http://zaletabakman.ca/2007/07.....gle-earth/

I started by walking a few 1/2 marathons cause my girlfriend was doing it.
I used to be a rollerblader – but she didn’t do that so I wanted to spend some time with her. And a several hour walk was a great way to get started.

I am now instructing a Learn to run a marathon clinic at the running room here in toronto.

I think your advice is very well taken – but most won’t listen and they try to do too much way too quickly.

Here is my first article on marathons. It tittle Marathons as a metaphor for success.

I don’t want to write about the how – there are many better people than me. However, I do want to write about what it means in the greater scheme of somebody’s life.

I would like some feedback on it.If it sucked please tell me quickly (I hate being embarrassed) . If it was ok I would like the encouragement and some thoughts about where I can go with the series and what people would want to read.

http://zaletabakman.ca/2007/07.....r-success/

However, I do agree. Here’s a discussion I had with my sister last Fall.

(Her)”I think I’m going to run a marathon! There’s one here in April.” (She lives in Mass.)

“Really? Wow! That’s exciting.” (She has run a 10k as her longest run.) “Which marathon do you think you’ll run?”

“Oh, the one in Boston in April.”

“YOu mean THE Boston Marathon?”

“Yeah.”

“Um, first of all, not a good choice for a first marathon. Why not try to find a nice flat course.”

“Oh, my friend told me there’s nothing to it. It’s all about the pacing.”

“Did your friend mention you have to qualify for this race? That means you either have to run another marathon beforehand at about an 8:30 pace, or you have to get in as a charity runner.”

“Naw, she can get me in.” (She’s one of those people who is pretty sure that BS will always “get her in” to something. This comes from being married to an insufferable boor who likes to pretend he’s a VIP.)

“Really? I hadn’t heard that this was possible. So have you started training?”

“Not yet, but my friend says it’s just in the pacing.”

“Well either your friend has never run a marathon, or she has selective amnesia.”

At which point I shared my training with her, and pointed out that having three children and a husband who is unwilling to EVER help with the kids would make it substantially more difficult to do long runs.

She decided against it.

I ran for a full year before starting to train. Injury kept me from a full my first try, so I ran a half and built up. Ran a full in May 2005 and loved every painful minute of it. (Not that every minute was painful, but there were a few.) Built a better base and trained for another in November of that year, then did a very slow Disneyworld (ran with my husband who had many issues on the route). I take each and every one very seriously, but I might never qualify for Boston and that’s okay. I’ll still keep running!