruz to Capitola and is right along the beach. And you have people on the sidelines cheering for you, playing music, and giving you water the whole way. It was pretty fun the last time I did it.