Any distance runners here? Any of you ever run in a marathon or half marathon?

[purplehayes]

I've been jogging for about the past year and a half and now I think I've got myself worked up to doing one of the summer/fall community road races. I was thinking about doing a half marathon to start out with. Does anyone have any personal experiences or advice they can share to get me pointed in the right direction.

Right now, I'm 31 and can run for 45 minutes at my max target heart rate with no problem. I could probably go farther, but I run on my lunch hour.

And what's with the over 30 crowd and long distance running? This is a race they run very close to my house and there are only 2 people on the list of 51 that are under the age of 30.

Those of you that know that I live in metro Atlanta, I WILL NOT run in the Peachtree. Waaaay to many people for me to be comfortable.

And on a final note, got any Tri-athletes here?

PH

 

[orty]

I've run a half-marathon, a couple of 20K races, a 30K race, and a 50K race, but never have I actually run the ol' 26.2 (ran the 31.5 instead).

My recommendation: if this is your first time in a race over 15K, take it EASY the first few miles. The first time I ran a half-marathon, I was used to running my 5K pace, so I felt comfortable for about the first 4-5 miles. Then boom, hit the wall, and crawled in. Use the first few miles to warm up, go slower than you think you should be going, and then just gradually pick it up. A stopwatch is your friend to keep you on pace .

Personally, I like races like Peachtree. I live in Central Oregon, so the races aren't too big here, but I did an 5K cross country race in California with 400 other folks on a narrow course, and there's nothing like jumping over bodies of folks who are tripping over each other to keep you on your toes <hehe>.

-Orty

 

[orty]

Oh, and one more thing...I can't swim worth dick, so I've never done a triathlon. Done a couple dualthons (r/b/r, 5/30/5), but I sink like a rock in the water...not really a productive way of swimming <hehe>

 

[miniMUNCH]

Cross country is da bomb!

I've never run anything longer than about 10 miles and that sucked...but considering I was really more of a middle distance runner (400m to 1,500m), the 400m being my bread and butter, a 10 mile run is a lot for me. Also, I was about 2&quot; taller and 20lbs heavier than all the other runners. Lond distance and heavy don't go together.

I'm now 6'2&quot; and about 190lbs...there's no way I'm running 10 miles unless I'm fleeing certain death!

 

[orty]

Hehe...my coach made me run the 400 and 800 ocassionally in high school to &quot;Keep up my speed&quot; (as I was usually a 1500, 3000m runner). I usually held my own in the 800, but when I got into a real 400 race (meaning one where I wasn't racing the junior-varsity team or something ), I'd usually get smacked around pretty good. It was good for me, though, but there'd be no way in hell I'd do it again. The only time I did decent at the 400 was anchoring a 4x400 relay, and I think I came across in a 52 second split, but that was the best I ever did (and that was out of pure motivation, as the guy chasing me ending up winning NCAA in the 1500 this year). He ended up catching me and running my ass through the ground, but I still ran pretty dang quick! Haven't done a 400 that fast since (5 years ago...I run the long stuff now).

And yes, Cross Country is the bomb! I had SOOO much damn fun with that team.

-orty

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

I used to run the Las Vegas half-marathon every year (albeit rather slowly!) when I was 23-26, and have done one international-distance triathlon (I am a dreadful swimmer and that was one long half-mile).

I really enjoyed the half-marathons (it was honestly kinda nice just to be forced to be in decent shape in February, when the race is held) but had no desire to go longer (I am 6'4&quot; and just not cut out for running in the grand scheme of things). If you can run 9-10 miles in practice you should have no problem with the half-marathon.

 

[purplehayes]

Yeah, I was kind of wondering about the tri-athalon. Maybe run and bike long distances and then a couple of laps in the pool. Anything more than that and I'd be fish food.

I went out today at lunch and ran, I don't know what it is, but it's addicting. I got a portable CD player for Father's Day and now I run with that. I can really pound the pavement listening to some Suicidal Tendencies &amp; Megadeth (I know, I'm old). I'd like to hear some other suggestions for good running music. It has to be heavy and kind of fast (double time is even better) and no odd meter, I might trip over my own two feet! Doh!

PH

 

[IBhacknU]

I used to run and did the LA Marathon in 1994. Got my butt kicked