I got into it after years of abusing my body as a teen hippie who didn't grow up until his late
20's. Three packs a day, booze, pot, hash, coke,acid, any bad food I wanted, overweight, I did it
all, daily. Then at 25 I walked up a flight of stairs, and realized I was in such bad shape that I
couldn't even make it without chest pains, wheezing, and taking a rest halfway up. I knew I'd be
dead in a year or two if I continued on this path. So I quit. A year or two later my heart and lungs
had improved very little, so I decided to start walking/running, quite a feat for a guy who was
never athletically inclined. But I guess walking a mile each way to school everyday (yes, it was
uphill both ways) for all those years helped, and within a year I was slow jogging about a mile. At
that point I was feeling so good I thought to myself "maybe someday I could do a WHOLE 5 miles a
day!". Dare I dream? A few years later I was doing it. Then my new goal was to run a 10k, and I did
after several small tuneup races (came in 8th in my first ever race, a 5k)and at that point I simply
wanted to keep increasing my distances to see what would happen. Dare I dream of a marathon? Naw,
that's crazy stuff for a guy in my poor condition. Then I read that base mileage for a marathon was
about 70mpw, and realized I was close to that, and according to this I could do it. So began my
dream of a marathon. A year later I was on the start line, scared [censored] (18 miles was my
previous long run)and just hoping to finish it in ANY time, no time goal at all. So I held back to
11 mm's for the first few miles, then feeling good, I knew it was one of my "good days" of running
where nothing could/would go wrong...until the wall. Being so scared of the dreaded "wall" that I'd
never hit before, I figured I'd better hold back to 10mm and just hope to finish. The last 6 miles
was a very cruel series of very long, steep hills, the very ones I trained on daily, so they did not
intimidate or worry
me. At mile twenty it started, dead mutilated, dried-up, shriveled up bodies strewn along the
roadside,paramedics helping some, others just lieing there waiting for a ride back to the
finish. Whimpering lil sissys I thought. it was afterall ONLY 97 degrees and very humid, the
same stuff I trained in daily. Hmm, improper hydration on their parts I thought. 123 started the
race, less than 50 finished. I had prepared by having a friend meet me at several key points
along the course, and I was poised to finish, and even told my friend to skip the last watering
point, I didn't need it. Mile 21, 22, 23, 24, still no wall, where was this elusive legend? 25
miles and suddenly I realize there will be no 'wall' for me, it was a myth, I was going to
finish without it, all that worry for nothing. The last mile was a very, very steep hill, ending
on top of a mountain. I did it in about 6 minutes. Almost regretted it near the top, but I felt
so incredibly good I didn't care. I had accomplished a goal I had only dreamed of, something
nobody in my family had ever thought myself, or any of us would ever
mf. My dad who'd previously said "running is for horses, we have cars" and whose idea of exercise
was to go fishing, was so proud, he cut and copied the race results, highlighted my name, and
sent it out to all my brothers and sisters. That really shocked me. But by everybodys standards
I'd done the unthinkable, I'd run 26+ miles, that was 5 hours of non-stop running! It was just
incredible to them. And to me, what I'd done with my body in only 7 short years...A new life for
me had just begun.
