deciding on 1/2 or full marathon?

[jfrog]

Hit 20 miles this past saturday, Im pretty sure I can finish. had one episode at about mile 15 where my hip flexors tightened up. and at mile 19 felt like i was running on straight bone on road. Then to top it off did another trial run duathlon on sunday 5k-10mile- 2mile. the soreness has improved but still a bit of swelling in my legs. Ive been told to have at least one 1/2 marathon esxperience before attempting a full. the Miracle Match marathon is here in waco in january and I want to go ahead and sign up but still debating since its a tough course.

[Jonny00GT]

If you can do 20 now, a full in Jan should be no problem. Everyone I've talked to say a lot of the programs out there only have you run up to 20 before the full. If you're worried, run a half now. I know around Dallas, this time of year, there is practically one every weekend somewhere near by! Are you following a program? (I'm doing my first half next weekend in SanAntonio at the Rock N Roll and a second one in Dallas on Dec 4th with a full to follow in the spring.)

Good luck, Bro! Let us know how it goes!
-Jonny

[jfrog]

everyone so far has told me to go for the full. I guess I was questioning when I saw the map route and was familiar with the hills at the end. I'll be good for the full in January, was wanting to do the White Rock next month but used up all my personal time at work. Might do a half in Temple just to have it under my belt in Dec. I never imagined I'd be thinking about running a marathon in my life. I still having trouble losing weight but seems like the more I run the more I eat, gonna work on that this week

[jfrog]

are you still running barefoot? I heard that route in San Antonio is good and flat

[Jonny00GT]

Yup! When it gets down in the 40s, I'll throw some socks on for the first mile or so, but once my body temp is up, my feet stay warm, as long as I keep my core warm and my head covered. I only did 8.3 easy miles on Saturday, tapering a bit for the SA half and was ok with no socks. Still, I'll probably wear 2 pair to my corral and shuck em before the start, just to be safe...if it's cold. I did wear my vibrams for speed work on Friday...it was 36 or 37deg and the wind was blowing pretty good. I tried starting bare, but 3/4 of a mile into the warm up, I put the VFFs on. I don't like anything that keeps me from feeling the ground cause it changes my form, but that includes numbness! LOL!

My longest run so far was 10.25 miles and my longest race was 15K on 10/30, so I'm right on track a full in the spring with lots of time to get a good base before pushing into the longer miles.

I feel you on the weight thing!! I've tried to run while cutting back on my calories and it kicks my butt! Check out Generation UCAN. That's helped a lot with my energy level for the first 6-9 miles depending on effort. Use the link on gobarefooting.com(my running coach, Jimmy's blog) and it's good for 10% off. It's a super-starch, so long energy, but no insolen spike/crash...you just feel good and no intestinal distress! I find I can eat really clean and light and as long as I take my UCAN with some chia seeds 30min before my run, I'm good for about 7 hard miles and 9 easy. I've lost about 6lbs in the last 3 weeks since Jimmy told me about it. I'm loving the Honey Vit B Stinger Goo, too! I'll be using both for the half. UCAN before, both at 5 (honey to kick in early and give the UCAN absorption time) and another honey at 10. Meb just changed from Gu to UCAN a while back and placed 1st out of Americans and 6th over all at the NYC marathon this past weeekend.

FYI, I'm doing the half in December, too. If you decide to come do it, let me know.

Jonny