The 100 Days to Run a Marathon Challenge
The 100 Days to Run a Marathon Challenge
It's important to always challenge yourself, to get out of your comfort zone, to set goals and to have systems to achieve them. There can't be growth without getting out of your comfort zone. I've been wanting to run a marathon for about 7-8 years now, yet I haven't succeed yet to achieve this goal because of various reasons. It's time to stop wanting and to start achieving.
The 100 Days to Run a Marathon Challenge
Source: Pixabay
The challenge is to run a marathon - 42 kilometers in the next 100 days. Day 1 was yesterday, 18 of March and day 100 will be on 26 of June 2018. Yesterday I've run about 3.5 kilometers in cold, through snow and a patch of ice and did a few ups and downs on a big 55 steps stairway which is about 100 meters from where I live. The weather is a bit problematic at the moment and it seems that it will still be winter until the next week at least. I will be running outdoors only and the compacted snow and ice on the streets is increasing the risk of injury. Hopefully I will not end my journey as soon as I am starting it. I haven't run today but I will do.
I don't have any special training plan, I only have a simple system: to run almost daily and push myself a little bit more each time. Running daily is not a realistic and even recommended because the body needs time to recover. I will make up the plan as I go.
Realistically speaking, I'm a bit reserved towards my chances of achieving this goal. I'm in a relatively good physical shape, I've run before, but I'm quite bad and slow at running! I have bad long-distance running genes (I've done a DNA test a few years back, I will most probably write a future post about genetics), I have fast-twitch muscle fibers, fast-twitch muscles fatigue faster, all the elite marathon runners have slow-twitch muscle which are great for endurance. I have bad running form, my options are limited here because I have a problem, don't like to talk/write about it but I have some limits in the use of my left arm and I can't do the proper arm running movements. I don't know my VO2 max but it's probably lower than the average, I took a test some years ago because I had a pulmonary infection, i'm not sure how the test is called, it's the one where you have to blow as hard as you can into a device - and the doctor asked me if I smoke after reading the results - I'm not a smoker, I tried smoking but didn't found it appealing, smoked 5 cigars tops in my whole life. Probably my VO2 max improved since then, I'm less sedentary now than in those years.
Like I said earlier, I tried running before, I have my in-built limitations but I'm not a beginner: I succeeded in running semi-marathons before. I participated to an official trail running competition, even though I worked very hard, I was among the last ones to cross the finish line. What stopped me from running a marathon until now is the lack of consistency I guess, I had periods of weeks, months and even years in which I didn't run because of various reasons. I don't know about others, but in my first runs after not running for a month or less my lungs are burning like it's the first time I'm running.
This bucket-list goal has been evading me for too long. I will check it off by 26 of June.
I won't be writing daily about how this challenge, goes, I will most probable write an update on day 50, day 99 or day 100 or earlier if something unexpected like breaking a leg happens.
N.B: I'm also on day 11 in my challenge to write a post each day for 100 days. I haven't wrote about doing this challenge before, you are finding it now for the first time.