:D I finished the chicago half marathon in 1 hour 44 mins (chip time) on Sunday. I'm very pleased with my result. Been training all summer and it was my goal to do it in under 1 hour 50 mins. Great course, great scenery, great weather, great day:) .

Good job! I finished my first marathon this year and it was a great feeling to finish one even thogh I really didn't train for it like I should. I'm going to do another one in January and one in March to help me prepare for a military course I'm going to and this time I'm training for them!

I'm not really "runner" or at least a fast one so my goal is to complete the marathon in under 4 hours. We'll see...

Again, good job for reaching your goal!

Dan

Thats a great time! I keep thinking I want to do one but haven't really committed to training for it yet. Instead I do 5ks which I'm not that good at either but they are fun.

I've run marathons the last two years and this year the group of people I run with is dropping down to a half (sometime in February). 1:44 sounds pretty good.
Dan, 4 hours is a good time, too. I expected to run my first in about 4 and a half but it wound up taking 6:11 :cool: This February I dropped an hour and 17 minutes off that. I would like to finish one in under four someday, but the marathon is an entirely different monster. It is so difficult to train, going from the mentality that if you are not performing well you need to train more to the mentality that your recovery is just as important as your workouts.

My first and only marathon in March was just under 5 hours at 4:55. I literally hit the ground at 24 miles when my leg muscles locked up. I thought I was taking in enough electrolytes with the gels I was consuming but I guess not. It took me about 10 minutes or so to get going again after that and the last 2.2 miles were excruciatingly painful but somehow I finished. This time I know a little more about how to train, what to expect, etc and I think I'll be a little more ready for it. I have to run for the Army so I was somewhat I bought an awesome training tool called the Forerunner 201 wrist GPS system for runners and it is awesome. I like to run on desert trails and now I know exactly how far I have ran (to within 33 feet), the exact pace, and the time. I highly recommend it if you are a serious runner. I bought mine for around $140 at walmart.com.

I'm really glad there are other runners on this board. I think it is nice to have fitness goals in addition to collection goals.

MJ--that really is a good time for a half marathon. I have never ran a half marathon before but I can tell you your time was faster than I was at the halfway point of the marathon. Do you have plans to try a marathon now as well?

A tip to anyone thinking about running distance for the first time--put bandaids on your nipples to prevent rubbing and bleeding. That is one lesson you don't want to learn the hard way!

Dan

If you don't want to rip off your nipple with the bandaid you can also get some special lube for the same purpose. I work with a few regular marathon runners and he always tells me about bloody nipples and to lube them up before starting.

Those under armour type shirts (the really tight spandexy ones) work pretty well as they don't allow anything to rub on your nipples. If you still need more help I know that some use a little vasoline (I personally was fine with just the shirt).

Thanks for repsonses and good luck to those of you who are planning on entering marathons in the future. I'm not planning an running a full marathon at this stage, but I'll continue on through the rest of the year entering 5 and 10km races. I used band aids to protect the nipples, but next time I'll try the lube to save ripping out all my chest hairs when I take off the band aids:( . ow!