Less than seven weeks for my first marathon!

Nov 23rd is just 53 days away!!! OMG!!!

According to the recommended training for marathons, I should have run at least one run of 16 miles or more by now - seven weeks out. The longest run I have done so far is a half marathon distance. Not all that bad!

NO PANICKING!!

My goal for the first marathon is to finish, and finish FIT. It would be great if I can complete the full marathon in 4 and a half hours, but it is not a must. I will be happy just finishing even if it takes six hours!

I should be able to do it easily with systematic training over the next seven weeks, with greater emphasis on the long runs over the week-ends. I will be able to run at least on 5 of the 7 remaining week-ends. Also could take a couple of days vacation from work to fit in some running.

So definitely not an impossible task!

Tentative plan for long runs in the next seven week-ends:

• Weekend Seven - Saturday Oct 4th : 13.1 Miles at Grete's Gallop Half marathon in Central Park
• Weekend Six - Saturday Oct 11th : 18 mile run
• Weekend Six - Sunday Oct 11th : Volunteering at the Staten Island half marathon and getting inspired by the runners
• Weekend Five - Oct 18th and 19th : No running possible; will be at Landmark "Reinventing the Enterprise" event
• Weekend Five - Monday Oct 20th : A possible day off from work : 12 mile run
• Weekend Four - Saturday Oct 25th : 15 mile run
• Weekend Three - Saturday Nov 1st : 20 Mile run! (This means I will not be in the Fall Introduction Leaders Program!)
• Weekend Two - Saturday Nov 8th : 12 Mile run
• Weekend One - Saturday Nov 16th : 8 mile run
• Weekend Zero - Sunday Nov 23rd : 26.2 miles at Philadelphia Marathon!!!!
• Weekend Zero + 1 day : Monday Nov 24th : Back to normal life!

Looks good on paper. Now to make it happen for real!

Into the limelight by surprise

Megan DeMarco - who works with the Jersey Journal newspaper - came across my blog entries about training in Bayonne, and contacted me for details about my Marathon preparation. She has posted about my marathon preparation on the Bayonne Now blog.

I am glad to receive some attention for my efforts in this context!

An off-shoot of this event is that I have committed myself to run in the Philadelphia Marathon on Sunday Nov 23.

Previously I had been uncommitted about which Marathon I was training for - telling myself I would decide on the go; as and when I am ready to run a marathon, I will, etc.

My original intention to run in the Self Transcendence Marathon on Aug 22 had fallen by the wayside sometime ago when I did not passionately persist with Hal Higdon's Marathon Training Plan after my first 7 mile run.

Now that I have bookmarked Nov 23rd as the date for my first Marathon, I have enough time to prepare for it, while allowing for a few days / weeks slack in training.

Philadelphia based Sunil is going to accompany me in one of the races on Nov 23rd - thats a bonus!

Why 2008 Self Transcendence Marathon?

I spent a few hours early this week exploring the marathon calendar for USA, and decided on running the Self Transcendence Marathon on Friday 22 Aug 2008 in Nyack NY.

Originally I intended to run a Marathon in December around Christmas. On reading the reviews about various Marathons on the MarathonGuide.com web-site, I was impressed with the user comments about the Self Transcendence Marathon.

Additionally, what made me choose this marathon is the Indian-ness of the event, and the fact that the race is nine loops along the same path.

I am sure having Sanskrit incantations (this is a Sri Chinmoy Race!)  and Indian faces in the crowd will make me more at home in my first Marathon.

The race being multiple loops also is a positive factor for me as I see it as a possible way to get myself to complete - telling myself I can stop at any point should I not feel like it! I am counting on Terrain-familiarity to pull me through the 7th, 8th and 9th rounds!

My First Marathon

My First Marathon will be on Aug 22nd 2008 at the 2008 Self Transcendence Marathon at the Rockland State Park - near Nyack, New York.

I decided a few days ago that I will indeed go for a marathon; blogged about it on my Kathegalu blog; informed everyone I know of, and here I am starting on a new blog to record my journey towards completing my first Marathon.

Somewhere down the line, I hope this blog will inspire someone to take on this or some other challenge!

Bon Chance pour moi!