MARATHON CHALLENGE

2006-09-30T21:48:00.000-07:00

Perhaps my greatest barrier?

So I was at work this afternoon, doing what a normal golf pro shop employee does - checking email and playing online computer games. Today was a little different though - I happened upon the most incredible site I've been to in ages.

It's not Monkey's Doing Karate...

It's not Kermit Fucking a Stuffed Toy...

It sure isn't The Adam Ant Homepage... Nope

It's the www.1980-games.com" site where you can play every nintendo game ever made! It's an online emulator with what all the cool kids playes back in the day. Finally I can get battle toads (I wasn't allowed to buy it as a kid because it seemed violent); I've already played (and beat) Mike Tyson's Punch Out (Oh yeah bitch) - and I'm working myself up to try the hackey-sack part of the california games! So good!

2006-09-28T14:20:00.000-07:00

Wow wow wow

So today wasn't that bad of a workout - I did my 1 minute on, 1 minute off thing... then had a good long stretch (I even asked the "fitness dude" for some stretch ideas)... then after that I went right into a good 20 minutes on the stepper/stairmaster - nice day for cardio!

My nose is still sort of tender - all the jarring from the hard impact... sheesh. I'm not going to lie - this will be a long 9 months... but I'll be better for it when she's all said and done!

2006-09-23T15:35:00.001-07:00

First Training Day Report

Well, here's what I have done so far in my quest to win $100.

I've bought:
a pair of running shoes (with running socks) - $185
a new running watch/heart rate monitor - $130
an 8 month gym pass with full locker - $182
new foods for the runner's diet - $55/month
books on how to run - $35
coaching from Andrew Palmer - $TBA

So I'm thinking I'll have to buy a few more pairs of socks by the 'thon, maybe invest in some cool running shorts, maybe one of those tank tops the cool kids wear... Also the cost of entering the marathon - another c-note's worth of cash right there... when all is said and done, I'll have spent roughly $1300 to win $100.

For an explanation of the economic reasoning behind this, wait until June 19th, 2007 in the afternoon... where I'll no doubt be found spending all $100 that I just won on beer and bourbon for me and my friends. (You're invited to the party) - I may not last much past the first beer - but believe me - watching my buddies drink on Reynold's dime is going to be sweet! I say wait for the reasoning until then because I prefer to discuss economic rationale over beers - and I'm going clean and sober from all things alcoholic, meat and dairy until at least the marathon... (slight exceptions being - my and Jenn's one year anniversary, and maybe a drink or two for Hassie's welcome home party on December 19th at the King's Head (unless Steve and the guys are playing somewhere else in town)).

2006-09-18T17:54:00.000-07:00

So there's this dude who is running 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days - ridiculous! Check him out at ENDURANCE50.COM! Not exactly inspiring - but interesting enough...

Oh - I have lined up a running coach who says that my initial goal is to run the marathon in under 5 hours - trying to push for under 4 hours greatly increases chance of injury - especially with my frame... good to know, good to know.

Stupid Marathon Bet Is Started

2006-09-16T14:49:00.000-07:00

Well - This is the blog I'll use to post about my idiotic bet with Africa. For those that don't know: in order to challenge myself, I offered a ridiculous bet to Africa - I would give him 10:1 odds that I wouldn't be able to run the marathon... Yuppers - for the $100 he puts down on the bet - I can lose $1,000.

Now, it's not like I'm a fit fella here - nope... not in the least. I am, however, sporting a pretty good track record when it comes to both making and winning ridiculous bets. I'm going to start on Saturday the 23rd of September and the run will take place on June 19th - Father's Day.

Tentative plan:
For the first 10 weeks I'm getting myself into running shape - to a point where I can at least start in a training program for the marathon. The training schedule is as follows:

Week 1
Run 1 minute, Walk 1 minute (repeat to a total of ten times) 3x week
Week 2
Run 2 minutes, Walk 1 minute (repeat to a total of ten times) 3x week
Week 3
Run 3 minutes, Walk 1 minute (repeat to a....)

Get the idea

Week 10
Run 10 minutes, Walk 1 minute (repeat to a total of 6 times) 3x week

I'm not going to run more than 1 hour a day in this warm-up program... so we'll see how it goes. I'm writing here to document any changes (physical, emotional, pissed-off-a-cal) and to have a private journal (as I'm sure I'll be the only one reading it)...