Well, It is finely here. My very first road running race. A 1/2 marathon. 13.1 miles. In Las Vegas on December 5th. I have been biking and running for 7 months. Actually 3 years, but hard, with a purpose for 7 months. Living in Colorado, where we have winter weather, I ride the bike on warmer days and run the rest. The bike ride i do weekly of about 30-50 miles was my cross training. I got a fairly permanent runny nose from biking in the cold, I think. In Colorado, we call it "skiers nose". Then run 30 miles a week. With long runs being 12-13 miles. Wore out a pair of running shoes. Wore out a rear bike tire too. I'm strong, pumped and peaking. Let's run this damm race! I will keep you all, my compatriots, updated on this VERY IMPORTANT event in my life. A bit of explanation is in order: I smoked, heavy, for 35 years, and only quit(3 years ago) when my doc diagnosed me with COPD and was told I would not die of old age, but would die from smoking, not a good death either. I quit that day and started running. This day in 5 days is the culmination of a lot of work!!!. Up yours Dr. Jolly. I will finish and be in the top 50% of my age group. No bad smokers death for me!!!!!! Tom
Tom you have my utmost respect and admiration and wish you luck in the race. Please let us know how the race went. Al
Congrats on the stopping smoking. I smoked for ten years then got horrible bronchitis. I was still trying to smoke while hacking. Finally I gave up and waited till I felt better. I thought about going back but I had quit and it wasn't that bad. It's been two years now.
Good luck, hope you come in in the top 25% for your age group. Wait that may be hard to do how many people your age can still run that far. If you are the only one and you win does that still count as the top 50%.
One of the fun parts is... I really have no idea how fast I will actually run. I mean ...on my tempo run this morning(6 miles hard) i had no pace setter, I just go until I start to weez. I hope to run in around 2 hour 5 minutes...(9:50 pace) But this morning I did 6 in 53 and change...A full minute a mile faster. So It is my first, so no BIG plans for a OMG time. Whatever I run...It will be a personal record!
Go for it! I also smoked for 15 years from age 15-30. Starting smoking was the dumbest thing I have ever done and quitting was the most difficult!
