Portland Bound?

I think it’s finally time for me to make the leap from 13 to 26. No more excuses ! If I don’t do it now, I may never get the chance again. I’m not getting any younger and I’m certainly not getting any healthier.
What’s the worse that could happen anyway? I get sick at the last minute and loose my entry fee? I cross the finish line at 8 hours , or worse…drop out completely? I’ll take that chance.

After scouring the western states for a walker friendly marathon, I’ve chosen the Oct.1st 2006, Portland Marathon to do my first 26.2 miler. From everything I’ve heard and read, if you’re going to walk a marathon, this is the one you want to do. They say it hasn’t rained on marathon day there for over 25 years–lets hope for 26.

I want to thank ; Cris at Live to Run, Run to Live for giving me an excuse to finally do a 26 miler ( this guy eats, sleeps and breaths running…And he’s doing the NY marathon..I’m so jealous) Dave Mc Govern for providing me with the tools I need ( Dave doesn’t walk the track, he glides over it ) and last but not least, all of my racewalking buddies at the Walkingfaster club for always making feel welcome.

Even the training will be a new challenge for me , as I’ve never walked more than 15 miles in my entire life.
I’ll begin to accumulate base mileage in earnest , starting on July 1st with my final LSD of 20 miles scheduled for September 9th . Since this marathon falls on the heels of the San Francisco marathon which is on July 30th, I will have already worked up to the 13 mile mark by that date, leaving me 6 weeks to add the last 7 miles.