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...

May 21st, 2012 my wife “innocently” asked me if I wanted to run The Westside YMCA 5k with the boys in a couple of weeks. The boys were aged 10 and 12 at the time and the trash talking started immediately. They were both full of confidence about how badly they were going to beat Dad, and why not? I was ~265 pounds and had easily gained 50 pounds in the previous 15 months. For about 15 years or so I had a habit of following the same cycle: Gain Weight Start Major Home Renovation Lose Weight Finish Major Home Renovation Repeat…but gain more weight next time Just a little side project to keep me out of trouble. 15 months earlier I had finished one of our biggest projects yet. I was also working a gazillion hours at “the day job”. The net result was that I became the lightest I had been in many years. I then “rewarded” myself with lots of sedentary time and junk food. Before I knew it I was easily 15-20 pounds heavier than I had ever been in my life. ...

I've been an endurance athlete since my family got me started running in May, 2012.  I thought about beginning a blog then and even registered the domain name Couch2Boston.com but at the time came to the conclusion that I could do things or I could write about things but I wouldn't be successful if I tried to do and write about things at the same time.  Over the years I kept revisiting the idea of starting a blog but every time it was after some epic event was finished and, well, does the world really need another adult onset athlete bragging about some accomplishment after it is done?  Instead, I kept my head down, trained hard and struggled with only a close group of friends subjected to the occasional race report. In January 2020 when I was a few weeks into an unconventional start to transition from a triathlete to an ultra-cyclist it occurred to me that this might be the time to bite the bullet and start that blog.  In case anyone actually ever finds this thi...