Anyone Up for a Challenge?

[Chett]

If you are a friend of mine on Facebook (Chett Daniel), you may have seen that I am planning to begin training for a marathon in November. I wanted to let everyone here at 5k5k.org know about the marathon, just in case you are looking for a challenge. It has been nearly about seven years since my last marathon and I'm ready to push myself again and train for an incredible experience of stamina and fortitude.

"I thought this site was about 5k runs (3.1 miles) not a marathon of 26.2 miles?" Well yes, but I want to do this for myself and for the people who read this site regularly to catalog the training, frustrations, and successes of preparing, hopefully in the mean time I am motivating the members here to continue on their own 5k goals, or maybe tackle a marathon of their own.

"But I'm not 6'3" and 170lbs, so I'm not built to run a marathon." I'm about 5'11" and weighed about 205 lbs when I ran my last marathon. I began my training weighing around 220. I was not and will never be built like your typical marathon runner. I don't run to win the race, I run to challenge myself and there are no weight and height requirements for that purpose. For me constantly setting short term goals keeps me focused on personal growth and acts as way points for my more distant long term goals.

For me the marathon I ran in 2002 in Green Bay Wisconsin was/is an anchor point in my life. (If you follow this link I was bib number 400) I had a lot of changes taking place in my life at that time. I had graduated college just 6 months before running the marathon, I had just been offered a promotion with a very large corporation, I was a brand new dad, and my wife and I were preparing to leave our family and move more than 20 hours away from where we had called home all of our lives. Running and completing the marathon allowed me to realize that many of the goals we set out to accomplish aren't as easy as they first seem.

The first leg of the journey seems relatively easy and a little exciting, as you go further along the "newness" and novelty wares off and you can almost get bored with your goals and forget why you made them in the first place.

Around 3/4 of the way through a tough challenge fatigue sets in and begins to grip you.You feel a constant debate between your body, mind, and heart struggling to decide what would be best to continue or quit. Everything in your body and mind are screaming "quit, it hurts, it's not worth the discomfort." But somewhere in your past struggles, your intense desire found only in your heart wants to prove to yourself (and honestly to those around you who doubt you) that you can accomplish anything you really want.

In the end, long after everything your body has told you to quit and the applause that you heard clearly when you began only seems faint and distant, you somehow find the determination to keep moving, keep making progress towards a seemingly illusive finish line. When you do finally cross the finish line you know you won't receive an award for finishing first, or fastest. The only congratulations you may receive will be from a few family members who came to watch and some strangers who finish near you. But those mean the most as both of these groups are closer to the struggles you faced than any spectator will ever be.

The next day and every day after is where you will finally realize how running a marathon changed you. Three months after my marathon we moved far away from family. My wife and I missed our roots and longed to return home. Shortly after our move I was recalled to active duty in the Marines for the ongoing combat in Iraq. After returning from active duty (really all during my time after college) we accumulated debt and it became obvious we were in over our head financially. Even while we were in debt I wanted to change careers, away from one that provided an abundant income, but meager returns in personal satisfaction. I struggled with depression and anxiety as I faced these challenges but refused to succumb to the difficulties we sometimes face in life. The marathon helped in changing me. I never forgot the struggles I faced in my training and the run. I knew that even when my mind and body wanted to quit I could keep going. I was/am fortunate to have a wonderful wife who has cheered me on in my running and in life and without the support of loved ones I doubt I would have believed in myself enough early on to push through the difficult times.

My point is this , a marathon isn't only about running to finish the race. It's about a new beginning in life experiences, and new benchmark for struggles and success and what you can truly accomplish. At first thought the words marathon scream "26.2 miles oh my God I could never do that!" But one day at a time you prepare yourself. During the run you believe in yourself. And after you cross the finish line you've changed yourself.

If your interested in running the marathon with me here is the link to the Bass Pro Marathon in Springfield, Missouri. It will be held November 1, 2009. I hope that seven years hasn't changed me too much and my body will allow me to train and complete this event.

If you don't live in the area, but feel the desire to run a marathon, Marathon Guide is a great resource for finding races all over the world.

Finally here is the training program I used when I ran my first marathon, and it is the one I plan to use as I prepare for this marathon.

Do you plan to run a marathon in the near future (within the next year)? How has the experience of running a 5k changed you? Do you see running as a metaphor for life and finances, if so how?