Some Background

This is the year I make it into the paper. Yep, no excuses. This is the year. I'm gonna make it into the paper. It will probably read something like this:

96 Smith, John 2:36:15
97 XXXXXX, Greg 2:36:26
98 Doe, Jane 2:36:35

Most people probably won't even notice it, but I will. Wait, let me take a step back and explain. I've run some good marathons in the past couple of years. I've finished closer to the front than the back in most of the races that I've run and PRed in pretty much every distance that I ran last year. However, after every Chicago Marathon that I've run in my lifetime, which now stands at 8, I have been left with a somewhat empty feeling the next day when I go to get my daily paper. You see if you live in Chicago, and probably even if you don't, you know that there are two main papers in the city, The Sun-Times and the Tribune. Now, I'm sure there are many reasons why one would choose to read one paper over the other. The Sun-Times tends to attract the younger, more liberal crowd. The Tribune is a little more stuffy and conservative in it's leanings. The Sun-times is much flashier and has a tendency to over-sensationalize everything. The Tribune has Tom Skilling doing it's weather. I mean come on, Skilling's a rockstar. Now, all those are valid reasons for someone to read one paper over the other. Heck, maybe someday I'll be smart enough to form an opinion on one paper over the other based on some grown-up logic like that. For now though, I'm stuck with the only thing that makes sense for me. The Sun-Times is just easier to read on the train than the Tribune. It reads like a book, just has one main section, you can get to the sports page by just flipping the thing over. And when you're done reading it, you close it and put it away. No sections to sort through, no pages to unfold. Clean and easy. It's just easier for my little brain to handle this way.

However, there is one day every year that I have to go out and buy the Tribune. The day after the local elections so I get catch up on who won what? No. The day after Thanksgiving to get all the sales Ads? No. The only day I have to go out and buy the Tribune is the day after the Chicago Marathon. Why? Well, because the stupid Sun-Times only lists the top 100 runners in it, but the Tribune lists every finisher. It has bugged me every year since I ran my first marathon back in 1998. I want to get into the Sun-Times. So to have a shot at cracking the top 100, I need to go sub 2:37. Sounds daunting. A couple years ago, it would have sounded impossible really. My PR was set at last year's Chicago marathon at 2:46, so I need to trim 9 minutes, 560 seconds, off of that time. Nine minutes spread over 26.2 miles means that I need to run about 21 seconds per mile faster. That would put me just under a 6 minute mile pace (thank-you Start Menu - Programs - Accessories - Calculator), which is another lifelong goal of mine. 5 years ago, the thought of running a marathon under a 6 min/mile pace seemed impossible to me. It doesn't anymore. To be brutally honest, I feel like I should be able to run at a 6 minute pace for the entire race. I just need to train properly for it. Ahh the training. That's what always does me in.

In years past, I have followed some hybrid training plan by Hal Higdon, or Pete Pfitzinger, or maybe even Jack Daniels. I mean I never really followed anything, but I would take bits and pieces from everywhere and mish-mash them together until I got something that worked for me. Something that would get me through the summer and in good shape for my fall marathon of choice, The Lasalle Bank Chicago Marathon. However, this year, I know that if I want to improve my marathoning, improve by minutes not seconds, I need to stop thinking in terms of 18 week plans and training cycles. I need to start thinking long-term.

Now, this probably wasn't the best time to have an epiphany like this. I'm 32 years old (soon to be 33), married with 2 wonderful kids and a 3rd child on the way. This isn't exactly the time when most people decide to get serious about running. It probably would have been easier if I'd have made this commitment about, oh, let's say 10 years ago. But I didn't. But I couldn't. I've never been a place where I could totally commit my freetime to training. Now I can. Now I am.

To give a little background on my running, I finished my first marathon in 1998 in a time of 3:32. Since then I have worked my way, rather slowly down to my current PR of 2:46 which was set last year at the LBCM. Last year, I averaged somewhere around 40-50 miles per week for the 18 weeks leading up to that race. So there is room for improvement. This year, I have dedicated myself to a high-mileage program that I'm kind of making up as I go along. So far this year, I have average 75 miles per week, with my peak week at 104 miles. I hope to keep my mileage above the 100 mile mark for the rest of the summer.

Well, now that that is out of the way, I guess I can get to the good stuff. Well maybe tomorrow.