Running With Jack

While sitting on the train on my way home from work last night I was thinking about how much I admire people who run a marathon the whole way through, e.g. without any walk breaks whatsoever, barely even slowing down to grab a cup of water along the way.

I have finished 8 marathons (3 walking), 2-50K’s, and a 50-miler but have always had to take at least one walk break at some point in time. I used to be sensitive about this, but I have learned to relax and just do the best I can at each event, if that means walking a bit, so be it. I could probably train to run a marathon all the way through, could probably break 4 hours even, but I prefer to run several events each year which me at my age (47) means I have to keep most of them slow if I want to recover in enough time for the next one. This is the path I have chosen up to now and I am content.

That said, I am going to contradict myself. This morning I signed up for the Baden Marathon, which takes place on September 16th, and have decided that I should use this flat asphalt course to set a new PR. In the meantime I have a couple scenic marathons, a 50K and a 50-miler to keep me busy.

Speaking of being busy – I don’t know how some of you women (or men as the case may be) can work, clean, cook AND run without wearing yourself out! It is a good thing I have a job where I can sit down, because I don’t seem to find much time to do it lately at home ;-) Actually I am feeling good about my first few days has house-husband, my wife seems to be satisfied and she has sufficient time to study at night. Her only negative comment was that my cooking is bad for her diet, hmm I've heard that somewhere before. I think I need to find more low fat recipes.

Last night in anticipation of running tonight I made a pasta casserole that I can warm up for dinner after the run. I also baked some low fat apple muffins for dessert. My wife is bringing home some fresh asparagus from a farmer’s located market near her school so we only need to fix this quick.

The Northern Black Forest marathon that I am running on Sunday is a two loop course with a total of about 1100 feet of elevation gain. I finished this in 4:42:00 last year, this year my wife is staying home so I need to make sure I am fit enough after the event to make the hour and a half drive home. The weather report is calling for clear blue skies and around 26C/79F, its going to get pretty warm towards the end.