Two, For the Show ....

One, for the money;
Two, for the show ...

In my prior post, I discussed the money aspect of Team in Training, namely, the fundraising.  Every time I have done TNT, that is what I start with: how much money can I raise to support the mission of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  People generously give of their own free will, receiving no tangible item in return.  They give because it is a good cause, and because so many people are affected by cancer.  Almost anyone with any common sense would hope that there is a cure someday.  The life that is saved could be them, or it could be their child or grandchild, or even their great-grandchild.  And frankly, you work so hard at all of this for five months that you want to maximize the money you raise for the effort expended.  We don't get a dime of that money, by the way.

So yes, our primary goal is to raise money for this cause, but along the way, our promise as TNT participants is that in return for donations, we will do our level best to complete our event, be it a marathon or half-marathon, or a 100 mile bike ride, or a triathlon of varying length (TNT does tri's ranging from Sprint distance to half ironman).  That is the "show."  It is #2 behind the money, but still important, because it is a follow-through with what we committed to.  In my case, my "show" will be the Crawlin' Crab Half Marathon in Hampton, Virginia on October 6.  I have a specific reason for choosing that event, which I'll discuss in a later post.

When you are in a car, 13.1 miles seems like a short distance.  When you are on foot, it does not seem short at all - trust me.  I'm likely to be walking this one because of my hurting knee.  Does walking 13 miles sound easy (as opposed to running it)?  Well, walking that distance is not as difficult as running it, true - but it still takes a lot of training and a lot of effort.  For most walkers, they are walking close to their maximum walking speed for the entire way.  I have a walker friend (and fellow Hodgkin's survivor) who can walk that 13.1 mile distance in about 3 hours, or about 13.5 minutes (13 minutes and 30 seconds) per mile walking pace.  I am not as fast, but when I walked the San Diego Marathon in 2006, I covered 26.2 miles at an average pace of 14.25 minutes (14 minutes and 15 seconds) per mile walking pace.  And that includes waiting in line at porta-potties, which sometimes can take 5-6 minutes of just standing around several times during a race as long as a marathon.  Unless you are a really good athlete, you are not going to run or walk in a half marathon or full marathon without a lot of training, meaning you will put probably 500 miles on your feet to get ready, and maybe more.  You'll be doing fairly long walks or runs 4-5 days a week to prepare. 

One reason I am glad to be doing a half marathon instead of a marathon is won't be as hard on my aching knee, but the main reason is that is is not as dominating of your whole life outside of work.  A marathon training schedule, at least for people of my athletic ability, can pretty much suck the time from anything else, especially when you start doing 8-10 mile walks or runs before work and 16 - 22 mile sessions on Saturday.  A half marathon training schedule covers distances that are, well, about half as long.  And I think I can handle that this season, work and sore knee not withstanding.

So, I'm ready to get started with some good, hard, long walks.  I don't want to be crawling like a crab come October! One, for the money; two, for the show....