I was talking to someone the other day about plans after work. I mentioned that I needed to get a run in before they’d pick me up to go out. I explained that I have a marathon coming up at the end of may and need to run as much as possible when I’m home to balance that with my travel schedule for work.

The comment made went something like this: No offense, but you really don’t have the build for Marathons, you’re a bigger guy (I’m 6′, weigh about 185lbs, and consider myself in good shape, exercising 5-6 days a week). Have you ever seen how skinny and small marathoners are?

I did take a bit of offense. My response to this is, yes the people that win marathons generally aren’t that tall and are extremely skinny. This is the body type that will help you win a marathon; however, marathon competitors have all sorts of body types (and sometimes even ridiculous costumes).

I’m not trying to win the race. I just want to run the 26.2 miles and do well. My ideal goal would be to qualify for the Boston Marathon (which would require pacing a 7:15ish mile), but that might not be possible with the amount of travel that I have to do for work. I’ll be okay with finishing within a decent time – I can pace an 8 minute mile in my sleep.

What I’m trying to do requires discipline and the right state of mind, not worrying about whether I have the correct body type.

I think the philosophy of this extends to life in general: yes, there will be limitations to what you can do, but how do you deal with them or overcome them?

The weather has been much warmer this weekend -in the low 30s, though a bit wet. It’s better than 14 degrees and icy.

Yesterday was a good day: I did 10 miles at a 7:18ish pace. Today I did about 6, but didn’t keep track of any pace.

Granted, today my legs and left foot felt like hell. I’m guessing that my running shoes are spent.

This week I have put in 20 miles running since Monday, this is interspersed with some lifting. I’ll phase out the cross-training as it gets more bearable outdoors. Yesterday, I ran 8 miles in the evening when it was 11 degrees and windy, which I didn’t feel till I hit halfway and turned back right into it. My sweat caused ice to form on my hat. Tomorrow I’m going to go for a ten mile run, at least there will be sunlight.

On Tuesday evening, I went for a run with a two co-workers and an Endurance House employee (who happens to be the sister of one of the co-workers). Apparently, every Tuesday night at 6:30pm, there is a run that starts from Endurance House in Green Way Station, Middleton and goes through trails throughout the neighborhood. The paths were pretty and had rivers with large stepping stones that made them crossable – we had a headlamp so we didn’t kill ourselves. We went about 5 miles overall. It was fun and I suggest it.

Endurance House is a sport store that caters to runners, swimmers, bikers… and the combo of the three: triathletes. They also do running analyses where they film you running on a treadmill with your current shoes and then other pairs. They do this to determine how you run and how to correct it if need be. When I went to school at Lawrence, I had this done once at Fox Valley Running Company in Appleton, WI. The store owner, who is a marathon runner himself, told me that I over-pronated heavily on my right leg, but was much better on the left leg. I told him that I previously had good experience with Brooks shoes, but wasn’t as happy with the last pair. He let me run with a few of them (yes go outside and run around) and then gave me the Nike Triax Structure 11s. I put them on, which felt weird at first because of the cushioning, and the way my feet were falling felt right. I got those and have been extremely happy with them since (seen below). I highly recommend Fox Valley Running: the people were extremely helpful, knowledgeable, and friendly. In addition, they offer a competitive price, with the analysis free if you buy a pair of shoes.

If you consider yourself a runner of any sort, I suggest going to one of these stores. It will help you find the right shoe for your running style and even for your mileage. It will definitely also help prevent injury (remember running shoes should fit, not look cool). I haven’t purchased anything from Endurance House yet, but I will post about it when I do.