Posts Tagged ‘running’

Well, I did it. Two days ago I signed up for a half marathon (20km) on Irabu island. Irabu Island is located about 15 minutes by ferry from Miyako island, which in turn is about 45 minutes by plane southwest of Okinawa. The weather here is sub-tropical, so even though it takes place at the end of February, the weather will be relatively warm.

So why am I running a marathon?

To be quite honest, I am not a huge fan of marathons. I understand the personal struggle in order to finish them, but I don’t think they are good for your body. They put a lot of stress on your joints. However, there are two main reasons I decided to run.

1. I am not sure how long I will be in Miyakojima. And since marathons are kind of a big event here, I decided I should go a head and participate.
2. Several months ago I changed my running style, and began running on the balls of my feet rather than my heels. I feel this is a much better and more natural way to run. Running a half marathon should really put it to the test. You can read more about my running style here.

What will I wear?

For shoes I will be running in generic Crocs with no socks ( I found wearings socks gives me blisters). It took some conditioning, but I can now comfortably run several kilos with no problem. As far as clothes go, nothing special. Probably shorts and a t-shirt.

How will I train?

Nothing special. I am planning to run at least a couple of kilometers each day about 5 days a week. I will slowly build my way up so I feel very comfortable with about 5 to 10 kilometers. I will also be doing my normal exercises (situps, pushups, etc). My goal is to run the entire marathon without stopping.

Any tips?

This will be the firs marathon I have ever participated in. I would love to hear any tips or pieces of advice any of you might have. I am sure I will need all the help I can get.

I first started trying this about two and a half months ago. I read an article somewhere that said it was an easier way to run and that it may be better for your body. So I figured what the heck and went for it. It wasn’t easy in the beginning and I had to adjust (you can read more about that here). However, as a result, I was able to run further, faster, my became much stronger, and any pains I felt went away.

Since I now run in my $4 generic crocs, I also don’t need expensive running shoes.

While this is just running, I have taken this a much bigger lesson. Our body naturally knows how to do things right. We should spend more time listening to it and less time trying to force it.