Track and Field Blogs - Mark From Flotrack

There are 12 days until I run the ING NYC Marathon and I am excited to see what I can do. I have been training since Sept 1st and I think things have gone pretty well. When I threw the idea out of running a marathon in Beijing Terrence Mahon, Ryan Hall and Deena Kastor's coach, said that I did not have the patience for it. I think he might have been trying to push my buttons but in reality it has been hard to stay focused. 25 mins into my first run when my legs started to hurt, my stomach began to wrench, my shoulders tighten and my mind questioned my sanity and if Terrence was right. I knew that if I did not make it public I would not run the marathon, so I went home and wrote a blog. Now we are 12 days out and training has gone pretty well, I still have no idea what kind of shape i'm in and what kind of time I am capable of but everyone is telling me to go out slow......... I don't know if that is my style. Everyone talks about this "wall" but what fun is it to be scared? Then I start to wonder what kind of patience Terrence was talking about......Was it in training or on race day? That being said I have to be a lil smart bc I will have to do interviews after I finish the race and I can not be in the medical tent, bc I dont think Kara, the Black Cactus or Kim Smith will come to me after the race.

I am excited to see what I can do with a couple weeks of training after a 2 year hiatus from running but I am also excited about the NYC marathon and the field they put together. Both the Men's and Women's races are going to be a lot of fun. The NYRR do a great job of promoting the sport and Mary and the gang did it again this year and are giving you a chance to win a car! When Abdi and I met Mary Whittenberg from the NYRR on the top of the Great Wall she was so amped about the marathon and making it fun for everyone. Mary was bouncing ideas off all of us on the way home from the wall an her goal was to get people excited about the elite field and she had two Toyota's to make things interesting and interesting she made it. The result of the ride from the Great Wall to Beijing was www.pickandrive.com. www.pickandrive.com is the contest of all contests, if you pick the top three places in the men's race or the top three in the women's race in NY you have a chance to win a New Toyota Prius! I am super excited bc Flotrack was a part of the process and helped with the website. Check out the website Here and come back next week for a chance to win some Flotrack gear........... which is almost as good as a Toyota right?

Cheers,

Mark

P.S. If you care about my training check it out here