Thinking about training for a marathon?

So here’s a question for you, how do you get started training for a marathon? Seriously?  Yeah, it’s the kind of question only a select few crazy people in the world even contemplate. Maybe its a bucket list thing, or I had an uncle once that ran a race and he didn’t die, kinda thing. The beginning is different f0r everyone, but it starts with a similar thought process.

The origin of Marathon

The word marathon scares a lot of people.  It has many connotations, but the one most people think of is terrible, suffering, miserable, anguish, and rightly so. The name Marathon comes from Greek mythology, a story of the Greek messenger, Pheidippides. As legend has it, he was sent from the battlefield to Athens (a distance of 26.2 miles) to announce the Persian defeat at the Battle of Marathon, which took place in the fall of 490 BC.  He ran the entire distance without even stopping to replenish his electrolytes and burst into the assembly, exclaiming “Nike! Nike! Nenikekiam” (“Victory! Victory! Rejoice, we conquer!”), then dropped dead.  Now that’s a pleasant story, sure to rack up many recruits into the sport.

You can read the whole story here.

Reason for training for a marathon

Why would any rational thinking person get up at the crack of dawn for months on end, endure blisters and chaffing in their nether regions, and put their body through excruciating pain and, to top it off, pay someone for the miserable experience of running a marathon? The answer is to be able to say that you’ve done it.

Origin of The Chubby Runner

Well that’s how it started for me. I wanted to be able to set a goal that pushed me to the limits of what I thought was possible for my physical body to endure. Growing up, I played a few sports, ones that had minimal running, like t-ball, soccer, basketball, rugby and skiing. I didn’t run track or cross country, and I wasn’t by any means an athlete, nor was I genetically predisposed to be a runner. Quite the opposite actually, instead of a tall, long and lean body, I’m short, stocky and, well.. not lean. But, hey, I’ve got a great personality. I set the goal of training for a marathon, wrote it down and then dot dot dot. Now what?  What’s next?  Where do you go from here? I want to help chubby folks run a marathon.

Insights gained while training for a marathon

I have literally been down the road many times and am uniquely qualified to speak on behalf of the non-athlete, non-runner community.  I will impart some wisdom from my own personal experience about marathon training and running to ultimately help you accomplish your goal of running a marathon.   Through the upcoming posts, I will lay out a plan to get you from, little to no running experience to running a full 26.2 mile marathon.  Honestly, if I can run a marathon, believe me, anyone can run a marathon.  And I mean, anyone!

Great victory

Running a marathon is a great accomplishment and a great goal to set for yourself.  It is on the list of some of the toughest sporting accomplishments according to USA Today.

Idea is different than reality

However, the idea of running a marathon is much different from actually running a marathon.  I tend to romanticize ideas in my mind, and training for a marathon was no exception.  I learned the difference between the two once I started the actual work of training.  And let me tell you it is work.  I want to be absolutely real, no sugar coating here, baby.  Training is absolutely terrible, rewarding and empowering yes, but physically, terrible.

Payoff in training for a marathon

All the blood, sweat and tears that comes with a grueling training schedule finally pays off when you cross the finish line. For many first timers, that moment is very emotional. It’s not uncommon to see tears shed at the finish line. Emotions run the gamut from absolute exhaustion to pure elation. Despite the difference in emotion, everyone can agree, that at that point, it was totally worth it.

Some chubby wisdom

There’s so much information out there when it comes to training for a marathon. Like any other new endeavor, it can be hard to know what to do, what information is good and what is total crap. So here’s what I’ve done. I have taken all that stuff, simplified it, added a pinch of sass and many miles of road running experience to give you the total package that will get you to the finish line. From one regular chubby person to another.

The journey begins

In upcoming posts, I will be going over the steps that will allow you to successfully complete your first marathon. From the right running shoes to chaffing prevention (believe me, you’ll thank me later). I’ll cover the needed components of a training program to get you to that coveted finish line and beyond.

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