Registration Complete

Today was the first day of registration for the 2011 Marine Corps Marathon.  I didn't want to get shut out of this popular event so as soon as registration was opened at noon (EST) I started hitting the web site.  It took a few failed attempts (and one call to active.com's tech support) for the registration to finally go through.  I guess a lot of people thought the same as I did.

Some History...
A year and a half ago I was nearly 50 lbs heavier than I am now.  I had started taking blood pressure medication and was not living a healthy lifestyle.  And then at a pool party in July my wife took a candid photograph of me in my bathing suit.  Once I saw that I knew it was time to make a change. 

I started watching my diet and walking regularly.  At first a brisk 2 mile walk wore me out.  My legs hurt and I was short of breath.  But I kept with it through the end of the summer and into the winter.  Gradually the pounds started dropping, I was able to stop taking the blood pressure medication, and I could walk longer distances (and faster too).  I even started to throw in a little jogging here and there.  Finally by the time springtime came I was able to really run.  I ran only a few miles at first, but by summer I was running four or five miles a few times a week.  My weight was down to 185 and I was enjoying the running and I started to push myself to run further than I ever had before.  By the fall I was running 10+ miles at a time and loving it. 

Training for the marathon...

I've never run a marathon before.  The most I've run in an organized event is a 10 kilometer race (last year's Marine Corps Marathon 10K).  I thoroughly enjoyed that race and got a hunger for more. 

I'm excited about the challenge that I'm facing, and I'm comforted by the fact that I have all spring and summer to train.  I've read various marathon training guide web sites and they all map out a similar path to the 26.2 mile race.  Some of the sites I've been reading are Hal Higdon's Marathon Training Guide and State of the Art Marathon Training.  They recommend keeping a runner's log of my exercise, equipment, and my diet.  With this information I can easily make the connection between what works for me and what doesn't, and use this information to refine my training and race-day strategy.  To that end I started this journal.

Goals...
The training sites also recommend setting goals.  They talk about having "obtainable" as well as "stretch" goals, and they recommend articulating the goals publicly (I guess so I'll feel more accountable to them).  So here it goes - my goals are...

• complete the 2011 Marine Corps Marathon (obtainable)
• finish the marathon in 4:00 or better (stretch)

...

It's still winter and I really dislike running in the cold.  I'll be doing most of my runs on the treadmill at the Herndon Community Center for a while (unless we get those wonderful warm bonus days where it's 60F outside and there's still piles of snow melting).  I may not post frequently until I start my outside running.  Stay tuned...