Sunday, December 13, 2009

Let's Give This Another Shot!

I've started a few blogs about my running before but they never seem to materialize. One reason is that I don't feel I'm that great of a writer and I get a bit self conscious about it. Another reason is that I'm not sure who would actually want to read about my running adventures but, just in case there's one or two of you, I'll give it another shot.
Let me start by recapping the last few years. About 3 years ago, I was 196 lbs. and I couldn't walk up the stairs without running out of breathe. I was a runner in high school but ever since college, fast food, cigarettes, and copious amounts of alcohol had left me grossly out of shape. I had to make a change and make it quick. I signed up for the 5k that is part of the Detroit Free Press Marathon races and started run/walking my way back into shape. I finished the 5k in 27:59. I was thrilled to be running again and made up my mind to return to Detroit next year to run the full marathon.
The following October, I toed the line at 160 lbs and finished my first marathon in 3:21:13. Since then, I have run 8 marathons with a PR of 3:10:41, qualifying for Boston with 19 seconds to spare.
2009 was an up and down year for me. I ran Boston, was accepted into the Brooks ID program, completed my first two sprint triathlon (despite being a horrible swimmer), set a PR in the half marathon but failed to break 3:00 for the full marathon despite what I thought was the best training cycle of my life.
My goals for 2010 are all over the board. I want to run my first ultra, step up to the half ironman distance in triathlons, and I still want to break 3:00 hours.
I also hope to update this blog on at least a weekly basis. Hopefully this will allow me to reflect on my training and keep me from repeating the same mistakes, most common of which is to do all my mileage at the same pace. One of my other goals for 2010 is to learn to run slow when I'm supposed to run slow.