First Steps

So here's the thing: people don't just run marathons; they also walk them. I used to walk--fast--for exercise, and quite liked it. In addition to not inspiring fear and anger in me the way running does, walking is also far easier on the joints.

That does it: I'm going to walk a marathon. But which one? Did you know that there's a Walt Disney World Marathon? Boy, does that sound fun, from what I can imagine and what I've read . But it's in mid-January, and my training calendar requires 20 weeks, which, according to my calculations, makes 10+ weeks not long enough. Ah, well. But you know what is just about 20 weeks away? The Rome Marathon. And it gets good reviews, too. I should tell you that the not-insane part of my running that maratona is that we're planning to move to Italy for about a year in late January (click here for details). So Europe's no biggie. Rome is actually exactly 20 weeks from last Sunday, which means I'd have to start training immediately. London is in mid-April, which would give me some time to breathe, and sounds great--good for first-timers, lots of supporters--but there are a couple of obstacles there. First, registration is over and all the regular spots are filled. I might be able to get in if I joined a charity team, which I would be thrilled to do. So not a real problem, provided the charities still have space available. But the other issue is the time limit. Every marathon closes its course after a certain amount of time. This can mean anything from letting cars back on the road to no one's being there when you finish and your therefore not getting a time or a finisher's medal, etc. I've read figures of both 5.5 hours and 8 hours for London, and I don't think I can walk a marathon in 5.5 hours. And even if I could, I don't want to feel like I have to. So I'm working on getting to the bottom of that one.