I got up early to meet a friend of mine, Chuck, at the start of his 15 mile run on Saturday. His plan was 15 on Saturday and 20 on Sunday. Why so many weekend miles? Well Chuck has a goal of running a marathon in each of the 50 states, but not just to complete them. His goal is to run a marathon in 50 states all under 4 hours. I can't remember exactly how many states he has run a sub 4 hour marathon in but I think it is at least 10. If he ran 5 every year it would take him another 8 years to complete. He also has streaks going with the LA marathon (20 consecutive years I think) and he has run every Orange County Marathon, and he doesn't plan on breaking these streaks any time soon. So if he ran 5 new states every year plus LA and OC, that is 7 marathons a year! YIKES! Sorry Chuck but you aren't getting any younger! Plus marathons are selling out faster and faster so the planning is getting harder and harder. After some research he found the New Hampshire Marathon and the Maine marathon on consecutive days, October 2 & 3. They are close enough that he could finish one and then drive to the next one and run them on back to back days, Dean Karnazes style. He is making a weeklong trip in New England out of it with his wife. He asked me months ago if I thought this was possible and I said, "of course, as long as you don't run the first one too fast." My advice for him was to run the first one no faster than 3:45 and then run the next day with what ever he had left. Since then he has built up to 70-80 miles per week with 30 of that on the weekends in preparation for back to back marathons. I have built up to an hour at a time now, so I decided to run the first hour of Chuck's run with him. We started at 5:15 am with our headlamps on. My calf was a little tight from Friday before we even started running, but we took it easy and it loosend a little as we ran. After 5 we meet Dale who continued with us. I turned around after another 1.5 to make my run an even 8, and Chuck and Dale continued. Good luck Chuck you will do great. Always good running with you. You make the miles fly by.
Two days in a row for me for a total of 16 miles! I took Sunday off but the calf felt fine.
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3 comments:
Tell chuck his running goal is not impossible as long as he stays in good condition. It has nothing to do with age and everything to do with conditioning. I am happy the calf is on the mend. Seems like normal running is around the corner.
Thanks Ron. I was giving Chuck a hard time there about the age thing. It is hard to convey sarcasm in a blog. I know he can do it. Talk about a machine, Chuck is a marathon machine!
I am glad to hear that after two consecutive 8 mile runs your calf felt fine. It is always a pleasure running with you. We both share the same passion for elite running and baseball. With the Dodgers out of the playoff picture I will be rooting for the Twins.
Karl & Ron.....Thank you both for the kind words of encouragement. I recently read this response from the great Haile Gebrselassie when asked about his age and how much longer he could run competitively. He said that age is just a number!
I will have run a marathon in 20 states if I am able to complete both the New Hampshire and Maine Marathons in under 4 hours.
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