Marathons: Classic or Dud?

As far as I'm concerned, I need to get somewhere in a hurry that's more than a few hundred yards away, I'll use something with a motor in it. I've gone 42 years without needing to run 26 miles, and I confidently expect that trend to continue.

Two of my work colleagues ran it yesterday. I'm torn between respect and contempt. I turned up this morning moaning that my legs ached from walking all the way from the local tube station. It was partly to wind them up, but it was almost true too.

The only thing that struck me was that some people were going to have really sore shoulder blades after the straps holding their krazy kostumes had chafed them so.

The London marathon would be a 5 mile run if they didn't go by such a circuitous route. By the way did tyou hear about the bloke who got stopped 100 yards from the finish line on Sunday for wearing the wrong number and wasn't allowed to finish. I bet they knew at the mile mark but couldn't be arsed to tell him.

Assuming that they had actually been running, Sarah...;>

Marathons are OK if you aren't using it as a status symbol to impress other couch potatoes.

Course, I never thought about doing it: walking 30 minutes each way to the local library (or to take public transport) is exercise enough....

Pam & I used to live smack-bang on the 6-mile mark in SE10. The '99 marathon was a week after we moved in, seven days in which I'd completely failed to reconcile myself to the thunder of traffic outside and was wondering whether I could really stand to live there. At 8:30 on the Saturday morning I woke to the sound of birds singing - not a juggernaut or 177 bus within earshot. A few minutes of bliss and then - Robbie Williams' "Angels" at staggering volume. I didn't realise that mile-markers meant glucose drinks *and* muscular chartpop to keep them going. I actually went outside and complained. God, I'm pathetic.

Anyone else training for the Chicago Marathon (Oct. 12, just 16 short weeks away!)?

I'm determined to beat my best time (3:32, Chicago '01), so I've started up the Hal Higdon 18-week program in earnest, making sure to never skip a day. It's tough doing this on the runner-unfriendly NW side of the city (last night I got yelled at by some white-haired shrew coming out of a parking lot), what with its lack of water fountains, ubiquitous northwest/southeast obstacles (Elston, the Kennedy/Edens, the river, Milwaukee, Metra), etc., but it's a great way to see parts of the city I never otherwise would.

Classic, in other words.

Don't you have to qualify for the Boston marathon by running another marathon fast enough? (I know you want to do TWO, Dan...)

My taking the dud side vs H taking the classic side almost led to a fight today. IDGI though -- putting an unhealthy level of strain (for a non-athlete) on your body just to say "I dragged my ass through several hours of torture" in a sport that is wholly uninteresting to watch (other than observing the leaders, who are just fucking incredible I do have to say), and fairly boring to participate in as well (although "runner's high" is cool).

OTOH, I was always a poor runner and I suspect I'm just not well built for running.

I like them, it's my favorite distance to race. And it's more than the race, I really like the weeks of training beforehand. Methodically doing each workout, progressing week by week, hitting all your milestones, having setbacks, all of it, the complete package.

The last paragraph of this article really nails the appeal for me: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/04/sports/sub-elite-runners-chase-improvement.html

“That is both the gift and the curse of the marathon,” Cass said. “When you finally get it right, it’s the product of 30 variables that you have maybe 50 percent control of. When you get it wrong, you try to analyze all 30 of those variables. It’s nearly impossible to figure out exactly what went wrong and how to make it better next time. But that’s the goal. To take a look at what happened and go back to the drawing board. And, if it’s in the cards, to give it another go.”