History...
I've wanted to run a marathon for quite a few years now.
Up until 2000 I couldn't run for more than 10 seconds at a time. (I'd run to catch the bus, and then spend 15 minutes catching my breath!) Then, as a surgical intern, I took up running. Every third night I was on call, and every day following that, I had the day off. Before going to sleep, I went for a run. (Back then I called it jogging.) I'd run for 10 seconds, and then walk for 10 minutes, before my next little "sprint".
To this day, I still can't believe I persisted past those tough beginnings. I remember the first time I could run a mile without stopping. I felt like some sort of Olympic athlete! Eventually, on Father's Day of 2000 I ran my first 5K. It was the Fight Against Prostate Cancer run in Central Park. Thanks to the New York Road Runners' database I can tell you my time was 27:59. Not bad.
Eventually I built up to longer and longer races. In May of 2001 I ran the Long Island Half Marathon. Again, thanks to the Internet, I can tell you that my net time was 1:55:18. I was extremely proud of my sub 2:00:00 time.I think it was the next day that I signed up for the New York City Marathon. I was totally psyched. For those of you who don't know how it works, the NYC Marathon has been granting entries by lottery for seven or eight years now. Sometime in June the lottery results are posted online. Well, I didn't get in that year. At the end of June I started a gruelling rotation in the ICU, and the weather got hot. Combined with the letdown of not getting in, my running tapered off, and there went my marathon plans.
The next couple of years I applied again, without any luck. I suppose I could have run a different marathon, but I just wasn't able to keep up the training. I did, however, run another half marathon in May of 2003.
In 2004, because I had not gotten in through the lottery 3 times in a row, I had guaranteed acceptance to the New York City Marathon. I was really excited, and started up the training again. Unfortuately, I think I tried to increase my milage too quickly, and developed shin splints. I tried to persist, but they got worse. So I cancelled my entry, which therefore gave me a guaranteed spot for the 2005 marathon.
Which brings us to the present time.....
Up until 2000 I couldn't run for more than 10 seconds at a time. (I'd run to catch the bus, and then spend 15 minutes catching my breath!) Then, as a surgical intern, I took up running. Every third night I was on call, and every day following that, I had the day off. Before going to sleep, I went for a run. (Back then I called it jogging.) I'd run for 10 seconds, and then walk for 10 minutes, before my next little "sprint".
To this day, I still can't believe I persisted past those tough beginnings. I remember the first time I could run a mile without stopping. I felt like some sort of Olympic athlete! Eventually, on Father's Day of 2000 I ran my first 5K. It was the Fight Against Prostate Cancer run in Central Park. Thanks to the New York Road Runners' database I can tell you my time was 27:59. Not bad.
Eventually I built up to longer and longer races. In May of 2001 I ran the Long Island Half Marathon. Again, thanks to the Internet, I can tell you that my net time was 1:55:18. I was extremely proud of my sub 2:00:00 time.I think it was the next day that I signed up for the New York City Marathon. I was totally psyched. For those of you who don't know how it works, the NYC Marathon has been granting entries by lottery for seven or eight years now. Sometime in June the lottery results are posted online. Well, I didn't get in that year. At the end of June I started a gruelling rotation in the ICU, and the weather got hot. Combined with the letdown of not getting in, my running tapered off, and there went my marathon plans.
The next couple of years I applied again, without any luck. I suppose I could have run a different marathon, but I just wasn't able to keep up the training. I did, however, run another half marathon in May of 2003.
In 2004, because I had not gotten in through the lottery 3 times in a row, I had guaranteed acceptance to the New York City Marathon. I was really excited, and started up the training again. Unfortuately, I think I tried to increase my milage too quickly, and developed shin splints. I tried to persist, but they got worse. So I cancelled my entry, which therefore gave me a guaranteed spot for the 2005 marathon.
Which brings us to the present time.....
posted by Danny on Sunday, August 21, 2005
1 Comments:
Good luck with your training. I'll look forward to reading about it!
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