"Are you Insane!??" Apparently, Yes!

Katie H

About three years ago if you had asked me if I would ever run a marathon, I would've said to you, "You're nuts. I would never run a marathon! Why would run for 26.2 miles without stopping?! Are you insane!??” Fast-forward two years and my tune has changed. I completed my first marathon last year, here in New York City, and it will forever be one of my favorite memories.

What some would call my "obsession" with running began about two years ago. Started small, a 5K here, a 10K there, and then moved up to the beloved half marathon. Once I realized my short legs could keep up I caught the running bug and boy, have I been hit hard. The more I ran the more I began to rethink my previous comments on trying out the marathon. Before I knew it, I had signed up for the NYC 2011 Marathon.

Conquered the NYC Marathon
With Congrats from Mom!

June comes around, marathon-training time begins and reality kicks in full force. This being my first time tackling the epic 26.2, I thought I could follow a similar training regimen that I had for the half marathons and just increase my mileage each week. Seemed simple enough right? Well, I could not have been more wrong. Running over 13 miles on your own can be very boring and very hard! Feeling quite discouraged and majorly frustrated a fellow Flyer friend of mine, Allison B, mentioned she was going to sign up for the Flyers Fall Marathon Training Program. At this point I couldn't even imagine how I was going to get myself across the finish line come November, so I signed up too.

Best. Move. Ever.

I cannot give enough praise towards the Marathon Training Program (MTP). A few weeks ago, I was attempting to promote the program to a good friend who is running the NYC marathon this fall for the first time. My sales pitch went a little something like this, "You want to do this. No seriously, you really will want to do this!” Needless to say, sales are not my forte and she told me she was going to pass, but in my humble opinion, she will be missing out.

The training program consists of 20 full weeks of personalized training by the ever-talented USA Track and Field certified coaches, Todd Weisse, Kari Smith, Evelyn Konrad and Glen Wiener. Weekly speed workouts include everything from tempo runs to fartleks, repeats, to hills and intervals. Several scheduled long runs on the weekends round out the program. The coaches promote their ultimate goal of getting every runner to the start line fully prepared, rested and healthy to run a great race. This is achieved by many factors but one of my favorite perks of the program are the weekly individualized training schedule sent to you by one of the program’s coaches.

Working with the extremely talented coaching staff was an honor and a valuable learning experience. I have to give a big shout out to my coach, Evelyn Konrad for how far she has taken me in what we call "the journey.” Through the good runs and the not-so-good ones, we've discussed that marathon training is a long-term project and making progress is what truly trumps perfection. I was lucky enough to be able to work with Ev again during the Spring Marathon Program and it was incredibly rewarding to see that progress was finally being made! My pace improved, I achieved multiple PR's and had fun doing it! This is is why we sign up.

Happy Together at the NYC Half
with Good Friend Allison H

As wonderful as the coaches are, I cannot forget to give shout-outs to my fellow running buddies that made the 20-milers seem like a 5K. Some of my favorite memories of last summer are from our long runs. For many of us, last year was our first attempt at tackling the 26.2-mile beast. Last year we were running to finish. A year later I imagine some of our goals may have changed. I'm looking forward to racking up the miles with these friends and looking forward to meeting new ones along the way.

And the MTP isn't just for newbies. There are quite a few long-time Flyers who have joined MTP -- like Allison B, Jennifer C, David G, Dave K, Dana McC, Bill H, Ed A and Deirdre M. Some MTPers already have signed up for their second or third time with the program. And my hunch is that it's no coincidence that Flyers have been enjoying quite a few PRs since joining MTP. Jennifer C just PRd at the NJ Marathon, and she did it only 3 weeks after surviving the 89 degree heat at the Boston Massacre Marathon!

As someone near and dear to me once said: “You want to do this. No seriously, you really will want to do this!” Well, I'm still working on my sales pitch, but in the meantime click here and sign up by Wednesday June 6th and before the Fall 2012 Flyers Marathon Training Program sells out.

-Katie H