The Strange But True Story of the Amazing Marathon Man

They say the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step....and the journey of 26.2 miles begins with a single step as well.

Last year around this time, Bob decided to take a step in the right direction. He wanted to get in better shape. To lose some weight so his pants would fit better. To make better choices about what he consumed. He started running his usual 'get in shape' amount of 3 miles. I suggest he should push it to 4, and do a longer run on the weekends of about 6. And he liked the idea of maybe doing the half marathon with me in December.

The more he ran, the easier it got and his distances got longer and longer,and soon it became apparent that running an entire marathon would be an achievable goal. He read a book on marathon training, and set up an 18 week training program. And the training program was not an easy road at all...it included running 5 days a week, with increasing mileage. It involved getting up at 4:30am on Tues, Wed, and Thurs to get his runs done before work. Running either on the treadmill or outside in the dark, wearing a orange construction vest at first to prevent being flattened by the newspaper delivery guy. On weekends he pushed Parker in the stroller on runs under 6 miles.

Also along the training path there were challenges - fitting run schedules around crazy work hours, a very unfortunate bout of delayed heat illness in the middle of a dinner party, and knee trouble in the final weeks of training. The knee pain (IT band to be exact) lead to intensive physical therapy, icing during his daily commute and hours stretching. But even with those obstacles, last Sunday, Bob not only completed his marathon journey, but he had an amazing running debut!

The weather on race day also presented an enormous hurdle. The winds that day were horrible, 20-30mph, with gusts even stronger. The kind of wind that causes you to hang on tight to the steering wheel so you don't fly off the overpass. During the section of the course that circled White Rock Lake, Bob said he felt like he was standing still. At mile 23, he was really really struggling. He decided to walk for a bit for the first time in his race. After a half mile, he decided it was too painful and exhausting to walk, and running was somehow easier than walking. He managed to will himself to finish, and was only 10 minutes slower than his goal time. Many people that day were slower than their goal time, if they finished at all. The paper reported that winner had the slowest finish time since 2001....which was a race with no elite runners.

His finish time was 3:40:23 (3 hours, 40 minutes, 23 seconds), 8:25 pace...that's like setting your speed on your treadmill to 7.1...and running on it for 3 hours. This is an awesome finish time for anyone, much less a new runner and a first time marathoner.

The rest of his stats:
He was 427 out of 3938 total marathoners, 357th Male Overall.
84th in Age Group
Top 10% overall (top 14% of males).
And the links -
From the GPS watch we wear:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/1545677
(if you mouse over the graph, you can see the pace)

Photos (use bib# 5243):
http://www.sportphoto.com/Event.aspx?EventID=61

There are many famous quotes that tell us that what is important is the journey that you take, not the destination. I'm guessing the folks that said that would have called it quits around mile 20. At the end of his brutal 26.2 mile journey and 6 long months of training, Bob found himself 30lbs thinner, no longer needing cholesterol lowering drugs, and in the best shape of his life. Sure it was an amazing trip, but view from the finish line is pretty sweet too.



Bob Post, 03:40:30 (NET) @ Finish Pace 8:24
(that's the actual text that people who signed up for racing tracking received when he crossed the finish line)


(I ran the half marathon in 2:16. More on me in another post)