After the Thon.

Here it is one week later.

Later than what, you ask? Well, later than the thon. After the thon. The marathon. The big 2-6 & yards.

And what is my overwhelming thought concerning the marathon?

Frankly; that I must run it again.

Now I understand how this thon addiction happens!

I never understood those that were compelled to run the incredibly long training runs prior to a marathon. But I'm here to tell you that I have now joined their ranks.

Yep. I'm good and hooked.

Of course I will still be running the short distance races like 5-K's or 10 -K events and various distances close to those. But I now firmly believe that the longer distances hold a certain challenge and appeal that I could not have imagined they would.

Really strange when you consider what the race (perhaps I should not call it a race but rather a shuffle) event was like for me.

Actually, now that I think about it, I can barely remember the pain.

I'm feeling pretty good today. No pain; my feet have healed nicely and I'm ready to start running the longer distances again. Not the 18 or 22 mile runs. Not yet. But 5 to 8 mile runs at first will do very nicely.

I must address one other issue I only touched on last week. Energy. With the help of the Clif Shot energy gels, Gatorade & water I took at every station, I never had a problem with energy. That part was great. And a big surprise.

So I am already planning how wonderful next year will be when I show up at the starting line at Steamtown. Got the will-power thing figured out. Got the energy thing figured out. I now have the wet-foot-terrible-blisters thing figured out. (Vasoline) Got the asthma thing figured out. (Don't lose the inhaler) And it has just occurred to me that I should be able to set a PR pretty easy! By several hours!

Now that is almost as much motivation as training about your very first thon. Maybe more.

Yep. Next year will be a blast! I'm already looking forward to it.

Be sure to come back and see the new contest I will be starting soon. Free food! For runners! Yes, you CAN win! Yumm. More about that later.

One final note. Thanks to the many, many people that sent me e-mail and for all the encouragement and comments that you sent my way. Hey, that is motivation enough to run another thon all by itself.

Go To Page: 1 2