Training With Tim

Today has been kind of an eventful day.

First, I turned 27. Second, I got a haircut. Third, I decided I’m going to run the Lakefront Marathon tomorrow.

The first came about because I was born 27 years ago. The second came about because now that I have a job, I’m trying to get my life back in order. A haircut seems like a logical place to start.

The whole marathon thing came about simply because happened upon an entry at the last minute.

My training buddy Laura — who was going to run the marathon, then was not going to run the marathon, and then was going to run the marathon — is now not going to run the marathon. She had a bad allergy attack while running today and decided to play it smart and not run 26.2 miles tomorrow. Wise decision.

What’s not so wise is deciding you’re going to run a marathon about 17 hours before the gun goes off. In fact, I think this is pretty much textbook example of How Not To Prepare For a Marathon.

But you know what? There’s an 85-year-old running in tomorrow’s race. It’ll be his 100th marathon. If he can do it, I should probably be able to handle it too. Even if Jess thinks I’m an old man now.

My biggest concern is that racing under someone’s else entry is technically, well, not at all allowed. What makes it worse is I know the race director and should know better. My bib will say “LAURA” across my chest in big, bold block letters. Awkward.

Coincidentally, I ran my first marathon only because I happened upon an entry. This exact same race three years ago.

My co-worker Sonya scored a free entry by winning the women’s side of the Hank Aaron 5k. She didn’t think she was ready for a marathon, so she gave the entry to me. Nevermind that I wasn’t ready for the marathon, either.

Back then at least I had a month and a half to sorta prepare. Now I have a few hours. You can’t even adequately carbo-load in that amount of time, since your body needs about 48 hours to fully absorb the carbs.

At least my head will be very aerodynamic.