At forty-three years old, it’s now fifteen years since I last ran a sub-6 mile. It was a 5:38, and it was on a treadmill. I came very close during the last mile of a marathon – I believed that I was about to complete a sub-4 marathon, but my watch had gone haywire so I had no idea exactly how long I had left. I finished with a 6:12 mile that nearly killed me. Again, over ten years ago.
So is it even remotely realistic to hope that one of these years, I’ll cross the line in less than 360 seconds? After all, I’m 218lbs, it’s quite warm, and the costume makes it incredibly hard to breathe.
On the plus side, I live at altitude, so the extra oxygen provides something of a boost. And The Darth Valley Challenge always gets the adrenaline going.
Training is hard for me – as you might guess from my chosen sport, I loathe the cold. Up here in Colorado as I write this, it’s still gray and dank outside. We’ve had a couple of warm days this Spring, but we had a freezing cold winter and my only training was in the sauna. Even there, jogging on the spot gives me shin splints so it’s steps and strength or nothing.
Overall I have six weeks to get into the kind of shape that will give me a shot at the time I’d love to do. So I’m going to go and do that.
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