Pre-Marathon Thoughts

It's almost here - only two sleeps away and the day I've been training all this time for will finally be here. I added up all of the mileage I've put in to training for this marathon...over 800 miles...117+ hours of running and 2 pairs of shoes (halfway through a 3rd pair). Every workout I've had during this time has had a specific purpose and...now it's here.

I've been asked by several people what my goal time is. Honestly - I don't know what to expect. I feel unbelievably blessed that my first marathon is going to be run in almost ideal conditions (mid-40s, cloudy, very little wind). I'm going to do my best to run the first 5 miles or so at a very easy pace (7:45-8:00/mile) and then see what happens after that. In an ideal world, I would finish somewhere in the 3:10 to 3:20 range, but I haven't the foggiest clue if that's realistic. My longest training run was 18 miles which I did twice, so I don't know how my body and mind will respond once I get past the 20 mile mark. I would love to say that I'll be able to gut it out and finish strong, but I have no idea until I get there.

The best part of the race isn't even the race itself - it's the fact that my brother and sister-in-law are running in it and that I will have my wife (Leslie), my parents and my sister all cheering us on along the race. In addition to that, Leslie's parents, my boss and one of my friends from church will also be along the course - plus Andrea with her "Do Epic Shit" sign - it's going to be a madhouse downtown.

I'm really excited at this point, I'm excited to experience the marathon for the first time, I'm excited for my brother who is going to give a sub-3:00 marathon another try (I think he's gonna do it this time), I'm excited to run another race through the streets of a big city (there's nothing quite like it), I'm excited to see how everyone else does in their respective marathons, I'm excited to take a short break from running after it's all over, and I'm excited to see what I'm capable of.

This has been kind of a crazy year - it started off with a way-too-aggressive training plan that resulted in a 2-month bout of ITBS, then my first half-marathon in NYC, a hot summer of training and my 2nd half marathon in Chicago and now this. It's been a (mostly) fun journey. I'll provide a full race-recap here once it's all over. Thank you to everyone on DailyMile and otherwise who has encouraged me along the way - I really couldn't have done it without your support -- especially my wife Leslie who rode alongside me on her bike during countless long runs, suffering from a sore crotch because of all the long and slow biking. Thank you!! I hope to do you proud.

The Off-Season & an Announcement

I was walking the dog yesterday morning and I was surrounded by flakes of snow gently falling around me. I was thinking, "well, this is probably it." I had made plans to run a 5K with my brother over the holiday weekend, but it didn't work out and with temperatures now routinely topping out in the low-40s or below, I don't see myself running any more races within the next couple of months. The off-season has officially begun.

It was a good inaugural season of running. Four 5Ks and a 10K to get things kicked off - I ran a faster time in each of the 5Ks I did and I set the bar a reasonable level with my first 10K. Best of all, I learned to be able to train efficiently and intelligently and laid down a nice miles base to use as a spring board for next year. As of today I passed 80 miles for the month of November marking the 6th consecutive 80+ mile month and 7th 80+ mile month this year. There could have been others, but I wasn't really consistent in my documentation of miles until about June. My high for miles in a month was 116 in October - though that was quickly followed by a back injury that put me on the sidelines for a week. In total I've run about 650 miles, biked about 50 miles and swam about 20 miles over the last 8 months and I'm pretty proud of that. For a guy who was used to doing pretty much whatever I wanted for workouts, I'm proud of the discipline, I'm proud of the focus and I'm proud of the perseverance it took to get to this this point...and I plan on carrying this over into next year.

For me the off-season will probably start in a few days. I plan on taking a good 2-3 weeks off of running, which will be hard, but necessary. During those weeks I will still be active in the gym, but I will be focusing on strengthening my core and legs. In addition to that, I will be planning out my running year for 2012...which will include...big announcement here, my first marathon. I got the itch while watching the 2011 Chicago Marathon and now I've decided I want to do one. My brother (Tony K.) sent me a nice note yesterday and said that if I wanted to do CM12, he would do it with me. My wife (Leslie K.) has been encouraging me to do it too and now I'm making it official -- barring something unforeseen, I will be running a marathon in 2012 (likely the Chicago Marathon). Anyway, my plan is to get really detailed with regard to my running schedule. I plan on using one (or a few) of Jack Daniels' training plans in putting together a day-by-day training schedule. In my ideal world, I'd like to run a handful of 5Ks, a couple of 10Ks, a couple of half-marathons and a marathon next year, topping out at about 10-12 races for the year.

So I'm excited, I'm excited about what next year holds, I'm excited to share it with other runners I know and I'm excited to set goals and achieve them. It's been a great year and I think next year will be even better.