Half Marathon

[Jeffrey]

It's called runners high. It is highly addictive. I just finished the 10km in Banff a couple a weeks ago. I started a couple of years ago and can't stop.

[KarateGeorge]

Ha! Runner's high has been my bane on a few occasions. I've learned to not go running right before I plan on going to bed or I'll never get to sleep!

[sperki]

KarateGeorge, you may have heard this before but its true: a marathon is twice as far as a half, but four times as hard! You should definitely sign up for and run a full 26.2, but put in the training miles. I ran a lot before my marathon and it still beat me up to actually race it. I pretty much stopped running for the four months following the race! I'm pleased to hear that you are still interested in running after your half though.

[KarateGeorge]

Yeah, I know what you mean, Sperki. Everything I've read about a full marathon is that it's far, far tougher. Not only are you effectively depleting all of your body's energy stores, but the physical punishment on the body from continuous running as greater. I definitely don't expect the full marathon to be a piece of cake, but that's why I want to do it. In a way, I guess its a mindset I adopted when I started martial arts: "If it were easy, everybody would do it."

[sperki]

You're absolutely right, George. The marathon is definitely more of a mind game, much like martial arts. When it's been a long day, it's raining or snowing outside, you're hungry and all you want to do is go home and have a beer and instead you grab your bag and go to the dojo - that's a marathon. Except even after sparring I never feel as beat up as I did the afternoon after running 26.2 miles. But I think there are a lot of similarities between marathons and MAs; we are testing ourselves physically and mentally with both events.

[KarateGeorge]

Very true, Sperki. The skill sets are very different between the two, but there is still quite a bit of similarity in how they are to be approached. In either case, its about taking pushing our limits and as you stated, testing ourselves both physically and mentally, as well as being sufficiently dedicated to put in the required training over extended periods of time.