My start into the World of Running!

I have been a runner since July of 1999. That was almost 12.5 years ago. It started because I had just graduated from ITT Technical Institute with a Bachelors Degree in Electronics Engineering at the age of 46. I was totally out of shape at 5’11.5” and 212 pounds. After graduating I needed a new goal and had often wondered what it would be like to run a marathon. So, I decided that I would train to run a marathon, lose weight and get back in shape all at the same time.

I knew nothing about training for a marathon other than I would start with a mile and gradually try to build my mileage. But, how hard to run? How far to run? How many days a week to run? These were all questions that I needed to find out.

I decided to do a one mile fitness test to see just how out of shape I was. I went to a track and started running. My mind told me I was in better shape than I actually was and by the time I had run one lap I was feeling like I needed to stop but I kept on going. My legs were on fire and before I had finished two complete laps I had to walk. Soon my legs felt a bit better and I resumed running. I ended up doing this run walk several times before I finally completed my first mile.

I was in shock! It had taken me a little over 13 minutes to complete just one mile. I remembered back in high school where we had an 8 min test. If one could complete a mile or more in 8 minutes then they were considered to be in very good shape. I had blown that test away; without even trying that hard I had run a mile in just a little over 5 minutes. (Don’t remember the exact time.) Now, here I was completely exhausted doing a single mile in over 13 minutes. I thought to myself that surely there must be some mistake. How could this be? I felt truly humiliated with what had just transpired.

Of course, in high school I was 5’ 11 3/4” tall and only weighed 147 pounds. Now I had shrunk a quarter inch and weighed 65 pounds more, and of that 65 pounds I had added only about 8-10 were muscle, the rest was all fat.

As I drove home I started reconsidering my goal of running a marathon. It seemed like an impossible task after what I had just put myself through. But, I convinced myself that surely I could get back to at least an 8 minute mile by early March of the next year for the LA Marathon. I would just start running and walking every day and gradually get back in shape. Boy was I wrong about that 8 minute mile.

After two weeks of running by myself, my wife came to me with an article she had read, in the local paper, about a group that trained people to run a marathon. The name of the group was the Loma Linda Lopers. They met every Sunday morning at 6:30am and had seminars and talks all about running. She thought it would be a good idea for me to join them as they had only been running their marathon clinic for two weeks and that was about how long I had been training on my own. So, the following Sunday I showed up early and joined the group.

I don’t remember a whole lot about my first day with the Lopers other than I was overwhelmed to see so many people all out to train for a marathon. There were well over 600 people there and they had smaller groups divided into what they called “pace groups.” I decided to join the 13 minute group. The distance for the day was just 3 miles. Our pace leader took us out at a pretty good pace but then after 5 minutes we started walking. After a minute we resumed running and continued this run 5 minutes walk 1 minute, for the complete three miles. He explained that the Lopers used the Galloway method for marathon training and that doing a run walk was the quickest way to build endurance for new runners.

I was elated when we were done as I had done the whole 3 miles and did not feel like I was completely worn out as on my other runs. I continued going to the early Sunday morning meetings and doing the long run each week with the lopers. Each Sunday we added another mile to the long run for the week until we reached 10 miles. We also had home work miles on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Each week we added a mile to the homework miles until we reached 6 miles. Before we got to the 10 mile milestone for our long run, I had switched groups and had moved up to the 12 minute group. I ran with them until we got to 15 miles and then I let my ego get the better of me and I joined the 11 minute pace group. Now each long run seemed more like a race for me each week and I could hardly run again until Wednesday. I continued this insanity for the rest of my training with the Loper marathon clinic. I was so exhausted after each long run that I would come home each Sunday and fall asleep in my recliner while watching TV. Then came the marathon.

March 5th, 2000 was my first marathon. The weather forecast was for rain and lots of it! I had on a trash bag with holes cut for my head and arms. It was a great way to stay warm until the race began. We heard the gun go off but it was minutes before we started moving as there were so many people ahead of us. It took over 12 minutes before we crossed the start line and even then we weren’t really running right away. Soon we were actually running and the rain started coming down hard. I got too warm and threw the trash bag away. The rain was really coming down hard for most of the race, but I was fine as far as temperature. Some of those I was running with seemed to think it was really cold.

At about mile 17 I started to have trouble with my IT band and the outside of my left knee was beginning to hurt some. At mile 18 I was beginning to wonder what I had gotten myself into as I was really beginning to feel fatigued and the knee was hurting a bit more. I said to myself, “Just two more miles and reevaluate the situation.” I made it to mile 20 and didn’t really feel any better but no worse either. I said to myself, “I have made it 20 miles there is no way I am quitting now.” So on we ran. With three miles left to run my knee was really hurting me, especially when resuming running after each walk break, so I decided to slow down a little and just keep running without doing the walk break. About one mile from the finish two of my friends, who I worked with, greeted me from the sidelines and jumped in running with me to the finish line. I felt a rush of adrenaline with their enthusiasm for what I was doing and that they would come all this way just to cheer for me. I was rejuvenated the rest of the way to the finish line. As I crossed that line a wave of emotion hit me as I realized I had actually finished my first marathon. 5 hours 19 minutes and 49 seconds is what it took me to complete my first marathon. At that time the thought of doing another marathon was far from my mind. In fact when asked a few hours later I said I would never run another one. Two days later I reevaluated and decided to sign up for another marathon. Two and a half years after my first marathon, (Oct 5, 2002) I qualified for Boston at St George, UT with a time of 3:33:40, needing to be at or better than 3:35:59. I ran Boston the following April and it was the highlight of my running career thus far.

I have now completed 20 marathons and am hoping to soon enter the world of ultra marathon races. Running distances from 50K (or 31 miles) to perhaps a 100 miles or more. First I have to overcome my troubles with sciatica, but I am confident that will happen.

By the way as I mentioned earlier I started running at 212 pounds and finished my first marathon at 195 pounds. I now weigh about 182 pounds but have a goal to be down to 165 pounds by this summer.

April 2013 update: I am not down to 165 pounds!  Wahoo!