I once read a statistic that said that somewhere north of 50% of all blogs on the Internet at any given time are no longer updated on a regular basis. Well, as a writer of several failed blogs, I can attest to the accuracy of that stat. I just lose my momentum after a while and then never get back to posting on a regular basis. This almost happened to this blog too, although I’m going to do my best not to give in to the laziness factor.
So, that being said, I’m going to get back to posting. After some careful thought, I’ve decided that rather than make this a blog that is 75% baseball and 25% running, I would make it a blog that is 85% running and 15% baseball. To be honest, I just don’t have the time to watch every Nats game on MASN and when they play teams like Detroit, it can be depressing to watch them at all. Better to watch select games while maintaining my love for the team. I did watch the entire series here in Baltimore (and was at the game that ended with Felipe Lopez’s fantastic triple in extra innings. Annie and I were the only ones wearing Nats colors in our section at Camden Yards. It was awesome!).
But working on my running and training has become something I do everyday in one way or another and so I think this blog would be better served as a running diary of sorts. At this point it’s going to be a very humble diary, much like my running. No huge lofty goals in the immediate future, but I hope that when I run my first 5K (I don’t know if I’ll be ready for the Cooperstown 5K in mid-July, but definitely for the Get Ready! Get Set! Get Fit 5K in September) this summer, and my future races, that this site will be an electronic record of that.
So, without further ado, let’s get going!
Yesterday was a running day. As a very new beginner, I’ve been undertaking a multi-week program to get me up to running non-stop for 30 minutes. At that point, I will start working on both endurance (running longer than 30 minutes without stopping) and speed since I will have the physical base finally established. I started out two weeks ago running 8 minutes, then walking 2 minutes, repeated three times at about 4.7 mph. Now, in the third week, I’m up to running 9 minutes, walking 1 minute, repeated three times at 5.5 mph. I’m really pleased with this modest improvement. Next week I jump up to running 13 minutes, walking for 2 minutes, repeated twice. I think I’ll be OK because even now, I’m not exhausted when I reach that 9 minute mark. I feel that I could comfortably run longer but I’m not going to push it quite yet. Maybe once I get this program done.
So, this program will end the week before the Road to Cooperstown 5K, which is my ambitious first race goal. I’m not sure if I’ll make that deadline or not, and I haven’t signed up for the race yet. I’ll see how I progress over the next few weeks and make a decision.
Beyond this summer, I know I will be ready to run some 5K’s come September. There’s one in Towson I want to run in September; the United Way 5K, which is associated with the Baltimore Marathon, is in mid-October; and I can decide between the Turkey Trot in Bel Air (if they’re having it this year) or the Rothman Institute 8K, which is associated with the Philadelphia Marathon, on November 18. Wrapping up the year is the Jingle Bell 5K here in lovely Baltimore, in early December. At that point, I think I will go into winter training mode and begin working towards my 2008 race goals, which are still rather vague, but inspiring.
By the time the 2008 running season gets started in March, I plan on being well on my way to marathon range. In fact, my hope is to start really ramping up my mileage around Thanksgiving, peaking about 12-16 weeks later. That would put me in great shape (literally and figuratively) for the first race of my 2008 season, the Baltimore Shamrock 5K around St. Patrick’s Day. Depending on how my training is going, March will also mark the time when the lottery for the Mt. Washington Road Race is held. I doubt I’ll be picked, but you never know and it’s an incredible challenge to undertake. 7.6 miles of one mountain, rising like 4,000 feet. Crazy! And at the end of March is the Washington, D.C. National Marathon, which I may or may not be ready for. Perhaps the half marathon is a more realistic goal.
April is an open month right now, as I haven’t come across a race that I want to do yet, but I’m sure there’ll be one 5K in there. May is the killer month, as it’ll mark many milestones in the year. I plan on taking the LSAT in June of 08, which means May will be an intensive studying month. I also plan to run my first half marathon the first weekend of May at the Flying Pig in Cincinnati. My girlfriend’s family lives in Cincinnati, so it’ll be a nice chance to visit them and to take a big step in my running progression. If all goes according to plan, I should be very capable of running 13 miles by that point, and it shouldn’t kill my body. In fact, with any luck, I may even get really confident and go ahead and make Flying Pig my first marathon. But that’s only if I’m doing well in my training come March.
Other than that, next summer will be for running some shorter races and training up for the marathon season. I’m definitely running the Baltimore marathon in October ’08 since it’s my hometown race. And if I can muster the strength and avoid injury, I’d like to do Marine Corps as well.
So, as you can see, I have some very lofty long-term goals for myself. It’s hard not to get ahead of myself, but I got to just keep focused on the next run and make progress. It’ll happen and I hope this blog will be around to document it.
Links to Check Out:
Charm City Run : A central site for Baltimore-area racing.
Baltimore Running Festival : Official site of the Baltimore Marathon, Half Marathon, 5K, etc.
Philadelphia Marathon: Official site of the Philadelphia Marathon, Rothman 8K, etc.
Mt. Washington Road Race
National Marathon
Flying Pig Marathon
Marine Corps Marathon
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