Couch2Boston

Once I had an epic fail at The Empire State Marathon I was hooked.  I no longer wanted to go the distance once to check the checkbox and move on.  I wanted to learn everything I could about marathoning from any source that I could find.  I couldn't fail twice.  I needed to be as over prepared for this race as I was under prepared for the last attempt. (Note: This was written in 2021 for posterity, but I've tried to tell the story from a 2013 perspective) Everything Changed April 2013 I don't know what was most stressful, the race or the weeks leading up to the race.  I had recently started a new job.  A few weeks before the race, I had to travel to Nashua, NH.  The trip was fine, but I had tried every manipulation I could to get the date of the trip moved by a couple of weeks.  We had to pass through the outskirts of Boston on the way and I was looking for any excuse I could find to be in Boston on Patriot's Day to watch the marathon and maybe ge...

Yep, 23.0.  I was signed up for the full marathon.  I started the full marathon.  I did not finish.  I may, ok do, have an epically big ego but learned hard that people actually use plans that can take months to prepare for a marathon...but let's back this story up to the real beginning. (Note: This was written in 2021 for posterity, but I've tried to tell the story from a 2012 perspective) 5 months earlier in May 2012 , I prepared for my first 5k since high school cross country many years ago.  After a couple of weeks to recover, I was able to get a running habit going, sort of.  Since my weight was in the 260-270 pound range it didn't seem that I could actually handle pounding the pavement, but I could keep a daily habit working out on an elliptical machine.  I trained on the elliptical machine by HR and time and rarely got outside to run, except for an occasional 5k race.  This seemed to be the balance I needed to improve my fitness and have le...