Last fall Jacob, a former camper/student of mine, contacted me with questions about the marathon and half marathon distances. He'd wanted to do a marathon, but I cautioned him that a beginner should allow at least a full year to build up to the distance. He then settled his sights on a half marathon next month, and has been training diligently all winter to complete it. I've been periodically fielding questions along the way.
This morning we agreed to meet and run 11 miles together, which was the longest distance he's ever run.
We ran mostly through my old stomping grounds in Haddonfield, a town popular with runners because of the proliferation of hills, something that is hard to come by in South Jersey. Jacob hasn't trained much on hills but handled them like a champ.
He's decided to put off the marathon distance for awhile and concentrate on the half for now. At 19, he has an entire lifetime of distance running in his future. I ran my first half at 20 and my first full at 24, but didn't really get serious about either until many years later.
I'm kind of jealous of the future he has in distance running. He's starting early, and has a lot more information at his disposal than I did when I started out. But it's also nice to look back and reflect on my own running journey and think that my experiences may be helping someone new to the sport.
After coming back we both got chocolate milk and posed in the kitchen with it:
This morning we agreed to meet and run 11 miles together, which was the longest distance he's ever run.
We ran mostly through my old stomping grounds in Haddonfield, a town popular with runners because of the proliferation of hills, something that is hard to come by in South Jersey. Jacob hasn't trained much on hills but handled them like a champ.
He's decided to put off the marathon distance for awhile and concentrate on the half for now. At 19, he has an entire lifetime of distance running in his future. I ran my first half at 20 and my first full at 24, but didn't really get serious about either until many years later.
I'm kind of jealous of the future he has in distance running. He's starting early, and has a lot more information at his disposal than I did when I started out. But it's also nice to look back and reflect on my own running journey and think that my experiences may be helping someone new to the sport.
After coming back we both got chocolate milk and posed in the kitchen with it:
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| Jacob and me in the kitchen with some delicious chocolate milk. |
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