Should You Marathon?

I didn't just run the marathon to run a marathon. It was an experience I'll remember with pride for my entire life, not even sarcastic. I now understand the hardships, joy, and culture that surround this freakish sporting event and can recommend it or not to friends and future clients. So you, dear reader, are about to get the lowdown on something you may be considering in your future. The following are pros and cons of training for and running a full marathon based on the assumption that you are not increasing your workout time:

Physical:

+Athletic and Aesthetic:  From the waist down, you are going to look great. I don't care how slow your metabolism is, you can't eat enough to keep the pounds on when running 40+ miles per week. Dudes and dudettes, I hate to set a double standard but women are going to love the results on themselves a lot more than men.

-String Bean Arms:  Bros, it's going to happen if you sacrifice time with the free-weights to go running. I lifted a couple of times a week for the first couple of months but the road eventually catches up to the bis and tris. I maintained some good definition in my biceps, back, and shoulders from keeping my arms up for hours at a time.

+Good Hurt:  Like any kind of workout. Your legs let your muscles know when you pushed yourself. On a 3 month timeline this rarely happened to me because I was cautiously avoiding...

-Bad Hurt:  When you pushed bones, ligaments, and tendons too hard. A little pain turns into more pain turns into an injury. When you run 3 miles further than you've ever run in your life, it's going to shock the system. 

Mental:

+/-Confidence:  Setting the elusive PR (personal record, not Puerto Rico) is what every runner seeks to do. Knowing that you haven't peaked just yet is a great confidence boost. At the same time, there is ALWAYS somebody better than you. Maybe somebody smaller, older, heavier. He or she is out there and will smoke you. Hey at least your butt looks TOIGHT.

-Too Repetitive:  A lot of non-runners get caught up in this. I don't get bored on new roads, I kinda get bored on routes I've run 10 times, and I 700% get bored on a treadmill, even with WWE Monday Night RAW on a TV screen in front of me. Music, Podcasts or audio books help a lot of people.

Social:

+Friendly Folks:  It's a supportive, friendly community out there. People are humble, welcoming, and congratulatory when you accomplish your goals and they're sympathetic when you don't. I joined a social networking website to log my miles and people randomly friended me and congratulated me on good runs. No agenda, just super nice people. PS: Dailymile.com is a great place to log miles regardless of the social aspect.

+Easy-ish On The Wallet:  You'll go through a pair of shoes in just a couple of months. You'll spend some money on non-chafing shirts and skivvies, a GPS, a heart-rate monitor, cold weather gear, race registrations, a water bottle holder and maybe some mid-run nutrition or club fees. However, you're not paying for any rentals, pads, balls/pucks, mats, greens fees, or lift-tickets.

+Year Round Season:  If you're tough and get some non-slip kicks or live south of the Mason-Dixon.

+Solo:  You don't need other people to play but it's nice when you do.

+/-Spectator Sport:  How many people do you know tuned in to any fast paced, nail biting, edge of your seat marathons this year? I think I watched the NYC Marathon for about 10 minutes and switched it to football. Remember that repetitive thing I mentioned? Howeverrrrrr, I did use my lunch break during the Boston Marathon to see a buddy (and 2000 other people) pass. Everyone was having a blast. I intend to do it right and take the day off work to optimize my cheering this coming year. The marathon is a city-wide party in most places.

Bottom-line:

Ladies, absolutely go for it.

Gentlemen, I'm glad I did it. Going for it once was a great goal. I will probably continue to run 5Ks to continue the social and fitness aspects and this I recommend 100% for both genders. Really though guys, there is a "Je ne sais quois" aspect of marathoning that can be best explained in pictures. At the end of the day, who would you rather be?

vs. 

I'm giving Jiu Jitsu another shot this month. More on that later.

Keep training,

LSF