The Running Man

During my senior year in high school, I was the fastest sprinter at my school. I took several relay teams to the state championships, won a few medals and ribbons, and got my name in track listings in the Baltimore Sun a few times.

Thing is, I hated running long distance. My coach used to say that sprinters are born, but distance runners are made. This was his way of saying that I could run long distance, I just didn't want to. I could build up my distance running, but a distance runner could never become a sprinter. I hated running distances so much that when we did our warm up everyday, which was the whole track team running around the school 4-5 times, I would get to the other side of building from coach Stange, sit there until I knew the rest of the team was on their last lap, then join them for the finish.

Now, 13 years later, I can still out-sprint most people (even those much younger than me), and opponents have a hard time keeping up with me when I play soccer, but I've come up with this idea that I want to run a marathon; definitely not a sprint. I've always thought it would be cool do run a marathon, but my dislike of distance running has kept me from really thinking about it.

A few weeks ago, I did some research, found some marathon training websites, and I'm started running more than 400 meters at a time. I'm still a LONG way from running a marathon, but if I can keep it up, my goal is run one before I'm 35. I have 4 years.