Running

Best of luck. That's quite a leap from a 5K to a marathon. I completed five marathons long ago. I ran the Glass City Marathon when it was the old course where we started downtown and ran across the High Level Bridge and along the Maumee River from Rossford to Perrysburg, then over to Maumee, and back along the river to finish downtown. It was a fine course.

My favorite distances, however, were the 15K to 25K races, which were long enough to make the travel to the race worthwhile, but short enough not to wreck my body like a marathon did.

You definitely want to get the body used to the pounding of asphalt as soon as you can find something free of snow and ice.

You may be aware of this, but do not wear anything new on the day of your marathon. Ensure that ALL your gear is well-broken in. 26 miles is not the time to discover that something pinches or scrapes the body.

During the late miles of the marathon, you may feel the need to walk. That's okay, especially for your first marathon. But limit your walking to the distance of the water stations. Start running again when you reach the end of the water station, otherwise, you may walk the rest of the way.

The worst part of the marathon, mentally, is when you reach the 13.1 mile marker sign.

I assume that you have a goal time. Stick with that, regardless of how good you feel early in the race. Do NOT increase your pace, thinking that you will run a faster time because you feel good at the 7-mile mark.

Blowing up early in a 20K or a half marathon is not that big of a deal. You can tough out the last few miles in those "short" races. But if you foul up early in a marathon, well, it's a lesson you won't forget.

I learned what hitting the 'wall' was like at the Charlotte Observer marathon because I ran faster than I had planned in the middle miles because I felt great, and I latched onto a small group of runners. Around 17 miles, I began to lose contact with the group no matter how hard I tried to keep up. It was a horrible experience over the last 10K of that race.

Run your own race at your own planned pace and the hell with everyone else.

If possible, start the race slower than planned, and if you feel better late, then you can pick up the pace. You'll be inspired if you pass people over the last few miles of the race.

You'll be keyed up early. People start out too fast. Resist. Hold back and save yourself, especially for a marathon.

My best marathon time was 3:00:15 at Grandma's Marathon in Duluth, MN. My goal at that race was to break three hours. I watched the clock turn over 2:59:59 ... 3:00:00 as I approached the finish. I drove to that race. It was a long drive to finish 16 seconds short of goal. And I blew that race in the first mile. My plan was to start slow, so I lined up further back than I should have at the start. My goal was 7:30 for the first mile. I knew that I would run sub-6:51 miles later to make up for the time. But I ran the first mile in 8:30.

For my so-called training, I ran a basic schedule pretty much year-round where I did not track miles. I ran for time.

One day a week: two-hour run
One day a week: 75-minute run
Three days a week: 45-minute runs

That was it. If I got in another 45-minute run, fine, but I had other things that I wanted to do besides go running.

By running for time, my mileage would vary. For whatever reason, some days, I felt like running slow, and other days, I felt like running fast. But I would not know which it would be until I was out running for a while.

So regardless how I felt, I ran the same amount of time.

The only thing I wish that I would have done differently was increase the two-hour run to 2.5 hours as I approached the marathon date.

When I first started running, I read too many magazine articles, and so I did interval training on the track. I ran at night. The little Rossford school along 795 had a track. I climbed the fence and ran intervals. Eventually, I snapped out of that phase. If running was suppose to be mildly fun, then I wanted to just go running around home in the evenings at my own pace. And then go to Moe's for beers and a burger.

To keep your running fun and in perspective, try hashing once in a while with the Mud Hen Hash House Harriers or MH4. It's a "drinking group with a running problem." Spilling beer is considered alcohol abuse. And rehab is for quitters. It was those bastards that got me interested in running races longer than 5K.