It was September 2016 when I realized that I wanted to run in a marathon. It was something that I had thought about over the past year or so. On or about this day I decided that I would commit to doing it. The race I decide to run was the annual Marine Corp Marathon.
So I started looking into what I needed to do in order to make it happen. One of the first things that I learned was that September is too late in the year to enter the Marathon for the most part. In fact, I learned that it’s something that you need to sign up for in March. And even then, there were no guarantees because it is a lottery system.
The below quote was taken from the official website FAQ.
How does the Lottery work?
Beginning on March 20, 2019, runners may register for the Lottery on the MCM website. This opportunity concludes on March 26. Registration for the lottery does not guarantee an entry in the MCM. On March 27, those runners selected to fill the field will be notified by email.
There were other options such as joining a charity which at the time, I decided against because most of them had fundraising requirements that I was not sure that I could meet. So I decided to wait until the following year – March 2017 – to register. In the meantime, I begin to train. I was not sure what would be required to train for a marathon but I did know that it would require a lot of regular running.
Updated to include the following – Nov 9, 2018
So I started doing some research online and found many useful resources and training recommendations. I decided that I would trial a couple and let my body tell me which one was the right one. I ultimately settled on a program that required running 5 or more miles on Saturday and Sunday, no running on Mondays and Fridays, and 3, 4, and 5 miles on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. I would then gradually increase these by a half mile or more each week for about 6 months.
I want to be clear that I had been running about 5 days a week for around 5 years prior to having this idea. Point being, that I did not start out with such a program and would not recommend it for a beginner. In fact, I would say that you should be comfortable walking long distances before you consider running. I would go one step further and state that you should be able to run 3 miles without stopping before considering this type of training.
I will add to this article as time permits but planning to add to it daily and complete the story.
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