Marathon
Seven miles at lunch, Longfellow-Charles-Smoots double loop+. 47:12 (6:41), 6.7 @ 44:45 (6:41). Splits: 6:43, 6:23, 6:36, 6:55, 6:42, 6:45, 7:06. Not great but not horrible, a bit chilly, pushing too hard at points, not as relaxed as Friday on this route. Quads, both, now a bit sore.
Someone asked me about my marathon plans; over to the right there it still says I'm attempting marathon training. Yeah, about that. It was going great up until last March, building up for a go at the Vermont City Marathon, but got a quad injury (hypothesis is too much running on the flats, around the lake). Cut way back, missed the marathon, built up a bit, but no real distance, lotsa races though, 14 between May and September.
Now, I'm trying to start in on more miles, at least on the weekend, 10-13 for the past few weeks now. I'm thinking *possibly*, if things go well, a try at the Hyannis Marathon in February. And if I qualify for Boston (3:30:59 or less), then Boston less than two months later.
But it's all virtually still in the back of my mind at the moment, taking it as it comes, I'm not going to really force it, if it happens great, if not, it's okay, I'm still running. To be honest, I may not be passionate enough about doing a marathon, and this may be (just) cause for failure. It's sort of checkbox achievement, something to do before I die, just to say I did it.
Almost inevitably when someone finds out I run (e.g. at work, which happens a bit since I have my race bibs tacked up on my cube wall), they ask if I do marathons, like anything less is pedestrian, makes me feel I should do a marathon. And theoretically, on paper, I ought to be able to do it, and with a relatively respectable time. My attitude toward the marathon is opposed to my regular running/racing regimen, which I really enjoy, to keep healthy, fit, and to satisfy my competive streak. But that could change, we'll see.
Reading Letter to a Christian Nation, great stuff, please read it, but one goofy thing that never occurred to me before — why is it that religious people, when it comes to praying for the sick, generally omit amputees? Religious folk pray for the reversal of a cancer and other diseases but don't typically pray for the regrowth of a leg for a person who lost one in a land mine accident, for example. Why not? (Surely God could do it, salamanders routinely accomplish this feat.) It is because they know implicitly that such a thing is simply preposterous. There is a web site, whydoesgodhateamputees.com, devoted to this very issue.
Posted by David (link)
4 comments
4 Comments:
My name is Robert Key and I am a marathon runner from Houston. I am presently training to run the half-marathon in Houston with my 14 year old son in January, and then will run my 16th marathon in February in Austin in hopes of qualifying for my 4th Boston Marathon. I also do motivational speaking to running groups, youth groups, churches and business groups and have had a number of articles published on the subject of running and goal setting.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading through your running blog (and like some other poster's comments I read, I may not agree with them, but still respect your well-articulated religious viewpoints), and was wanting to know if you might be interested in listing a link to it on my web site. The web site, FaithfulSoles.com is about stories of inspiration, motivation and encouragement to runners of all abilities. I launched the site on August 7, 2006, and the number of visitors and members is growing rapidly. One of our weekly features that we just started is a "Running Blog of the Week" where we recognize a particular running (see the home page of the web site).
One of my goals is to set up a "running blog search engine" (there is no fee involved with listing your running blog on the site) where people of similar interests can pinpoint a blog that pertains to what they are doing, rather than them having to randomly scroll through blog after blog trying to find someone of similar ability whose message can help them. You will be able to categorize your blog by sex, age group, ability level, types of races you have run, and what your current goals are, which makes it very easy for members of the site to determine if that blog would be useful to them to read. The link to the blog registration page is http://www.faithfulsoles.com/fsblogregister.htm
I wish you continued good luck in your training and hope that you make your Boston qualifying time. Please feel free to pass this information about my web site along to anyone else in your network that you feel would be interested in sharing their own blog or story.
Thanks,
Robert
Hi Robert. No problem, I've put a link to faithfulsoles.com in with my other linked-to blogs, fwiw - I'm pretty sure there are about four other people who read this blog :-)
Though I believe religion has no place in government, public policy, and so on, I am not at all hostile to the use of religion by individuals in their private lives, including their running lives.
I like your idea of being able to search blogs by running ability, goals, etc. I'll check it out from time to time.
Good luck! David.
My 2c, you run a sub 1:30 half, so even a modest train up should easily allow you to run a sub 3:30 full...and you clearly have potential for a much faster race than that if/when you decide to do that. Qualifying for Boston should be so in your reach. See you there.
been giving some recent thought of running Hyannis myself in February
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