What if I can't do it?

[cewait]

What if you CAN do it and you never found out?

.

My thought EXACTLY!

It took me 3 years to get through my first marathon. There were many long runs where I just thought it will never happen. I battled injuries, illnesses and naysayers all through the three year period. Finally, one January morning I found myself boarding a flight to MCO with a waiver to run the race in hand. Looking back at it today, I was still not ready but dang it no one was going to stop me. I went to the expo and purchased one of everything, went to the pasta dinner and was in awe of the 'true' runners and almost psyched myself out.

I ran the race and it was not pretty at all. I blistered the entire area of both balls of my feet and torqued a knee beyond belief. I was so close to the caboose of the race that I had my own cycling medic as an escort. I found out he had been following me for a mile when I stopped at the rail along mile 24 to stretch my lower back over the railing between the sidewalk and canal. He yelled at me to step away from the railing. He followed me onto the boardwalk and I did not see him until I crossed the finish. I had a wide range of emotions at the line that everyone should feel at least once. I am not sure that I actually had an official time... My clock time was 7:20 something and chip time 7:05.

There is only one first time to cross. There have been lots of better races since then but only one where I really took the chance, pushed past the fear of failure and created a whole new life. I just finished marathon #20. I have been within 15 minutes of qualifying for Boston, but the medal that is most prominent on my display rod is the Mickey from Marathon #1.

Enter and commit. Every run will not be a bed of roses but you will make it if you put your training schedule on a calendar and make an honest effort.

 

[ironz]

3 in a row, here....saw your post yesterday and just getting on to reply.

My first thought, as these past two PPs...

What if you CAN?!?!?!??!?! Think of the empowerment, the confidence, the world you could open up! I know...hard to imagine. But it's out there, waiting for you to give it a shot. And you will feel something new and wonderful that maybe you haven't felt before. I've seen it with people in events like these, and things like the Danskin tri series for women. Women do more than they ever thought possible and it is fabulous!! Even my BFF...she just started running a year and a half ago. She didn't think she could do a 5K...thought she would be last, thought she couldn't finish, thought she would get lost because she'd be alone. But she did it!! And did another and a 5 mile, and a 1/2 marathon and then another! She totally told that little voice in her head that thought she couldn't...that she COULD.

Try....do...and celebrate!!!

 

[ban26ana]

I agree with everyone else of course! When I decided to do the Princess half, I couldn't even run a minute. Honestly. And walking a 16 minute pace? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Yeah, wasn't gonna happen. I'm a 6 time C25K dropout. And all of those times, I dropped out by week 2.

I once read that to stay motivated, sign up for a race that's far away. That way you make travel arrangements and are financially obligated to go. Well, I took it one step further and signed up to do it with Team in Training. That was I wasn't only obligated by money (because I've totally given up on things that cost me money before), but now I was obligated to a CHARITY. In fact, when recommittment time rolled around, I had barely done any training or fundraising. But I forced myself to sign that form and give in to actually doing this. I'm now proud to say that I KNOW I will finish next week (unless a weird act of God happens, like a dinosaur eating me. Hey, it could happen) and I went over my $2400 fundraising goal for Team in Training. When you set your mind to it, YOU CAN DO IT!!!!

 

[johde]

To agree with alot of people here. You never know what you can do until you try. My first 5K was in 2007, I finished in 59:09, a 19:02 pace. It was a run/walk to support a local Christian radio station. It did it on no "formal" training. Fast forward to last Thanksgiving. I completed a 4 miler in 51:30, a 12:52 pace.

My biggest piece of advice, that took me the longest time to sink in, is to not turn every workout into a race. That 12:52 pace, I've done exactly 1 time over an extended distance. Most of my workouts now are at a 14:00 pace or slower. Pick up the pace only 1 workout a week, or in small pieces of a workout. Keep at it and you'll do great.

 

[Minnie Lor]

My biggest piece of advice, that took me the longest time to sink in, is to not turn every workout into a race. That 12:52 pace, I've done exactly 1 time over an extended distance. Most of my workouts now are at a 14:00 pace or slower. Pick up the pace only 1 workout a week, or in small pieces of a workout. Keep at it and you'll do great.

Okay, I just copied that advice into my training notes. I keep forgetting this advice and try to do my fastest for every workout.

 

[peterpanstout]

OH! I love that! I should keep training notes.

Eva, thanks for that advise. I had a reallllly hard workout today, but kept hearing all of your voices in my head. And I just kept swimming...and I kept feeling stronger...and I kept my pace around 3.7 while walking. At around 14 minutes I was like, huh, I could make a mile. I stepped it up and didn't look back. 32 minute workout 2 miles

THANK YOU ALL!!!!! You have no idea how much you have pushed me!

