Marathon
The Marathon. Holy Grail for many runners. I'm not sure what motivates most of us to run that far. If it was just for the sense of accomplishment, I could measure out the distance myself, although not quite as accurately. It can't just be for the shiny little medallion at the end or the certificate of completion that comes by mail a few weeks later. I wonder if a significant part of it is that we want to be surrounded by a bunch of people as crazy as we are for a little while - running is usually a fairly solitary occupation of time. Official recognition is a piece, too. Raising a bit of money for a charity is usually on the agenda, which is always good for a little warm fuzzy. And I think that you push yourself harder when other people are watching.
At any rate, this page, and the group of daughter pages attached to it, will serve as a log and testament of some of my longer running insanities. And speaking of insanity, I'm thinking about a long term goal of a Marathon in every province and territory - this sort of modeled after a t-shirt I saw on another runner at last year's Ottawa. It proclaimed that he'd completed a Marathon in each of the 50 US states. Not sure I'm that ambitious.
I also hope to run a few others while I'm at it - Copenhagen is high on my dream list. I think two per year is about all I can handle for the next little while, though. Five to six months between races this long seems like a good period. Boston is on the dream list, too, but the 3:10 qualifying time for my age category is just a teensy bit beyond my ability at this point. Of course, when I turn 35 in two and a half years, the qualifying time will go up to 3:15. Big break.
However, I'm still fairly young. If I keep training, I should only improve for at least the next decade. Will I ever run a 2:30? Not likely. I'm not built for it. 2:59 might be in reach, though, if I work for it. Take quite a while, though, if I can find the time.
| Race | Date |
Gun Time |
Chip Time |
Goal | Notes |
| Ottawa 2002 | 12 May 2002 |
5:34:53.1 |
5:32:54.8 |
to finish | Knee injury at 35 km |
| Ottawa 2003 | 11 May 2003 | forthcoming | |||
| Toronto 2003 | Fall 2003 | forthcoming |
Page last updated: 02 May 2003.