Smokin'Sims
Gettin' my nerd on, Hopp Schwiez!
I had a wild idea to try and run a marathon back in May of last year. To make this wild idea a bit crazier,I decided that my first marathon should be the Himeji Castle Marathon in Himeji Japan. I live in Switzerland. So at the end of July I started train, during scout camp in Italy. During the training, I missed 2 weeks to shinsplints and maybe 10 or so other workouts due to life getting in the way. This was also through a Swiss winter, which isn't too bad just a few slippery snowy days. At the end of February, I went off to run this thing with a friend well experienced in marathons. I finished in 5 hours 57 minutes, 3 less than the cut off time. Maybe I could have pushed myself harder and done better, but I had three main goals. My goals were simple: 1) not get kicked off for being too slow, 2) not be DFL (Dead F*** Last), and 3) not break myself. I accomplished all my goals. It was a fantastic race and excellent community support and organization. It won;t be last marathon, but my buddy said has set an extremely high bar for the rest. My next few races are half marathons; mostly flat, but one with an elevation gain of 1.2km. In Nov. I'm going to do the authentic marathon, Marathon to Athens. Hopefully, without mimicking the entire legend and dying at the end. Anyone else run full or half marathons? What were your experiences like?
