Marathons and Half-Marathons

[thecommunist]

A few months back I had been training for the Frederick Marathon, my longest run topped out at about 19 miles, and then I found out you have to be 16 to run the marathon, but I'm running the Baltimore half-marathon this year

So anyway, I'm wondering if anyone else is planning to run in any marathons or half-marathons around here. I think there was something in the ERR newsletter about some college kids getting ready to run one.

[CoachSpongeBob]

The ERR newsletters have been doing a series on running the marathon. They have come out with 3 parts so far.

You may want to think twice about doing a half marathon in the middle of your cross country season. There is a reason that some marathons do not let younger individuals run them. I had a college teammate - exceptional runner, who decided to run a marathon as a freshman in college during the season. He qualified for Boston, but the rest of his season went downhill. While it was neat qualifying, I know he wished he could take that decision back.

[hasercentury06]

On the contrary, I ran the Baltimore Half-Marathon this past year. The race was a week before championship season. I let my coaches know about my plans as soon as the seaso began so that could be incorporated into my training. In the 2 weeks after, I ran my 3 mile and 5K PR's at MVAL and Counties.

However, I did run the 13.1 miles as a workout. I held about a 7:20 pace, and I think that it was a worthwhile workout for my season.

It was a really fun experience, and a nice change from running on dirt all the time.

[CoachSpongeBob]

Well as far as our team is concerned it is not the smart thing to do. The one thing you did do right (colin) was talk to your coach about it. But we would have recommended not doing it at Liberty.

[hasercentury06]

Well its a decision that has to be made by the coaches and the athlete. Every coach and every athlete is different. But it was really just like a workout for me.

[roguerunner]

To answer the question:

Yes, a few of us are entered and running in the Baltimore Half. I know of three Adults running, and I am fairly certain there are a few more ERR members than that. If you are running, please post a reply...maybe we could work up a car-pool down to the race.

As for the College kids, there is still talk, but they are still finding their way on this. My sons have been talking about it, but they still haven't found their way to run more than 2 - 3 times in a week, and at that, I do not think it is much over 4 - 5 miles...

So, I will go out on a limb here and say that - relatively soon, I hope we will see the following guys, pack up during the summer and train for a Fall Marathon in 2007 (one year from now). I am not calling anoyone out - I just think it would be fun to see these guys do it (not trying to leave anyone out here - but these are the guys who have been active with ERR in some way - or I happen to know personally):
Walter Bender, Kevin, Burdinski, Phil Diven, Carl Henn, Pete Lester, Rush Lester, Bryan Mull, Dan Reedy, Jimmy Ridder, Frank Sisolak... this list is really a pretty good list, and I am not even adding the Century guys (Brown and Cook) who would be terrific to run with. If you cannot have fun logging miles with that group - you are simply no fun to be around...

Having said this - there are some ladies that should be thinking about this too (I will be more gentle here and not name anyone - but agin, we would love to see you folks continue to run - on your own terms, own pace, races you choose).

At any rate, if you guys need anything from ERR to get this going, I hope you will let the club know. A good first step might be entering a couple of teams in the Frederick Marathon Relay - you guys could win the darn thing if you trained just a little.

I may be talking with a few of you over the Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks about this... so be open minded and ready to say "I'll do it!"