Well, it seems inevitable now...I am going to run a marathon. To be honest it seems ridiculous that I have not run one already. But perhaps it has to do with the fact that the race is 26 miles long. When I was a junior in high school my coach (and mentor) Duncan Macdonald told me to never go towards the marathon unless your were physically ready for it. Well, considering I've broken down about as frequently as a Eurovan during my 10 years of running, maybe it was good that I waited. Also Dunc won 3 Honolulu Marathons so I am prone to listening to his advice.
I tried to play it conservative and watch out for my body by taking 6 days of rest following the half. I've taken up swimming over the past 4 months in an attempt to stay injury free, and during my downtime I was so happy to have something physical to get all my energy out without pounding on my body like running tends to.
Two workouts so far since my break....I will tell you about the more entertaining one.
1) 16 miles with 7.5 miles at tempo pace. Now, as a general rule, I like running fast....as fast as possible. This has led me to do way more speedwork in my life than is reasonably necessary for a distance runner, just cause I like moving fast. So the concept of a tempo that is 7-10 miles long just makes me want quit this distance running thing to do 4 X 200 in 26 with a 5 minute rest instead. I tend to easily get overtired, and nothing seems like a more dangerous way to exhaust myself than running hard for 40 minutes to an hour....I have another word for that...its called racing. Alas, we have stumbled upon my problem, I race my workouts....I am guilty and I wont even argue it. I just like racing too much not to get cranking pretty good once I start a long workout.
That being said, as I make the transition in to being a real life long distance runner, I am going to have to accept that certain workouts will feel easier than I might like. To help me learn this, Matt Stevens has allowed me to tag along with him in his Chicago Marathon build up. So this long run with tempo dabbled in was our first adventure in to true marathon training....and we added in a twist...a twist which now seems like a cruel and diabolical scheme to destroy me.
We decided that if we ran easy from Ward up to the Pali Lookout and then did a tempo run down to downtown, we would get our distance in and get some beautiful views along the way. The only real danger was sprinting across the pali, so we did it on a Sunday night, and I wore super short shorts so my white legs would glow like a beacon in the night. As an added bonus, running hard downhill would help us to build our legs for the long marathon road ahead. Considering the limiting factor in my half marathon felt like my legs, I was willing to give downhill running a try despite my fears that it would hurt me.
We got up to the lookout and it was crazy beautiful. Its definitely on my list of places to take people who are visiting the islands...its like you are looking down on nevernever land (not the ranch with the Jackson family, but the real nevernever land with flying kids who kick the shit out of pirates)
Problem is, its windy up there, and with the current length of my shorts...it was a little...shall we say...revealing for me to stay up there. So we figured one quick loop, take a peak over to the windward side, and back down the hill. As I swung around the corner, I literally ran directly in to a pack of twenty Japanese tourists about to take a picture. It was THE moment, the photographers back was to me, and they all had the smiles on and peace signs a-waving. Lets just say the presence of a 6 foot 4 white guy with approximately 3 total inches of clothing on was not a taken in stride. They started laughing hysterically (or was it screaming...godzilla style) and just dying. Matt flew around the corner shortly behind me and we immediately realized that we were not going to get around this mass of laughing tourists who literally continued to erupt for 20 seconds while Matt and I determined an appropriate plan of action. Neither of us spoke a word, but the best possible plan was to take evasive maneuvers and get away as fast as we possibly could. In reality it was a great way to start a tempo run, and then wind muffled their laughter was I ran back the way I came and headed down the hill.
The workout itself went surprisingly well. I experimented with taking Gel for the first time during a run (success) and felt relatively smooth the whole way. That was my main concern as I knew the running would be hard on my legs if I let myself get inefficient. Overall we ran pretty steadily until we hit King st, and then headed back to ward. I was pretty tired, but I was happy about the workout, and even happier when i got to hang out with Matt, Lesley, and his son Nate for the night. Friends and kids make my heart full...and I'll tell you why:
I have pretty much wanted to be a dad since I was 15 years old, so getting to hang out with kids is pretty much the highlight to my day every time it happens. Kids rule, and here is why. When I get really enthusiastic about something little (lets say, making a crumpled up piece of paper in to a waste basket) people thing its weird, but if you are 5, you can literally scream in delight and getting a piece of hard candy, and no one cares. I love being around kids because they accept my enthusiasm as if it were normal...and you cant beat that.
