Starting Over

It's been almost 4 months since the Lincoln Marathon, and its time to get ready for my next run, the LA Marathon, which will be in March, 2009.

We had considered running a marathon in October, but the bottom line is that I just was not ready. There are certain physical reasons, including the deep, deep blister in my right foot that just does not seem to heal, along with the fact that I was pretty physically beaten up this time. My initial recovery was quicker, but all the aches and pains this time have taken months to clear. And that blister between the balls of my feet just keeps coming back (In fact, it's back already after my last walk).

Perhaps more importantly, I have the heart for more marathoning but my brain has not been in the right place. My time was horrible, and over all three marathons I keep losing time, not getting faster. And, I think I took more of a mental beating than a physical beating on the last marathon, as it was not really a good experience. I was far too heavy, which was my fault. But, whereas in 2007 the route remained open until just after I crossed the finish line, this time they pulled all of the road blocks a whole hour and half earlier, so I had to finish the last hour plus on the sidewalks. I did enjoy, very much, going the last couple of miles with my family, which I could never have done if the course had still been closed. But, stopping for red lights and such for such a long distance killed my time. And, when I finished, the crews were taking down the finish line and the steel beam that holds the overhead clock had been lowered to about three feet, so I walked up and touched it to finish as opposed to sprinting across the finish line. I looked back over the numbers and realized that I was on pace to beat my 2007 time, but when they opened the course an hour earlier my time was doomed.

So, I'm starting over.

I plan to complete the LA Marathon in 5 hours to avoid this problem, but that will be a very difficult task for me because of my slowness. Regardless, that's the plan.

I'll start my prep this time with gentle jog-walks and slowly increase, just like I did for my first marathon. And, I've placed a premium on stripping off the weight. We'll see what happens from there.

I started last Saturday with a 4.4 mile walk (the distance from my daughter's house to mine). I have modest goals for September, and will gradually increase my weekly averages until December, when I begin my marathon schedule again.

We shall see what we shall see.