Goal: Copenhagen Marathon 2008
The marathon distance has always had a mythical quality to me. I have often considered the possibility of running one, but previously I had never run any great distance and have brushed it off. After I started running in the fall of 2005, however, I found that I did enjoy longer distances, and the thought of running a marathon entered my mind again.
My idle thoughts turned quite solid today when I received some information material (or advertisements if you will) from Sparta, a Danish athletics club which is the organiser of the Copenhagen Marathon. The material detailed three events: The “marathon start op” race, a pick your own distance race (either 5, 10, or 15 km) on October 28; The marathon test races in February, March, and April; and the Copenhagen Marathon itself.
Reading through the material I decided to run 10 km on the 28th aiming for 45 minutes. It is a totally flat route so it should be possible, but still a challenge. I will aim to run all of the marathon test races. And I will run the Copenhagen Marathon on May 18, 2008. There, I’ve said it, now I “just” have to do it.
Not only will I run the Copenhagen Marathon, but I have set a goal of running it in 3 hours 30 minutes. An ambitious time for sure, but it without ambition what is left?
One of the things I hope will help me achieve my goal, is the free common training sessions with Sparta. Starting the first Sunday in November everyone interested are invited to take part in training every Sunday until the marathon itself. They have pace keepers (at paces from 4’10” to 6’30”) and fluid stations, increasing the distance up to 30 km as shown in the training schedule.
My tentative training schedule is to run a tempo run every Tuesday, interval training or fartlek every Thursday, and then follow the common practice session every Sunday. On top of that I will climb 3 times every week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday or Saturday). I am slowly starting out now, and will start in earnest come November. Can’t wait.