I am doing a Q&A sessiong at my blog right now so that the visitors can ask any questions that they are curious about. How I lost the weight, running, stuggles, etc. It has been pretty fun. I wanted to post my answer to the second question I got so here it is.
Thanks mamawantsasixpack for taking some time out to have some fun on my blog? I appreciate the participation. Here are your questions:
1. “How long did it take you to work up to a marathon?”
2. “How fast was your first 5K?”
3. “Where’d you get your running confidence?”
I like those questions and it will be very enjoyable to answer them. So here it goes.
My marathon build up was not typical and usually (even Jeff Galloway) it is recommended that a person run for at least one year before attempting a marathon. I had none of that, I am just to obsessive for that. Anyway, it took me seven months to go from a 2 mile long run(245 lbs at this time) to my first marathon finish. Keep in mind though, I never ever missed a long run (this is the typical run you do on a weekend that is longer than others and it increase 1-2 miles every week to two weeks). What joy it was. It is possible to finish a marathon, even for a big chunky dude. By the time I ran the Portland Marathon I weighed 195 lbs.
I have yet to really run an organized 5K. I did do several practice 5k’s to try and predict my marathon finish time as Jeff Galloway recommended. I can’t remember exactly, but my time was around 38 minutes and I was sucking air bad at the end. Way worse than at the end of my marathon. I finished my first marathon in 5 hrs and 35 minutes. Pretty much all my running in the beginning was at a pace around 12:45-13:30 minutes per mile.
One concept that Jeff Galloway strongly suggests (there is controversy around this concept) is that you run the distance before you race the distance. So my last long run before Portland was 27 miles. I was confident because I knew I could make it to the finish. I was scared silly though. I had done all my running alone or with my wife. I didn’t know what it would be like with 1000′s of people rubbing up against me. I was so nervous that my heart rate was around 185 at the start and I was only walking 
Things got better and I realized that I was with 1000′s of regular people. That helped. Also, I read that I am the captain of my own running ship and that I did not need to run as fast or as far or smooth as anyone. I just needed to run for me. I still get shy around people who look like “real runners” though.
Cross posted at My Angle
