26 Miles 385 Yards

I've never formalized my list like some people I know, but one of those things on my List of Things to Do While I'm Alive is to run a marathon. I've run the Peachtree Road Race every year but one since 1997 and enjoy running other 5k and 10k races throughout the year. The idea of running 26 miles was always intimidating, and it is just hard to think about going out and just running for 3 or 4 hours. But this year I decided that I was going to mark this one off my list, and I've been training to run the Walt Disney World Marathon on January 13, 2008.

I started Hal Higdon's 18-week training program at the beginning of September and have so far managed to get all my long runs in and survived all of them. My longest so far was a 10-mile run last weekend, so I've still got a ways to go. Most of my running is done on an LA Fitness treadmill early in the morning, but I do my long runs on the 5-mile loop around Stone Mountain.

I don't have any real ambitious goals for running the marathon except that I hope to be able to actually run the whole thing. I'd like to try to finish in under 4.5 hours, but I'll be happy just to finish and collect my medal. I'll probably post a few updates between now and then on my training. Wish me luck!