Tomorrow I will...just keep swimming...

 

[crewmatt]

You've got the Everest Challenge. The biggest thing is going to be confidence and pacing. If you're new to running, chances are you wont be in it to win it (guess what you're in the same boat as all of us who have been running years - we probably wont be winning either). Start out at a pace you can talk comfortably at. Stay comfortable until you're past 2/3's of the way there. Then if you're feeling good you can start to push it a little.

The other thing is the Everest Challenge is (correct me if I'm wrong) approx a 5K. The advantage of races around that distance is even in the worst case where you run too fast and need to walk, you'll be able to recover pretty quickly and pick it back up (unlike the end of a marathon or other really long run where if you overdo it in the beginning you can literally exhaust yourself to the point of not being able to finish).

So don't worry too much about not being able to finish, you have a lot of time to get ready for it. And if you've never done a race like that before, the crowds of people carry you very nicely.

 

[WVUFan]

My thought EXACTLY!

It took me 3 years to get through my first marathon. There were many long runs where I just thought it will never happen. I battled injuries, illnesses and naysayers all through the three year period. Finally, one January morning I found myself boarding a flight to MCO with a waiver to run the race in hand. Looking back at it today, I was still not ready but dang it no one was going to stop me. I went to the expo and purchased one of everything, went to the pasta dinner and was in awe of the 'true' runners and almost psyched myself out.

I ran the race and it was not pretty at all. I blistered the entire area of both balls of my feet and torqued a knee beyond belief. I was so close to the caboose of the race that I had my own cycling medic as an escort. I found out he had been following me for a mile when I stopped at the rail along mile 24 to stretch my lower back over the railing between the sidewalk and canal. He yelled at me to step away from the railing. He followed me onto the boardwalk and I did not see him until I crossed the finish. I had a wide range of emotions at the line that everyone should feel at least once. I am not sure that I actually had an official time... My clock time was 7:20 something and chip time 7:05.

There is only one first time to cross. There have been lots of better races since then but only one where I really took the chance, pushed past the fear of failure and created a whole new life. I just finished marathon #20. I have been within 15 minutes of qualifying for Boston, but the medal that is most prominent on my display rod is the Mickey from Marathon #1.

Enter and commit. Every run will not be a bed of roses but you will make it if you put your training schedule on a calendar and make an honest effort.

Coach-

Thank you for sharing this. I appreciate your advice and knowing your background gives me hope that I can continue to improve. I told a friend I would run a marathon with him before I even tried to run a mile. If I hadn't committed to it I never would have discovered how much I love running.

 

[kristie03]

DLF > DNF > DNS

Dead Last Finish is greater than Did Not Finish is greater than Did Not Start.

I love this!!!

 

[Tiresius]

I did see that when I registered. But I was unclear if the pace includes the obstacles or not. But it does say "run portion of the race." So I guess that is good news. I wonder how much distance is in between each obstacle.

I am doing the Everest Challenge for the second time this year. I was in a very similar position last year. I started C25K at the end of March and thought that there was no possible way I could ever finish. Running for 5 minutes, for 8 minutes, was exhausting, and I thought I would never make it to 30 minutes of running. But having a goal, being registered for an event, forced me not to give up. I actually finished 2 minutes faster than I thought possible and am aiming for a top 10 finish this year (with a year and a half of training and some 10Ks, I feel like this is a good goal for me now).

But to answer some of the "fear" in terms of the obstacles -- Last year, there were 3 or 4 obstacles, spread throughout the course, and none added more than a few seconds of time. There was a balance beam, a tire walk, two hay bales to jump (or, really, just step over), and a cargo net to crawl under. The crawling was the only obstacle that took any longer than just running or walking would have. And they were spread very evenly throughout (about one per mile - the cargo net was at the very end of the course, right before the finish line). Granted, things could change for this year, but if you couldn't do an obstacle for any reason, you could skip it (you were encouraged to try, but if you really can't, you won't be penalized). So don't worry. The obstacles won't add enough time to your pace to make that much of a difference. Maybe add 30 to 40 seconds total.

And, in my experience, the pacing really only matters if you are in the last group/corral. There isn't a sweeping in between each corral, and the slower runners in earlier corrals end up blending in with the faster runners in later corrals. I know I was passed by people who were 1 and even 2 corrals behind me last year. So, realistically, only the people in the last corral (or those who are going slower that 18 or 20 minutes per mile in the second to last corral) will be swept from the course.

 

[Minnie Lor]

Coach-

Thank you for sharing this. I appreciate your advice and knowing your background gives me hope that I can continue to improve.

I agree. Thanks!