The Final Marathon Update

On September 8, 2007, I went for a 5-mile run around Stone Mountain. It wasn't my first run of the year, but it was the first official run in my marathon training program. 18 weeks and about 450 miles later, it is time to see if the training has paid off.

As the miles increased week after week, I've found myself enjoying running more and more. The training culminated in a 21-mile training run right before Christmas, and when I finished that run I felt like I was ready to go. The last three weeks I have been "tapering," which is to say that the mileage has decreased each week in order to rest the muscles and prepare for the full 26.2 miles.

This Sunday, January 13, at 6:00 AM me and 15,000 other runners, including my two friends Steve Platt and Jamey Droddy, will head off in the 2008 Disney Marathon. The marathon begins in the parking lot of Epcot, runs through all four Disney parks (Epcot, Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom and MGM Studios) before ending back in the Epcot parking lot. Check out this page to see aerial shots of the complete route.

How long is it going to take me? Well, my goal is to finish in under four hours. This is just a little above average for male runners my age. I'm no speed runner, but I'm not a walker, either (not that there's anything wrong with that)! A 4-hour marathon equates to about 9-minute miles, so over there to the right (click on it to see it full size) is a pace calculation that will tell you how long it will take me to get to each mile marker. So, if you happen to be thinking about me Sunday morning, you can figure out about where I am.

If you want to take it another step further, you can read this mile-by-mile description of the marathon course and pretty much know exactly where in Orlando I am at the moment.

One step farther than that, for those who dare, is to receive email or text message updates on my progress throughout the race. Check out Live Runner Tracking, register yourself and then enter my name, and you can get email or text messages with my current location and time at several different points in the race.

All that to say that I am really looking forward to running this, and I greatly appreciate all the support and encouragement that I've gotten from people through the blog and via email over the last 4 months. Look for a full report once we get back!