Marathon By 40

So, I decided it would be a great over-arching goal to run a marathon by the time I’m 40. What would be the best way to break that up into smaller goals?

Considering I haven’t run in any organized race before, I’m starting with smaller events and will work my way up to the ultimate goal:

• 5k & 10k race at age 38
• Half-Marathon at age 39
• Marathon at age 40

Spreading these events out over the next 2 and half years provides measured steps to take me from couch potato to marathon runner. Each year I have a goal that’s an achievable step.

Earlier this month, I completed the “Couch to 5k” from Cool Running using Robert Ullrey’s Podcast series to coach me through it. I had tried this program a few times in the past, but never had the determination to make it all the way through. Once I decided this was a step towards the larger goal of a marathon by age 40, and that time wasn’t slowing down, I was motivated enough to press all the way through running 3 times a week over the program’s nine week span. At the end, I ran my first complete 5k workout in 37′46″. So, I’m not the fastest man in the world, but it was probably the first time in my life that I had gone that far in a single run.

It felt great! I was able to look back and see how the incremental training over the previous nine weeks had taken me from getting winded on a short run around the soccer field to being able to run over three miles. It was a small taste of what I can accomplish if I use a measured plan and stick to it.

So, I’m ready for my first event, which I’ll write more about in the next post.

Until then, let’s go run!