Running history--Part III

I pick up the story in early 2005. I haven't run much since the Dallas marathon in 1998. I ran on and off (mostly off) while I was in Thailand in 1999 and 2000, partly because I played in a basketball league for exercise instead. I ran a bit in 2001 while living in Chicago (maybe 100 miles total?). And from 2002-2004 in Bangladesh, very very little.

My appetite never decreased during these years, so my weight is up to 155 or so (from 130 or so in 1998). My pants are uncomfortably tight, even though I've gone up a size to 31-waist. So I decide to run again. The only place I can find to run in Dhaka is a 1/3 mile path around a pond in my neighborhood. I try to run regularly, but it's difficult because of all the traveling within Bangladesh that I have to do for work. Also, I don't have any race to train for (other than to lose weight), so motivation is lacking. So for most of 2005, I run an average or about 20mpw, and I end the year badly, running only 81 miles in the last 3 months due to travel and sickness (dengue fever).

So 2005 is a wash: no decrease in weight and no gain in conditioning. But after coming back to Chicago in early 2006, I decide that I need to be more serious and committed about running, so I register for the Chicago marathon. My initial goal is 3:10. I figure that I'm older and way more out of shape than I was in 1997 and 1998, so 3:10 is still an ambitious goal. But due to winter weather and more travel, I'm only able to run 267 miles in Jan-Apr. I'm able to do all the miles at 7:30 pace, but I'm only running less than 25mpw.

But then in May, I discover the online world of runners through RunningTimes.com's forum. It's probably the biggest event in my running history since I realized how much cooler Asics running shoes were than Nike basketball shoes. I'm able to get good advice, and more importantly, motivation through the community of runners who care about things like weekly mileage, pace, Pfitz plans, and Power Gels.

The most important thing I learn is that to run fast, I need to run more miles, even if it means slowing down my pace; I need to build up a big aerobic base first, and to do that, it means putting in 50,60,70, or even more miles per week. This is nothing less than revolutionary to me since I ran my previous marathons on 30-40 mpw.

So since then, I've increased my mileage a lot--to weekly averages of 70, 80, and even 100 miles--and felt more like a runner in the process. I've been encouraged enough to think that a sub-3:00 marathon is a possibility, and that's what I've been training for.

I don't know what'll happen on raceday, but whether I make my sub-3 goal or not, I think with all that I've learned about running/training, I'll be able to look at 2006 as the year that I began to think and feel like a runner.