Killing me with science

It is done…the last “checkpoint” run on my path to the LA Marathon is in the rear-view mirror. The surf city half marathon was fun…except for starting too late (in my humble opinion, 8:30am is far too late to start a race), no cups at the mile 7 aid station and no water at the mile 9 aid station…oh yeah…and there is that monster blister I started to develop at mile 3 and popped at mile 10 with such force that it might have skewed the rotation of the earth – NASA is still check on that. My time 2:44:03 was not my fastest (did I mention the nearly debilitating blister) but was within a comfortable range for an old man like me. The fact that I have no other race on the calendar hit me pretty hard right after the race. No buffers…nothing else to work towards…the next time I put on a race number it will have “LA Marathon” on it. So, the questions start racing in my head – Can I really run 26.2 miles? What am I going to do about blisters? Can I really run 26.2 miles? Water was an issue at surf city, should I carry water? Can I really run 26.2 miles? What if it’s really hot, should I wear a hat? Can I really run 26.2 miles? Will my iPod battery last 6 ½ hours? Can I really run 26.2 miles?

Part of my concern about completing a full marathon lies within the science of physiology – facts are facts, our body was not really designed to run 26.2 miles – especially my fluffy body. First you have glycogen – simply put this is the chemical that provides most of the energy used during prolonged exercise…but like anything else it has its limits, and for most of us that limit is 2-3 hours, so when you expect to finish a marathon in 6 ½ hours you are looking at over 3 hours of running on empty and the body does everything it can to stop you from running on empty glycogen stores. I guess this is something I will experience in my next 3 long runs (16, 18, & 20 miles), but something I am dreading. Pushing through the “Blister of 2012” incident helped to reinforce the fact that I can overcome adversity, but will it be enough to keep my body running despite it’s efforts to make me stop? I guess we will find out March 18th on the streets of LA.