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Back to Journal  « Narrating for Escape Pod | Training for a Marathon | Rent » Training for a Marathon December 11, 2005 So I turn 30 by the end of next year, which makes me contemplative and a bit restless. About ten years ago I set some pretty unachievable goals for myself, about what I wanted to accomplish by 25. Almost five years late, I still haven't touched most of them, but there is one that's been sticking in my mind over the last month or so. From Thanksgiving and other socials with marathon-running friends to recently reading a Jim Van Pelt story in which The New York City Marathon played a supporting role, every time I put the idea out of my head, it just comes on back with sounds of sneakered feet. The problem is I also want to attend The Clarion writing workshop seven months from now (another one of those things I hoped to do before 25), so that makes it all kind of tricky. I don't want to be asleep my first week of classes and I don't want to be training when I'd benefit more from writing. I'll need to train conservatively, because if this is more harmful to my health than beneficial, then there's really no point. So starting yesterday I'm giving myself six months to run my first marathon. Marathon-running friends have encouraged me to go for a half-marathon somewhere in the middle there for a nice motivator, and to get out of the way the "what-the-hell-do-I-do-nows" that I'm sure to experience on my first race day. That puts me at the weekend of June 10th, 2006. I'm leaning toward Lake Placid on the 11th because it's further north (and hopefully cooler) than alternatives for that weekend, and I have fond memories of camping in the beautiful forests of New York. This run also offers an option to switch to a half-marathon before I start, so it won't be an all or nothing accomplishment if for health reasons I need to scale back. But a Lake Placid run will give me two weeks to recover before Clarion or one week before Clarion West, which makes the former look better and better. I'm in decent shape from a lot of walking. And my overall diet improves every year. In fact, I might be in the best shape of my life. Looking back I don't think I ever passed the Presidential Physical Fitness Test in grade school or even in high school when I played football. (Hey, as a lineman, my job was just to hit people. Hitting people requires bodyfat, okay?) So this would be a big deal to me, to prove to myself that I can whip my body into this kind of shape. On the downside though, I'm a sweater. I might need to grow my hair back just to keep so much sweat from stinging my eyes. And I haven't run in about 18 months, which meant I got out of breath pretty quickly after only a few minutes of running yesterday. And, well, running is one of those key ingredients to a good marathon, so I hear. Because I'm more of a geek than a jock and know more about computers than running, I'm basing my training schedule on two eHows... Bulding a Base (10 weeks to running 30 minutes while holding a conversation) Training for a Marathon (16 weeks to a marathon) ...and then supplementing with advice from friends who have gone before. Funsized (AKA Jen-wife) is training with me, though she isn't as gung-ho about the goal. So I might be doing the second half of my training solo. Either way, this will get me outside more. And between two new kittens and 8+ hours per day on the computer, that'll be no small accomplishment itself. Wish me luck. Filed under Journal, Marathon, Vanity Smurf  
Comments: Discuss this entry at LiveJournalGood luck with the marathon! Guess he didn't like the implication... I'll cheer you on! Dave Posted by: anonymoses at December 25, 2005 10:56 AM 
Good luck Alex!! I found your page while looking up info myself on running my first ever marathon (I'm now 37!) I hope your training is going as planned. Wish me luck too. :) Posted by: John at April 11, 2006 2:17 AM
Good Luck!!! Please keep us updated on your progress. Posted by: Jennifer at April 21, 2006 3:03 PM
You can't be serious?!? Posted by: Mary Box at June 17, 2006 12:47 PM
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Alex Wilson writes fiction and comics in Carrboro, NC. His work has appeared/will appear in Asimov's Science Fiction, The Rambler, LCRW, Weird Tales, The Florida Review, Futurismic, ChiZine, Pif, and Dragon. Locus Magazine has called him a "promising new writer," and Publishers Weekly also has nice things to say. Alex runs the audiobook project/podcast Telltale Weekly and the writer wiki Guidevines. He publishes the minicomic/zine Inconsequential Art. He is a 2006 Clarion graduate.  
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