How Far Did I Go?
How far did I go? Exactly 26.2 Miles! That's right a marathon. I ran the Fargo Marathon on Saturday and it was a blast. It was my second, and fastest marathon yet.
About four years ago, I made it one of my goals to run the Boston Marathon one day. I had never been to Boston, and to tell you the truth, I didn't know anything about running marathons either. I just decided that it was something I wanted to do. So I took the first step toward my goal and signed up for my very first marathon. It was the Salt Lake City Marathon in 2005. I ran, and ran, and ran. I had a goal to qualify for Boston, so I ran some more. I probably did not train very smartly. I went for long runs with hardly any food or water. And I hardly even went running the last month before the race because of school and finals. I was nineteen, and I was determined to run.
Despite my will, and goal setting, I did not qualify for Boston. Even worse, I missed the time cut off by by less than 2 minutes! It must have really traumatized me because I didn't attempt another marathon till 3 years later.
I didn't even plan on doing this marathon. I met a wonderful lady (Robin Barden) who was training for the Boston marathon. I became her Personal Trainer, and she became my hero. She came to see me during the week for strength training and stretching, and I went with her on long runs on the weekends. At first I was just doing 8 mile runs, but they quickly turned into 16 milers. Pretty soon, Boston was right around the corner, and I was in shape to do a marathon.
I decided to sign up for a marathon close by, and just run it. I spent the last month and a half working on my pace and did some speed work. It really helped. This time I did qualify for Boston! I had more than ten minutes to spare. I am so happy, and I can't wait for Boston next April.
If you set a goal for yourself, don't ever give up. It might take a lot of hard work, some time, and you might even have to wait for the right person to come around.
Now that I got that marathon out of the way...it is time to RIDE!
